Comments For Page 403

You knew Lord Taguna had to show up again sometime, right? Who's lord Taguna? He's the one That Balap took Charhex from. You can read the story in the archive starting on Page 29.

I hope no one thought I had forgotten this storyline, it's just taken me this long to get back to it. A lots happened to Racheal since her and Balap were last here. Looks like Lord Taguna isn't taking any chances this time and has hired some powerful muscle to take the girls in. Will Racheal and friends last longer then the previous group? Or will they just surrender and hope for the best? Considering what happened to the others (see page 368-370), surrendering isn't really an option, but they don't know that. What will their fate be? Wait and see.

Comments For Page 402

Well, He is a pretty cute looking elf boy. Can anything that cute be dangerous? Wait and see.

Sorry for the late update again. This new style is taking a long time to prefect. I started working on the page early because I knew it would take a while. I even had most of the art done and ready to color by the time I normally start drawing the comic. However, the more time I have, the more of a perfectionist I seem to become. I must have spend close to two hours just fixing the art and putting in backgrounds. It then took me another two hours to color the page and closer to three hours to shade everything and make a few more corrections I didn't see until I started coloring and shading the page. All in all, it took twice as long to create this page then before the style change and I had already begun spending more time on the art and backgrounds before that.

I do like this new style though, so I'll keep working on it. I want to be a better artist so the more I challenge myself, the better the art will get. It's a lot of hard work though, so expect to see many more late updates until I prefect this level of quality.

For good or ill, I've probably reached the limit of where I can improve this style. The only way I can get any better is to start using a lot of reference material and 3D models to create a more realistic style, but then the art wouldn't be uniquely mine anymore. I like my simple style. I think it fits the genre of the comic as well. If I do want to create better art, I'll do it in wallpapers and posters.

Well, Christmas is over. Time to figure out what I'm going to do to survive next year. I didn't make much money since I graduated and my savings are pretty much gone. I need to do something to make my site more popular so I can at least generate some ad revenue. I'm thinking of starting another comic to run 5-7 days a week. This would be a 3-5 panel gag strip done in a simple style that I can crank out pretty quickly. I'll try to start it next week, but I'm still not sure if my idea is funny enough. I want to make sure the concept can sustain a daily update before putting a lot of effort into it. Eventually, I'm just going to have to put something up and see what people think of it. You can over analyze something to death and still not know if it's funny or not. All you can do is put it out there and see if anyone's interested.

Comments For Page 401

The terrible trio has been revealed. But who are they and what do they plan to do to our heroes? They will introduce themselves on Friday so don't miss it.

I originally hadn't planned to do a regular page today, but I opted to do a reveal of the new characters instead. The first two panels are basically quick throwaway art just to fill up the page. I spend most of the time working on the last panel.

As a bonus to people reading my blog, I'll reveal the character's names here. From left to right they are Totoroi, Arlancy, and Oricarl.

Well my brother and his family is here, so I should say hi. I'll be back on Friday.

Comments For Page 400

Wow! I've made it to 400 pages of my web comic. Quite an achievement, and just look at that beautiful image. Make sure you click on it and see it full size. I'm amazed at how good my art has gotten in such a short time. Granted this page took a lot of work to color and shade, but it wouldn't look nearly as good without the tips I picked up (see previous post).

There will not be a new page on Wednesday. If I get a few minutes, I might do a filler; however, I will give you all a nice Christmas Present on Tuesday. It is a secret at this point, but rest assured it will be a nice gift. The present will only be around from Christmas eve to Boxing day. After that it will be taken down and likely won't be seen on this site again.

It's getting late, so I better get some sleep. I'll see you sometime after Christmas.

Have a Merry Christmas and best wishes for this holiday season.

Comments For Page 399

Oooh, pretty. I was reading some tutorials on how to draw digitally and I came across a site called Draw Furry. On the site are a lot of different techniques for drawing and coloring digitally. One post I found particularly interesting was this one. Kelly explains how she created the image on the front page. She says she uses a dark blue gray for her shadows, and the effect is really nice. She also filled in the whole character with shadow on a new layer. Then she used an eraser to remove the shadows from the lighter areas. Once she added some highlights, she had a very nice 3D image.

