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A LITTLE HISTORY
The concept of Sunshine Through the Willow Tree began in 2017,
starting with a black blob, a woodworker, a song and a marionette.
Alongside the early version of The Blob and The Blacksmith, I also wrote the antagonist,
The Crimson King, and his summoner, The King's Mistress,
The concepts served as the framework for Zhang Tai-Xi, Xiao-Hei, Liu Ge-Yi and Min-Rao.
The Blacksmith, the Crimson King and the King's Mistress remained stagnant for many years.
It wasn't until I gave them names and rewrote the Crimson King as the protagonist in 2021
that the pieces of Sunshine Through the Willow Tree began to fall into place.
By late 2021, the structure, timeline and main events were established.
Yet, as someone who vowed to never do comics,
this project remained a dream I would occasionally humor.
Then came 2022.
ANIMATIC
In February, 2022, I began a 3 month long passion project,
a fan animatic of one of my favorite manga series,
Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai, Twittering Birds Never Fly.
The project received so much love and support from the community that
it gave me the courage to finally start working on the comic.
Because who knows — maybe one day,
my story will move others as much as Saezuru has moved me.
However, having motivation is one thing; having the skill to execute is another.
I wasn't ready to create a long-running series.
I decided to delay the project, and hone my skills first.
PRACTICE CHAPTERS
From Dec. 2022 to Jul. 2023, I created six comic chapters as a form of practice.
To write freely without disrupting the main series I had spent so long developing,
I placed the characters in a modern, alternative universe.
The chapters were written casually with some topics
being suggested by my community, such as bowling or a bath.
Each chapter targeted a specific technique required to execute the main series.
The chapters added up to a total of 124 pages and took a little more than half a year.
By that point, the characters in the alternative universe had taken a life on their own
and formed relationships that were drastically different from the main series.
It was difficult to leave them behind, and I spent several months
warming back up to who they were intended to be.
It was time well spent; it allowed the story I’d spent years writing to have far better art from the start.
SUNSHINE THROUGH THE WILLOW TREE
The production of my manhua started on December 13th, 2023.
It is easily the most difficult and rewarding thing I have ever done.
It is an ambitious project, and I would be lying if I said
I am 100% confident to see it to the end.
But if I have learned anything in the past 10 years, it is that
life is too short to waste on the mundane.
If we have the luxury to pursue a passion, then we must,
even if we know it might go nowhere.
Sunshine Through the Willow Tree is not a
direct translation of the Chinese title 柳暗花明之時.
The Chinese title literally translates to:
"the moment you see the shades of the
willow trees and lights on the blossoms."
It means
"the moment you find the light
at the end of a tunnel."
If you read until this part,
may you always find the reason
to go forward.
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