Fanart and My Musical Ear

     One of my favorite things to read is called Space Boy. It's a Webtoon, which are hard to explain. Imagine a graphic novel, with a new chapter or "episode" releasing each week, or sometimes multiple times a week, online. That's the basic concept, except the panels are also placed vertically for optimized viewing on phones- although it still works fine on regular computers as well. This particular Webtoon is also becoming a regular graphic novel. Space Boy books 1, 2, and 3 are available to buy on Amazon and other places. I think you can preorder the fourth.
     Anyway, once I've explained the concept, I can go on more about Space Boy. The official description is:
     "A girl who belongs in a different time. A boy possessed by an emptiness as deep as space. A story about an alien artifact, a mysterious murder, and a love that crosses light years."

     That's a bit dramatic, but it'll do. It's a sci-fi drama with main characters Amy and Oliver. Amy grew up on a mining colony in deep space, but when her dad gets fired, she has to make the 30- year journey to earth inside a cryotube. When she wakes up on Earth, nothing is the same. Oliver, hmm. I don't think I can really tell you anything about him that wouldn't be a spoiler, but I can at least say that he's the Space Boy in the title. If you want to read it, here's a link to the first episode. I am sure you will enjoy it, as everything from the world to the characters to the art style to the color palette to the plot is just absolutely amazing.
     Amy's favorite song is Opal Oak, by Pumpernickel Lullaby. It has lyrics in the comic, but it's not an actual song. I thought that was a shame, so I decided to fix that. For the past few weeks, my improv teacher and I have been working on reverse-engineering the song, first finding a rhythm that fit the lyrics, then a melody that fit the rhythm, then chords that fit the melody. And I finally discovered what my musical ear is like, and it makes total sense. I grew up listening to:
     - The Classical Station, a radio station that plays classical music
     - LAGQ, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, a classical guitar ensemble
     - Jack Pearson, a bluegrass folk singer and one-man-band
     - Prairie Home Companion, a radio show that often features bluegrass folk
     - And of course the classical pieces I play on violin.
     I also have been going to a church for since I can't even remember that incorporates a lot of singing in the service (more than usual, I am told).
     Only in the past 3-or-so years have I started listening to modern music, AKA younger than the 70's. So all my melodies and even chord progressions sound like some mix of a hymn, a folk song, and a classical piece. As my improv teacher was playing different chords over a melody and seeing which sounded best to me, he kept commenting on how classical or how folk that chord or such sounded, like for example resolving to 5 at the end of every line. I don't have a picture of the current score yet, where we have the chorus, and I don't want to share the one I have, so I'll tell you when it's finished!