Ren Cox, also known as ‘sonderfairy‘, is a self-taught artist and webcomic creator from Texas. He loves fantasy stories, drawing, and most importantly his cat, Badger. As a trans (FTM), asexual, and panromantic queer person, Ren hopes to inspire others like him with his work. The Moth Prince is his first webcomic and debut as a comic artist. After it’s completed, he hopes to become a colorist or storybook illustrator.

I had the opportunity to interview Ren, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Ren, I’m 23 years old, and I’m from Texas. I live with my cat, Badger, and besides making art I also work at a cat cafe.

What can you tell us about your latest project, The Moth Prince? What was the inspiration behind this webcomic?

I’ve always loved stories of magic and fairies growing up. There’s something about the escapism of the fantasy genre that draws me and many other readers into it. However, I’ve been disappointed at the lack of fairy-centred media. Faerie legends around the world go back ages, but “fairies” in Western culture are a concept geared towards young girls—and creators and corporations alike prefer to reach as broad an audience as possible. The Moth Prince is my proof that these stories can be enjoyed by everyone, and that boys can like fairies, too.

Since Geeks OUT is a queer centered website, could you tell us a bit about the LGBTQ+ content featured in The Moth Prince?

As a trans and queer person myself, representation of my community is something I value deeply. My goal is to include casual representation wherever I see fit, to normalize seeing queer characters in media. The two main characters, Fern and Arcade, are obviously the main aspect of LGBTQ+ rep since they’re m/m love interests. Their confirmed labels are androsexual and biromantic, respectively. Arcade is graysexual, but there currently are no plans of that being relevant to the plot. Two other major characters, Jolene and Sonya, are a wlw couple. Other than those pairings, none of the other named characters are in queer relationships. However, a lot of characters have queer identities! Fern is non-binary and uses he/them pronouns, but their exact label isn’t specified since gender identity is a different concept where they’re from. Jolene is trans mtf, and some of her struggles with transphobia are touched on in the story—such as being forced to live in the Boys’ Dorms and use their toilets/showers as well. I’ve also confirmed that Thysania, Fern’s aunt, is aromantic asexual.

Can you give us any trivia (that hasn’t already been given) about the characters from The Moth Prince?

 My favorite question! Here’s some never-before-seen factoids: Arcade knows how to cook. Fern hates reading. Jolene wants to make music. Sonya thinks the school janitor is hot.

How would you describe your creative process?

In order to churn out episodes while balancing my second job and home life, I’ve assigned parts of the process to certain days of the week. To start out, each episode script needs to be written by Sunday, since the Monday after will be the day I draw the sketch outline of that chapter. Tuesday is allotted to chapter sketches as well in case I need extra time. My lineartist usually has about 2-3 episodes of lineart done at a time, so I’ll always have the next chapter ready to color and don’t need to wait for him. For example, he’d be working on lining Chapter 108 while I color Chapter 105.

I work on coloring from Wed-Sat, with the goal of having it complete on Friday and Saturday allotted for extra time if needed. One day is dedicated to touching up lineart and doing the base colors. The next day, I shade/render the characters. The final day(s), I color the backgrounds, add additional lighting, and add speech bubbles. With my trusty beanbag and something caffeinated, I’ve managed to keep this up for nearly 3 years.

As a creative, who or what would you say are some of your greatest artistic and creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general? 

Some books and movies that have influenced me are The Underland Chronicles (my favorite series of all time), Tinker Bell, Ponyo, FernGully, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and The Chronicles of Narnia. The Life is Strange franchise is also a source of inspiration for me.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing/illustrating? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

I LOVE coloring! I use a very distinct watercolor-esque style that often reminds people of children’s books. And like I mentioned earlier, lineart is my least favorite part of the process. I hate it so much that I hired someone else to do it, haha.

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want others to know about you?

I have ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), and that it plays a huge role in my life and my work. Freelancing is often confusing and overwhelming. I want to show other autistic artists that it’s possible to succeed in this line of work and overcome the challenges that we face.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

I love talking about my story and its characters, and I wish people asked me about them more. I jump at any opportunity to ramble about the characters’ lives, backstories, relationships, and inner turmoils, and the worldbuilding effort I’ve put into The Moth Prince. However, I think I’d like most to be asked whether the fairy species in my story are based on real folklore, because the answer is a loose “no”. Many readers think they are and make assumptions about the story’s lore because of it. I want people to forget everything and read The Moth Prince as if they were in Arcade’s place—as someone who doesn’t know anything about moth fairies!

What advice might you have to give for other aspiring creatives?

Take enough time to plan out your story’s beginning, middle, and end. Build the world. Figure out the character arcs. And then just do it. So many creators get stuck in an endless loop trying to make everything perfect until they lose all motivation. If this is your first rodeo, don’t take it too seriously! You’ll learn as you go.

Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/comics/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

I’d recommend people to read Unfamiliar by Haley Newsome, Cherry Waves by Mikesunaru, and Agents and Kings by Ze Sketch. The first two are on both Tapas and Webtoon, and the last is only on Webtoon to my knowledge. I wanted to recommend lesser known comics and give them a bit of spotlight! These three are all written and drawn exceptionally well—but, like The Moth Prince, are not exclusively owned by those platforms and receive less attention.