About Author

Arc Winchester's MatoMatsuri profile

Arc Winchester is the author and illustrator of *Shift Star: the Webcomic*. She's the only one behind the concepts and creation of the web comic. She's the tumblr user arc-winchester and DeviantART user MatoMatsuri, where she posts pictures of other series ideas. Her current profile picture for her DeviantART is a stylized self-portrait while her Tumblr profile is an Axolotl.

## **BACKGROUND**

Arc started *Shift Star* after her sister decided to start a web comic of her own. Though her work hasn't been uploaded as of this time, Arc's designs take inspiration from her designs and concepts. While her sister takes a largely Eastern approach set in the real world, Arc sets her worlds in western environments set in completely made-up worlds.

*Shift Star* was first posted on April 29, 2016. It is the second longest series she's dealt with, and her first "published" work.

## **PERSONALITY**

Arc's online persona is a mixture of nihilistic, overly apologetic, and sarcastic. In real life, she's overly talkative and animated as well as scatter-brained. She enjoys philosophy and psychology, but finds herself more suited for theater and art. She's awful at explanations as well, and can be either too detached or too emotional about a given subject. She can be down-to-earth when she remembers to be. She has a great memory when it comes to her stories and ideas -- and nothing else. She goes through fads regularily, and has trouble staying focused. She ultimately depicts herself at this time as a bit more crazed, as that's how she views her inner self due to her judgmental and two-faced behaviors and thoughts.

## **APPEARANCE**

Arc is a Caucasian woman with short, brown hair swept to the left side,and she had droopy, brown eyes with bags under them. She currently depicts herself with yellow eyes. She has a relatively slender build, but her poor posture and looser clothing such as trench coats or hoodies obscure that fact. She describes herself as rather unremarkable, which is a fact she's proud of. She occasionally depicts herself with glasses despite only needing reading glasses occasionally. She currently depicts herself with a smling mask over her left eye, a half-shadowed face, and a large, shark-like grin.

## **RELATIONSHIPS**

### **KOTAPLEZ**

Kotaplez is Arc's twin sister and the creator of the upcoming web comic *Enigmatic*. Arc and Kota often talk about series ideas or plot points, refining the other's work. Arc's work has influence from Kota's. Cleo Marks was conceptualized from sketches of Kota's protagonist, as they share many similar features in clothing, posture, physic, and attitude. Arc also finds that Kota, although she hasn't been a serious artist as long as Arc has, far surpasses Arc's abilities in art and storytelling, and is seen as both her best friend and rival in Arc's eyes.

## **TRIVIA**

* *Shift Star* was not actually Arc's first choice as her web comic. Her first idea involved massive undersea ships and had a heavier focus on backgrounds, which Arc felt she needed to improve on before. She decided to start *Shift Star* instead, and hasn't regretted it at all.
* With every series she conceptualizes, Arc adds a female character with physical and personality traits she wishes for herself. In the case of *Shift Star*, this character is Maki Seo, as she's physically fit, beautiful, optimistic, and reliable. She claims there is a second "wish-fulfillment" character that has yet to be introduced.
* Arc is considering making a character based on herself, or even directly inserting herself as a character. Whenever she puts herself into her story ideas, she often puts herself as an antagonist with values similar to her own, just flipped on their head.