A taste of magic?

Finally!  A show of magic!  Kinda necessary in a story concerning swords & sorcery.  Are our heros about to be rid of these hideous tunnels?

For the most part - content with this one, although I feel like I need to do some work on the magic wall effects - just doesn't seem like it has enough pizzazz.  *shrug* Oh well, good enough for now.

Melee continues ....

Yet another page, as the combat for our heros continue.  Wonder if they can tell the difference between the enchanted Yig Sith and the not-enchanted Yig Sith, as far as combat goes ...

I still would like to finish the chapter before the end of the year, but there's no way I can do five pages in three days.

I'm ready to get the characters out of these alien-esque passageways - I'm tired of drawing and coloring them already.  Not to mention, I'm past ready for the heros to get on the move; explore distance lands; encounter exotic creatures; and get into even more adventure.

*sigh* Oh well, we'll get there eventually ....

A return to the action

With it being only around 16 or so hours late.

With that being typed, I wish everyone a very blessed holiday season, no matter which religion, if any, you celebrate, and a happy new year.

Info dump.....

I suppose a couple of apologies are necessary for this one ....

First - I know, I'm late - pre-generated excuse #044 - the holidays.  'Nuff said.

Second - this is a little back ground on the monsters that our heros are currently fighting against.  Again.

Since last time (yeah, back in November) I couldn't fit all the script on the planned page, I ended up adding a page to the script in order to handle my overly verbose nature.  Fairly happy with the layout on this one, but I have decided that I need to re-do the Temple of Romanova.

I "constructed" the Temple in a 3D CAD type program.  That way I wouldn't have to wonder what the temple looked like from odd camera angles.  And I wanted it based on the ancient Greek temples, ala Amazonian style.  In theory, a brilliant idea.  However, since I didn't get the scale of the temple right (from the beginning), and since I'm not liking how my digital engineering is turning out, I've decided that I'm going to delete the file and start over from scratch.  So, maybe one day, I'll go back and edit the previous pages with the new temple design.  Yeah.  Right.

Another thing is that I've gone back a page, and "fixed" my editing mistakes on the first page of this info dump.  Now, I just have to work my way back one more page to fix editing mistakes.  Then I get to go back even further and fix some shading errors (or lack thereof).

I was hoping to have this chapter finished by the end of the year - probably not going to happen.  There are five more pages (maybe even six) to go before the chapter is finished.  I have three of them ready to color and am still working on the pencils for the other two.  So, I'm gonna say this chapter won't be finished until February of next year.  Apologies, but that's just life getting in the way of my artistic endeavors.

Any ways, enjoy the end of the info dump.  Cheers!

Back story history

Thus, we have the beginning of the back story to the terrible creatures that our heros are facing.  Part one at least.

I was hoping to fit everything on this one page, but it looks like I'll have to finish up on the next one (ie, bonus page to script).

I admit, in my devious mind I modeled some of the Yig Sith off of the Aliens idea, coupled with some scraps from the H.P. Lovecraft mythos.

I am also working on some maps of the Arcane Compass.  I have decided to make some changes (yet again), so here hopefully before the end of the year, these new changes will be on-line and ready for you to look at.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (even those herbivores out there).

As the lesson continues ...

I know - I'm about 26 hours late, but I had equipment malfunction, coupled with the fact that replacement parts aren't manufactured anymore (except for the crappy over-seas that aren't even worth breaking).

I finally figured out why the last couple of pages didn't quite look right to me - I forgot to drop some shadows in.  duh ....

This page took some work, and some re-work, and some more re-work ... some of my texture ideas just didn't work (at least I couldn't get them to work).  And I figured out that the CGI model that I had made for the Romanova temple wasn't in the correct scale ... oops.

Anyways, here we witness the acolyte summon the earth elemental weird, with an allusion to what end she was summoned, ie - a brief history lesson of the Arcane Compass is to follow.

Meanwhile, back in Themiscrya...

A shift in story just as our heros entered round 3 with their new playmates.  A cut-scene for some background info.

Kinda happy with this one, kinda not.  Eh ... perhaps it's just were I've only had 5 hours of sleep in the past two days.

As a side note - experienced my first SCA event today.  Barring the cold weather and my daughter being under the weather herself, it was most excellent - we both enjoyed it.

Or is she?

