The daily life of an apprentice witch

August 19, 2019 3:32 PM

Aerial Magic: an ongoing webcomic by the creator of Always Human. It has an apprentice witch learning a form of day-to-day magic, shifting viewpoints, a wisecracking bird-shaped familiar, background music and many feels.
posted by signal (10 comments total)

This is delightful! Thank you for sharing.
posted by Caduceus at 4:42 PM on August 19, 2019

The second it said "make sure the audio is on", I knew it would be vertically scrolling!
I read a few of the other comics on the site, adding this to my list.
posted by Anonymous Function at 5:07 PM on August 19, 2019

I forgot to keep up with this comic a few months back - glad to be reminded of it!
posted by moonmilk at 9:56 PM on August 19, 2019

This was absolutely wonderful! The painted style works so well too!
posted by Lykosidae at 10:06 PM on August 19, 2019

WalkingNorth, the creator of Aerial Magic, previously created the webcomic Always Human, a slice-of-life science fiction story about "nanobots, genetic engineering, and two girls falling in love."

Like Aerial Magic, it has WalkingNorth's style of gentle empathy, combined with her beautiful watercolor art. It's brilliant, and I strongly recommend it.
posted by happyroach at 10:26 PM on August 19, 2019 [1 favorite]

I just, after a fair amount of reading, learned that there's only a finite amount of this done! What am I to do now?!!!
posted by aubilenon at 11:58 PM on August 19, 2019

I got partway through that last night; it's so charming and warm. And I love the way it handles disability.
posted by suelac at 8:59 AM on August 20, 2019

This has been in my subscriptions since the first episode of it as a Featured. WalkingNorth is a fantastic creator; Always Human was a complete delight. Both works deal with complex emotions and healing and loving in ways that I think are really difficult to accomplish. The way this one is set up to focus on a different character in each of the chapters has made me really happy; I thought I would be sad when Wisteria was no longer the center of narration but I haven't had a moment of disappointment.

I'm extremely happy with Webtoons & other such web comic outlets. They seem to be supporting creators in a way that Keenspot wanted to but never could, and there's just so DANG much -- a wealth of stuff in every conceivable genre, some it is amazing and underappreciated, some of it overhyped (I like Shen okay but I just don't get the following), and a lot of it is good stuff getting its due.

If I can plug a couple of my favorites (no self promo here I promise, I can't art) I want to recommend The proper care and feeding for your fountain by Spiders Accident, which is delightfully weird and really rewards the re-read, Suihira: The City of Water by Riana Dorsey, a worthwhile read that updates sporadically, and House of Stars by Saltacuentos and company, an exquisite fairy-tale based narrative with a liberal dash of Renaissance Spain aesthetic. And if you like Aerial Magic don't miss Crumbs!

ohohohohoh and the completed "Your Letter" by Hyeon A Cho ... had me in tears, and then resolved so satisfyingly...
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 10:07 AM on August 20, 2019 [6 favorites]

I dunno if I just read the wrong fiction but it seems remarkable (and lovely) to me that they are able to create such a compelling story without any villain or farcical miscommunication. People are primarily struggling with their own personal growth, but are doing their best to be kind to one another the whole while. A breath of fresh air.
posted by aubilenon at 12:50 PM on August 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

I loved this, thank you for sharing. I am now caught up though! *snif
It's beautiful how she uses the format so well, I also was strongly reminded of Diane Wynn Jones by the writing, and then noticed the chapter headers which definitely clarify that influence. Really looking forward to more...
posted by tardigrade at 1:07 PM on August 21, 2019