How to Be a Werewolf

How to Be a Werewolf is a webcomic written by Shawn Lenore. The comic started on February 3rd 2015, and it currently updates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The comic features "a story featuring complex characters who are all figuring themselves out (and sometimes each other out) and trying to learn to not be afraid of whatever comes next."

Chapters[]

Chapter 1: How to be a Werewolf
Chapter 2: We only rarely tear each others' faces off
Chapter 3: More Human Than Wolf or More Wolf Than Human?
Chapter 4: I Don't Know How I Feel About This
Chapter 5: Not in Equal Parts
Chapter 6: What I Left Behind
Chapter 7: Found Out About You
Chapter 8: In Full Bloom
Chapter 9: For Once, Then, Something
Chapter 10: Something Precious to This Earth
Chapter 11: Something Beautiful but Annihilating
Chapter 12: The World is Burning Down
Chapter 13: The Peace of Wild Things

Website[]

About[]

About Page The website's about page includes a blurb and quick FAQ regarding the comic.

Archive[]

Archive Page The archive includes links to each page sorted by chapter. A drop down menu can also be used, which also lists the upload date of each page. Each page is titled by its "alt text."

Characters[]

Characters Page The characters page features a list of relevant characters from up until around Chapter 6. Each entry features a characters headshot, age, status, and description. Malaya, Elias, Vincent, and Marin have unique headshots drawn for them, while the others have art from the comic.

While the page can still be accessed, it is no longer linked in the navigation, most likely due to the page not having been updated.

Fanart[]

Fanart Page The fanart page features entries from the Fashion Design Contest.

Development[]

Early concept works can be found primarily on Shawn's tumblr. The earliest concept was posted on August 3rd, 2014, which featured a comic with a proto-marin and proto-elias and the logistics of clothing in werewolf transformations and fights. This led Shawn to think about how the werewolf narrative tends to ignore various personalities and priorities of people who happen to be werewolves, thus paving the way to the ideation of How to Be a Werewolf.^[1]

From August 2014 to December 2014, Shawn worked on exploring her ideas and characters with short comics, posted concept sketches of the characters, and worked out the plot & story.

By January 2015, thumbnails of the first five pages and the website had been worked on.^[2] On January 23rd, 2015, the first preview page had been posted on the website.

Early Character Differences[]

Explored in the early comics, Marin was originally described as not being able to transform the whole way. She was very conscious of destroying her cltohes, so she tended to wear workout clothes when she would potentially have to fight. Malaya however would try to find enough cheap clothes where it wouldn't matter, as she wouldn't "have time for that shit."^[3]

In an early height chart^[4], some of the characters had different last names:

Malaya/Vincent Dychingo Walters -> Dysangco Walters
Elias Vilkas -> Ross
Charlene King -> Masters

Concept Artwork[]

Extra Comics[]

While there are currently no side stories or spin offs, there are a handful of extra comics.

Trivia[]

The website used to use Disqus for its comments, but now uses Hyvor Talk.
The comic received the Rose and Bay 2022 Best Webcomic Award.^[5]
On the Top Webcomics voting page for How to Be a Werewolf, the reward for voting is often a preview for the following page or thumbnails for the last few pages.

Reference[]

[1] Chapter 9 Page 433

[2] Tumblr Post: Jan 18, 2014

[3] Tumblr Post: Aug 26, 2014

[4] Tumblr Post: April 16, 2015

[5] Twitter Post: Mar, 1 2022

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