Life Sketch

Life Sketch is a Massively Multiplayer Crossover Web Comic with Maple Story sprites. It contains elements and characters from Code Geass, Princess Tutu, Doctor Who, A Witch's Tale, and others. It was created by Shygirl, a contributor.

A little girl named Koneko Tachimachi uses her magic sketchbook to bring her favorite anime and video game characters to life. Only she and the Eleventh Doctor know that the characters are just characters, however, and must keep the secret from them or else have them Go Mad from the Revelation. On top of that, they have to deal with Dr. Crackenstien and his band of supervillains trying to steal the sketchbook and use it to take over the world.

And, as the fates would have it, Hilarity Ensues.

The first issue can be read here on Deviant ART, or here on Smack Jeeves.

Tropes used in Life Sketch include:

• Affably Evil: The Crackenstien family.
• All Just a Dream: Nobody's pregnant, Lelouch. Go back to sleep.
  • Also the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming below. Though Jandoe and Zenith's dialogue at the end seem to imply otherwise.
• All Vampires Are Different: The moral given at the end of the three-part arc that introduced Loue.
• Anticlimax: Audrey's capture is entirely offscreen, and she is quickly Geassed away. This didn't go unlampshaded.
• Applied Phlebotinum: The sketchbook.
• Art Initiates Life: The entire premise is based on this.
• Bald of Evil: Eliott.
• Berserk Button: Loue's is making biased judgments towards vampires, apparently.
• Beta Couple: Myuto and Rue.
• Bifauxnen: Justin Bieber, apparently.
  • Notice how the name of the image file is if only...
• Bill, Bill, Junk, Bill: And something about a shoe.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Lampshaded in the April Fools special.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: A particularly strange example. According to Word of God, the White Space where Jandoe and Zenith reside exists inside the fourth wall.
• Brick Joke: Loue challenges Rue to a fight here. In the very next issue, he is seen with a black eye.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Crackenstien and company.
• Catgirl: Koneko is always seen wearing a cat costume.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Seems to happen on and off.
• Character Development: Myuto, who has had absolutely no personality in the series of his origin due to not having a heart, has been slowly developing since the comic began.
• Chekhov's Gag: What's green and hops from bed to bed? Cause it sure ain't a prostitoad...
• The Chew Toy: Zenith always get embarrassing costumes in holiday specials.
• Clothing Switch: In the Couch Gag of the April Fool's Day issue.
• Continuity Nod/Mythology Gag: The author seems to enjoy these.
• Credits Gag: Two original characters, Jandoe and Zenith, appear in the otherwise blank panel for the disclaimers and have some sort of a witty banter. Sometimes this involves Jandoe singing a little song.
• Dawson Casting: Koneko, despite being eight, started out about as tall as all of the older characters around her due to the limitations of using of Maple Story characters as sprites. This problem was fixed in issue 30.
• Deadpan Snarker: C.C..
• Death Is Cheap: When threatened with death by Lelouch, C.C. merely winks and says it wouldn't be the first time.
• Depraved Bisexual: Implied. See Prison Rape.
• Drop-In Character: The Doctor. Specifically, the Eleventh Doctor. Apparently someone couldn't wait for series 5 to start.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: C.C. initially mistakes the Doctor for a female in issue 4.
  • In the Valentine's Day special he shows up with a different hairstyle, claiming that he tried to make himself look "less girly" (and failed). It wasn't permanent.
• Dynamic Entry: Dr. Crackenstein and his sons introduce themselves by crashing through the roof of the OK Cafe.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Dr. Crackenstien has been shown to genuinely care for his cloned sons.
• Fan Nickname: Steve the cop.
  • Technically this counts as Word of Dante since the nickname is given by a close friend of the author.
    • But then said author decided she liked it, making it a case of Sure Why Not.
• Fun with Acronyms: The P.I.T., which stands for People In Tuxedos according to Jandoe.
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Monguilla.
• Heavy Sleeper: Myuto apparently has a habit of sleeping in until at least 11:30 in the afternoon morning.
  • The narcoleptic Loue also manages to sleep through an entire conversation, leaving Myuto to talk to himself for ten minutes.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Jerimiah.
• Important Haircut: Loue is getting one in issue 46.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Q: what's green and hops from bed to bed? A: a fucking leprechaun. Thank you, Myuto.
• In Medias Res: The comic starts with C.C. and Lelouch being given a tour of the household. The explanations are given later on.
• Jumped At the Call: The green-haired girl in the cafe flat-out asked to be taken to the villains' hideout.
• Kaleidoscope Eyes: Eliott. Actually, it's more like Kaleidoscope half of his face.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Every verse in Duck's song has one.
• Loads and Loads of Characters
• Mad Scientist: The aptly named Doctor Crackenstien.
• Madwoman in the Attic: Loue subverts this, as he is neither Axe Crazy nor The Grotesque. Just don't ask what he was doing locked in the basement in the first place.
  • Sleeping in a puddle of tomato juice?
• Meaningful Name: Koneko Tachimachi. See the comments for issue 7.
  • Also, Doctor Crackenstien. He's a parody of Frankenstein, only ten times crazier. And his glasses are broken.
• Meido: C.C. when she becomes Koneko's slave for a week.
• Mister Seahorse: The Doctor apparently gets pregnant along with Rue, C.C. and Koneko. Averted, however, since it was All Just a Dream.
• Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Crackenstien.
• Mr. Exposition: The two newscasters.
• Noodle Implements: The events described whenever Koneko's parents show up.
  • Also, if Loue's Waking Non Sequitur is to be believed, how did Myuto go from talking about Taylor Swift to talking about The Land Before Time when he was the only one talking?
• Oh Crap: Crackenstien's reaction when he turns around and sees everyone pointing guns at him.
• One of Us: As mentioned. She habitually reads and edits this very page after making a new comic.
  • Hello.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Lump, the little girl zombie who's a friend of Koneko. She's vegan, her expression never changes and she can only say the word "Ungh..." which everyone else can apparently understand perfectly well.
• Parental Abandonment: Koneko's parents are currently on a mission around the world, and apparently have been for a few years. She doesn't seem too upset about it.
  • Issue 15 seems to imply that it has something to do with a glacier bombing...
• Prison Rape: Spike seems to have this in mind when Loue is incarcerated, but doesn't go through with it, claiming he has a girlfriend.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Elliot.
• Punny Name: The setting itself. The city of Hannah, in the state of Montana. Ring a bell?
• Red Shirt: Lampshaded in the mouse-over comment here.
• The Reveal: The green-haired girl in the cafe is Audrey.
  • Or at least they have the same name.
• Schedule Slip: Has happened a couple times, though once was due to a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The author was taking care of a pregnant stray cat.
• Shout-Out: Plenty. The title itself is a reference to Death Note.
  • Koneko and her friends listen to The Protomen in issue 45.
• Spell My Name with an "S": The real spelling of Myuto's name is Mytho. Myuto offers a better pronunciation guide.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: DO YOU WANNA FIGHT ME?!
• Those Two Guys: Spike and Edward, two vampiric friends of Loue whom he met in prison.
• Vapor Wear: C.C. doesn't wear underwear. Unless she has to. We never quite find out why.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Duck can turn into her human and duck forms.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Both Eliott and Jerimiah.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy: Jerimiah.
• Who's on First?: Issue 3, which not only alludes to Doctor Who, but also the Witch Doctor.
• Younger Than They Look: Jerimiah's two weeks old. And he's already lost his virginity.