As you can see, I used the technique myself and it really wasn't any more time consuming then the old method I used for drawing shadows. The shadows are heavier then I usually use, but that's because this page's events takes place at sunrise. I won't be so shadow heavy in future pages (unless the scene once again calls for it).

What did take extra time to do was all the gradients. They really help give a more 3D look to complement the shadows, but it takes a while to line them up properly so they look right. I also placed a picture in the background of the first panel that I drew for art class (you can see it on my Deviant Art page). I did this because I wanted a nice sunrise to complement the rest of the picture.

Remember, the big Four-O-O is on Monday. It's going to show a spectacular view of the area, so don't miss it.

Comments For Page 398

Doesn't look like Balap is going to be much help in this fight. That is one big hammer, he's lucky it didn't actually hit him. Actually it looks more like a croquet mallet then a war hammer.






This page didn't take a long as the last couple. I don't know if I'm getting better at this, or if the pictures were just easier to draw. I started a lot sooner then I usually do so that helped. I actually got the picture colored before I got too tired to see straight.

I did the basic animation for my 2 second project, so now I just need to draw my character over the roughs and color it. This is the equivalent of drawing and coloring the same character 48 times. A daunting and time consuming task, but the animation will look really nice when I'm done (I hope). If the speed of putting up todays page is any indication, it might not take as long as I fear. I have a week to work on it, but with any luck I'll be done by Friday. It will be a nice christmas present to give to all my loyal fans.

Comments For Page 397

I guess the skeletons have nothing better to do then to ambush people teleporting in from other dimensions.

It took quite a while to draw and color all those skeletons. I really could have used some more around the sides to give more of a claustrophobic feeling. I suppose if the girls are going to survive this encounter there can't be too many skeletons.

Racheal's in real trouble since her legs are trapped. At least her ring is thought activated so it's only a matter of generating a weapon and cutting herself loose. There's the little problem of the other skeletons to worry about though since they likely won't give her the chance to escape.

Racheal looks really cute in the first panel. It's just one of those lucky accidents where I made the head and eyes too big. Maybe I should draw the characters cuter on purpose. Would you like that?

I'm working on a new project that I hope to have finished in a few days. I'm trying to get back into animation. It's really been too long since I've done anything and I really should keep practicing before I forget what I've learned. There are a few contests going on that I plan to enter, so I have something to motivate me. I seem to need real deadlines in order to do anything. If everything works out, I'll try to do more animation in the future.

Comments For Page 396

Who are these robed figures and what danger will they be to our heroes? The answer to these questions and more will be revealed next week.

This page didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. I even started work on it early, but I still ended up rushing at the end.

I really should have used some reference photos for the robes. It took a few tries to get them to hang right, and they still don't look perfect. I really should have used the underling forms but I didn't want to reveal what the characters looked like until later.

I debated about whether the second panel should have a crowd of people or not. Ultimately, laziness won out. I really should have used a smaller chamber for a private audience with the king though.

The last panel isn't what I wanted at all. I originally planed to freeze frame them in mid trip. However, problems with getting the cloaks right and the desirer to show the feet changed things a bit. I'd like to redo it but I've got another things to work on.

Speaking of which, I should get back to work. I'll see you Monday.

Comments For Page 395

Brand new story starts today. These two characters along with the two introduced in the previous side story (pages 368-370) will play a major role in this story. More characters will be introduced on Friday and the story will really get going on Monday.

As you can see I tried a different shading technique and a new hair color process. I think it looks pretty good and it didn't take much more time then the usual methods. Actually the hair looks better and was easier to do, so I think I'll stick to this method.

This page was as much an experiment to try drawing different female body types as it was a fun, sexy story. This story takes place in a heavy populated area so there will be people of many sizes and shapes showing up. This includes some strong handsome men, so expect the story dynamics to go up a notch.

Page 400 is quickly approaching and that means a large double page spread. This time I'm going to use the space for a huge establishing shot of the kingdom and the army of a thousand mentioned on the title.

This will be the girls' most dangerous adventure yet. Some will live, some will die and some will be changed forever as the story continues. Keep reading and I'll keep posting. See you Friday.

Comments For Page 394

As promised, here is the new cover for the previous chapter along with the old cover which is actually for the next chapter.

