The Carnival Street

Original Comic

"For Billie,  a Halloween parade is not as exciting as following a mysterious running doll.
​While helping the creature causes more trouble than expected, Billie is undeterred from her quest of trying to fix it. "

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A Halloween Story

THE CARNIVAL STREET

Created by: Luisa Cruz
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​THE CARNIVAL STREET is an original story that started as part of an inktober years back and that developed into this comic with a lot of strange characters down a busy street one Halloween evening. I hope it gives a sense of a bigger world that just happens to be on the path of the small girl that this particular story follows.
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As Halloween-themed as it is, it is not horror, it is just an adventure with a lost child who doesn't even realize she is lost at all

​Read the whole story:

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DEVELOPMENT

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THE CARNIVAL STREET comic follows something close to dream logic. It was built from a list of prompts, with minimal planning made a couple of days ahead at most. An exercise in improvisation conducted with a “yes, and...” approach. It was a challenge as much as it was a freeing experience. Going with the flow while also having something like a plan.

​STORY BEATS

PANELS

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ABOUT THE CHARACTER

BILLIE
5 years old

Her family calls her Bee and they make sure to give her bee themed things, waiting for the sad moment she gets tired of it.

As any small child, she just started school and is very open to new experiences and meet new people.
That’s what she’s been told growing up is about.

She has too many opinions for someone that little.

​Billie is being raised by her dad, Jimmy, whom she adores but also the one who has to deal with the cheekiest remarks from a small overconfident child.

He would argue that “there is no such thing as an overconfident child in this day and age”, but not everything is great when the fear response of your kid is overridden by the fact that she is surrounded by weirdos.

​Character Exploration

 ABOUT THE STORY

Sentient plushtoy? demon trapped in a soft body?
As a principle, I don’t believe in monsters and some creatures, by nature, are just more violent or cursed, but not necessarily evil.
Many of the characters on the carnival are just your run of the mile supernatural being, with jobs and a family (The pumpkin butcher and the carriage driver are brothers, for example!)
I hope it gives a sense of a bigger world that just happens too be on the path of the small girl that this particular story follows. 
​The aesthetic of the characters is directly based on the Edwardian era, british turn of the century right before WW1 and the postcards from said time.

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THE CARNIVAL STREET is the first chapter in Billie’s Spooky adventures. It is followed by THE DREAMSCAPE MANOR, set one year later in another halloween’s night.

​"Billie who, once again, finds herself following odd creatures on this All Hallow’s Eve, this time at the mercy of the power of the Night Owl while finding the backdoors of this manor house and helping any ghoul in trouble she finds on her way."

MORE ABOUT THE DREAMSCAPE MANOR