Chapter 9, page 18
7th Sep 2020
Sanity break!
Chapter 9 has ended! I'm not sure if you guys noticed, but this last chapter was a LOT more ambitious, art-wise, than the usual. I'm inking on a higher resolution than I started the comic with (600dpi vs 350dpi) and I'm making much greater use of Clip Studio assets, between brushes and 3D models. I've even learned some blender in order to make models of my own.
I hoped these new assets would help me raise artwork quality and save time, but I didn't count on the added complexity it gave page production. Not only that, but this chapter had many pages involving NPC groups reacting to the environment or each other, which required even more pre-planning than I'm used to put on both paneling and the panel itself. I'm not used to pages taking 2 days to reach the screentoning phase, but this happened way too often during this chapter.
That's not to say the assets were a failure; I've learned a lot from this chapter, most importantly how much detail a panel really needs, how much I can get away with not including, which assets to place first-- so many detailed backgrounds were hilariously obscured by characters or impact effects, or had to be toned down due to overwhelming the foreground! -- and I hit a good groove around page 13, having figured out which brushes, effects and items I most used and sticking to them. But it's been a journey, and I've been feeling distinctly potato-brained for a good chunk of it.
In sum: I know I took a break before this chapter, but I'm taking another one before the next. In fact, it might be beneficial to me to take breaks between chapters, in general. OTOH, I don't want to leave the site dead during these breaks, so I'm considering some side-content, like omakes or short stories. There's a lot about this universe that hasn't been shown on page! But it's also hard to know what makes for good short content off the top of my head.
So I'm turning to you readers.
Do you have any questions or prompts?
Background details, or offscreen shenanigans, what are you guys curious about? Let me know in the comments! Meanwhile, I'm setting a tentative return date to September 28!
Latest News
Chapter 16 is on the way!
6th Mar 2023
After almost exactly a year of downtime, I'm finally ready to pick the comic back up!
A lot has happened since the last update-- we moved out, I caught covid again, there was a lot of paperwork and stress. But then I figured, if I didn't resume this work, the comic would just languish and fade like my previous efforts, and I just didn't want that to happen.
So I'm proud to announce I'm back on my bullshit, and chapter 16 - the beginning of an arc I'm very excited about - will start on March 20th! Stay tuned!
Some personal news
18th Mar 2022
Hello everyone, sorry I haven't had much to write about since chapter 15 began. Having finished all the page work for chapter 15 in early February, I'd hoped to use this time to work on assets and pre-planning for the upcoming arc. Unfortunately, my father fell very ill at that time, was hospitalized, and after weeks of struggle he has passed away.
I'd intended to write more, make this a proper formal announcement, but there's no good way to say "my father is dead so the schedule is up in the air". It is what it is. I'm fine, I'm calm, other family members are coping with varying degrees of success. Witnessing other people's grief is the hardest part so far. I expect things will settle into a new normal, but I can't even fathom what that normal will look or feel like when that happens. I also haven't had the heart to ask mom about what the financial landscape will look like without dad, but I expect things will be tight for a while. I don't want to shill my patreon when updates are so uncertain, but I do have a Kofi I made and then never used, so if anyone wants to send a little tip, it'll be a big help. Thanks for the support as always, and for following this little tale of mine.
Chapter 15 begins!
24th Jan 2022
Alright, I'm back! Good thing I made no promises, because the delay was crazier than expected. Among several other things that happened, work decided to go back to on-site, and then I proceeded to catch the new strain of covid two days before they figured out it was a bad idea and had us go back to remote working. So that's where January went, basically.
But!! We're starting the new chapter today! I hope you guys enjoy it, it's certainly been a lot of work!