I filled in the hedge with a texture from Photoshop instead of my usual rough leaf drawings. It doesn't stand out as much but it is cleaner. This picture was colored and shaded in Photoshop instead of using Manga Studio as I usually do. I may continue to do this in the future. However, I'll still want to use the text balloons and textures from Manga Studio. I can get the colors from the previous comics, so getting the proper color shouldn't be a problem.


I'll be doing some side stories for the next couple of pages before getting back into the main story. These are not fillers, but will impact the main story later on. One story will be very sexy and the other will be very dark. Let me know if you would like more of this kind of art in the main storyline.

Comments For Page 393

The gang is finally on their way to rescue their friends. Hopefully they are not too late.

Expect big changes next week. By this point in my comic's life I should be getting at least 1000 people visiting my page every day, but I'm only getting a fraction of that. Why? Probably because the comic is too tame. It is not extremely funny, it is merely amusing at times. It is not action packed, but has the occasional violent scene. The art is not spectacular, but it gets the job done. The writing isn't amazing, but it's not bad either. Basically, in it's current state, my web comic is too middle of the road to get much notice. I have neither strong fans nor harsh critics.

It's time to change all that. I had originally planned for this comic to be weird. Dr. Seuss meets Tim Burton weird. However, due to my lack of drawing skill and time, I played it safe most of the time and now I'm paying for that. Well, no longer. Starting next week, the comic will be going in a brand new direction. I'm not going to let my inner critic hold me back any longer. Expect more weirdness, more danger, and more over-the-top humor then ever before. I'm going to make the type of comic I'd want to read. I know I'll likely tick some people off, but any reaction is better than the poor response I'm getting now.

Expect two covers on Monday. One to replace the one used in the old story line because it no longer fits (as discussed in the last post), and a new one to commemorate the new direction the comic is going. I also have plans for a few other things, but considering my track record, I wouldn't get my hopes up. If anyone has any comments or suggestions please let me know. I'm always looking for ways to improve my comic.

Comments For Page 392

My first twelve panel page. I've really been dragging this story line out way too long and it's going to end Friday, even if I have to do a 20 panel page - which I won't. I should be able to deal with everything in nine to twelve panels and then on Monday there will be a new cover for the past storyline.

That's right, I said past. The cover I originally made was meant for the next storyline, but I figured that this section would be short (the gang gets the satchel and is quickly on their way), so I did one cover to cover both stories; however, somewhere along the way, I decided it would be more interesting if Cepani took and hid the satchel, which led to the current story line.

In the end it was a good thing as it allowed me to deal with a few loose ends like how Racheal knows the language, why Slara doesn't like Cepani, what happened to Charhex, who Birhena is (and how she joins the group), what happened to Racheal's ring, and how Balap gets a new weapon. That last one likely wouldn't have happened at all without this story but I have plans for it in the future.

As the last panel suggests, I want to make it clear that these stories about the origins of the Animal Tokens are just stories. Each one has a bases of truth but none of then (and there are going to be several more before the saga ends) tells the whole truth. Don't worry, Slara isn't going to tell her story next. Fact is, she doesn't know much more then anyone else. As she'll make clear on Friday, she just finds Terra's story too full of holes to be believable.

Sorry my blog is up so late. I was working all day and this is the first chance I've gotten to sit down and type this up. I was up late last night trying to get the comic done because I knew I wouldn't have any time to work on it today. I had to get up early and add the shadows before going to work. I don't know how many people noticed there weren't any shadows on the page last night but I had the corrected page up before most people would have been awake this morning.

Comments For Page 391

What a lot of stuff Cepani has collected. Can you see the satchel anywhere?

That's a pretty large bed. I guess Birhena won't need all that room anymore.

Sorry that this page is up late once again. I could blame the third panel, but it actually wasn't that difficult - just time consuming. The real reason this is up late is because I watched "The Incredibles" on TV instead of working. I had seen the movie before, but I had forgotten a lot. Especially at the beginning when the characters are being introduced. There's some good stuff there that I missed the first time.

I didn't take the time to do perfect perspective, so if somethings are a little wonky it's because they were wonky to begin with. I've done enough good perspective drawings that I at least kept thinks looking too out of place. Let me know if anything looks really off and I'll change it.