unsounded

kid's a prodigy

11_72-74

So swoopy! I had a lot of fun with hands and birds and Duane's cloak on these pages though as usual it was a challenge to keep things clear with all the detailed glamours and writhing lines. Like Quigley, Rahm relies a bit too heavily on pymarics but I think I foreshadowed that to an extent with the necklace he crafted for Matty...

11_71

That middle panel took a ridiculously long amount of time to do. It wasn't just the detail of the glamours but the perspective of the underlying stairwell too. Rahm's wacky owls were fun though. I don't think he's quite the artist that Vienne was, so  rather than design original creatures when he makes pymarics he puts weir...

11_70

Return of the gozzy trap! And a different model of trap-weaving spider loaded up with a completely differently enchanted manner of First Silk. I fully expect someone to think that's Boo.

11_69

I think Duane would be reacting very differently if he'd become more involved in the town in the past few days; if he'd met with the locals more, seen more, learned more about the closure and the ill feelings it had fomented. But he remained fairly isolated with Sette and the Frummagems, and then even more removed from all of th...

11_68

I've always thought true badassness was acting in spite of your emotions and letting your heart hang out; not so much being a stone wall. So fighting giant magical mecha while heaving ugly sobs is pretty epic in my book!

11_67

Don't you think saddlehounds must have the potential to be wildly brutal in battle? Especially the heavier set ones. I'd been really looking forward to drawing a dog getting someone by the throat. This was a good day!

In case you were curious, this chapter's got 92 pages. We'll spend the rest of it in high gear, I think!

July 2016 patron supported

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Our gorgeous hero

Duane's super handsome by chapter's end.

11_65&66

I really love drawing and colouring water, especially underwater scenes. This long middle panel on 65 was especially fun, with the weedy Two-toe ruins soundlessly growling at the bottom of the river. 

Jivi again impresses the balls off Sette but she'll never admit it to him. We get to see her face though :)

66 is th...

11_64

Sette's "Neh" makes me laugh. Also her complete preoccupation with her own troubles as the city starts to burn and white-haired kid's possibly in mortal peril. And whiny Hat. And is this a stupid ghost now? It's not red so it can't be too dangerous. Letters from Da, letters from Da, gotta get these read, figure this out.

11_63

Sette's preeeetty quick to duck into Duane's cloak, much more so than she's ever been in the past. I think last night's brush with vengeful ghosts and lustful Starfish is still far too fresh in her head.

Iori is my favourite character this chapter though, for real. She probably shouldn't be blaming herself for what happened wi...

11_62

I went back and forth a lot with the little flashes of the Ripas' past, unable to decide if I wanted to add dialogue or not. I always wanted to keep it all in the background though - just a sketched subtext motivating Iori and Rahm in the present day - so I opted to leave it textless and vague.

11_61

This is one of my favourite pages in the whole comic but I doubt anyone would understand why, haha. I like the dialogue and the expressions; the way these idiots are beginning to form a group dynamic. They make me laugh! :D

I like Sette eating sardines too. Do you eat all the bones when you eat sardines from the can? Sette and...

11_60

And we're back!

Thanks for your patience during the break, I always appreciate it :) Our heroes are about two minutes behind the nasty, fiery business that happened last scene, but don't worry - they're going to catch up pretty quickly.

I sympathise with Duane's lack of direction. There was a character in Ranma 1...

11_56-59

I decided this was best delivered at once, but that does require a break! I'll be back July 18th.

This was a difficult scene to handle. We always want absolution for a person, especially one as troubled and flawed as Elan. But villains and the injustices they bring about often deny us that satisfaction. I'm not sure Elan f...

11_55

Those top two panels took a while and started giving me latter-half chapter 10 flashbacks. Destruction is pretty but all that detail sure takes time.

There are some pretty devastating pages next week. At least, I find them upsetting. I may do one big post on Wednesday to get 'em out and then take a mini-break. Stay tuned, ...

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11_54

Thank you, cameo guy! And thank you for looking after Dawn, Dawn's friend, whom I don't believe I ever named.

I like the little acts of kindness I can sneak in - the little selfless gestures and friendships that don't call a lot of attention to themselves but which hint this is a world where plenty of people do actually lo...

11_53

Iori seems to have a lot of faith in her husband; or at least a lot of faith in Bastion Winalils' ability to lead him astray. She blames herself a lot for all this. "I should have put my foot down a long time ago."

Inaction is itself a conscious choice and its own form of action. Letting your loved one sit in a pit of desp...

11_52

Fond of the drawings on this page but man, what was I smoking when I did the balloons in the second panel. Crossing tails! Huge no-no.

Timofey is not much of a hero. He loves a good hero and has a huge appreciation for bravery and selflessness, but they're not really traits built into him. He's also not so fond of the idea...

11_51

I like that shot of Ilganyag; she looks a little cooler than usual, not as awkward and ready to topple over. I think Iori very much wants to cut her throat.

11_50

Most of this dialogue is very old, in script terms. It's largely unchanged from how I first wrote it out eight years ago. It's always a little funny to see something finally realised that was only in my imagination for the longest time.

Bastion's a little touchy with Rahm, hmm? The way Rahm almost literally runs away from ...

11_49

11_48

This page is so pregnant with obfuscated information it makes me a bit giddy. I want to talk on and on about all the subtext but I can't. It hurts me! D: Bastion keeps everything close, even when talking to Rahm. There is much he will not and cannot get into, and him brushing it off may not be arrogance or even me staggering rev...

11_47

Bastion is not the worst dad in the world. He defends his carrion son when another man maligns him. But in the same breath he invalidates poor Timofey which I don't think was appreciated.

I very much enjoyed drawing this page. The revelation that Bastion is responsible for Duane's existence never felt like it should be sur...

11_46

There are a lot of interesting little details in this temple space. It was fun to lay it out. It's a two-toe temple, and so everything needed to be to their scale. The ledge around the primitive statue of Ilganyag makes it almost look like a water fountain, but it's actually the perfect height for little lizardmen to squat in fr...

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11_45

I really enjoy writing Rahm and Bastion together. They frequently snipe at each other but they have a long history and are generally good friends. Pymary nerd bros. Rahm still doesn't want to see Bastion's junk though, no offence, put on the bloody dressing gown.

I had a great time at Megacon this past weekend but I'm read...

11_44

Throwing up 44 and 45 for my Patreon posse. These won't go live on the site until next Monday and Wednesday. You're special!