Yeah, yeah - a couple of days late, but pre-generated excuse #144 - I (hopefully) corrected some coding errors of the comic pages, added an archive page (graphic to come later) and tried to spiff the over sleekness.

Pretty content with this one - I was ahead of schedule til I started my web-monkey tinkering.

Finally - rescuing the damsel in distress

So I'm a three days late.  Big deal.

I'm fairly happy with this one, although I probably should go back over this later on.  I need to work on the light / shadow in this one, and the two before it.  Enjoy.

Ok, so I'm a bit off schedule ...

I'll admit it - I got my weekends mixed up.  I was drawing this week instead of coloring.  I'll try to have the next page up tonight before I retire, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it - chances are, it'll be up sometime this week.

Oh well, back to the coloring board .....

EDIT - 23:00 - All the basic colors are done, so is the Hearts of Space music program, and so am I, I believe; 04:30 comes too early for me.

The Temple of Doom?

Ok, so I admit it - that's what inspired this location.

I'm not really pleased with this page.  I didn't have enough time to play with the lighting and shadows as much as I wanted.  That and I placed the second narrative block in the wrong place - blocks out all of the right side of the crevice ... *sigh* oh well, perhaps I'll get a change to fix this in the next few days.

*EDIT* - Ok, I fixed the narrative block position, but I think I'm just going to leave most everything else.

Creepy descent ...

Well, maybe.  At least it's intended to be.  I attempted to channel a little bit of H.R. Giger into the cavern, but I just don't think I got the vibe I was hoping for.  *shrug* Oh well, on with the story

Haven't we been here before?

Yes, but that was before our heros wandered through ...

Fairly happy with this one, again I could've spent more time on the shading and texture, but alas.

The day after

As the plot progresses.

For the most part, I like the way this page turned out.  Could've taken more time to do shading, but it's a nice clear day outside - ripe for adventure to be had.

Devious sneaks

It's just too pretty out today to be sitting inside working on comics.  But alas ....

Fairly happy with this one, although I should've put more time into shadowing.  See above sentence for pre-generated excuse.

And, as a side note, Realm of Atland is almost nearing the end of the story.  I've been following this since a little after Nate began publishing it to the web.  I have drawn a lot of inspiration from his work, and I've reaped from his generosity of free fonts for comics and illustrations.  If you enjoy high fantasy, crude humor, and an excellent story line - check it out.

Almost on time

I've still got 1 hour and 25 minutes til Sunday, so I'm still on schedule.

So, this one was pretty simple, not quite as many CGI people.  For the most part, I'm fairly pleased with this page.

Meanwhile, back at the village ....

Ok, so I'm a few days late (again).  I have two really good reasons - (1) This weekend my motorcycle kidnapped me, (2) I had this super brilliant idea to CG in modified photos of actual people to be used as the crowd.  Yeah.  Brilliant idea to consume a lot of time.  I believe that one will be filed in File 13.

So, enjoy the be-lated page

The plot thickens

First off, apologies for the delay - holidays and vacations seems to cause that.  Hopefully, I'll get back on the every other week schedule (and be able to keep it for a little while).

Mysteries in the swamp....

(key ominous music) Our plot goes back to the ancient temple.  Or, at least what's left of it.

An apology for being a bit late, but I had out of state training last week.

I think I'm going to classify digital painting with greens (as in landscaping) right up there with greens in oil painting - they drive me crazy!

Oops!

Boy, I'm kinda embarrassed.  I got my weekends mixed up - I should've posted this last weekend instead of this coming weekend.  So much for being on top, and even ahead somewhat.

Well, my last update continues the inside tavern action.  I'm getting happier with my coloring and such, just taking some time to get back into the groove.  I've got to get back to shading and highlighting my flats again, to make the characters look a little more character-ish.

So, hopefully, I'll have the next page ready, and posted, before the weekend of the 11th.  Wish me luck

Page 35

About 12 hours early - let's hope I can keep this kind of schedule ;)

Our intrepid heros have returned to the local tavern just after sunrise, only to find that their elderly employer has disappeared.  However, at least he did leave them their pay ....

New Release!

Ok, a few days behind, but we're up and running once again.  A new design (basic, but sleek), and a new comic.  Hopefully, the comic part will be updated once every two weeks, starting today.

This is basically a catch-up from the last time I posted anything, setting the stage as it were.  Our intrepid heros have just returned to the village of Bonemarsh following their swamp expedition.