Comic for Monday, April 10th
Sorry, that was a bit later than expected. Lots of bits of this page that took a little longer than expected. idk why the fuck I was like “yeah, let’s put a mirror there so you have to draw her twice, that’s a good idea!!”. Sometimes I’m a moron. I’m also fairly certain there will be mirror related mistakes, because mirrors are hard. I tried.
This guy ended up looking more like Rovak than I intended. He’s taller and broader shouldered, and his hair and eyes are darker, his eyes are narrower and his jaw is more squared, but somehow that all adds up to “still a blond dude with red eyes”. I think the problem is red eyes stand out more, even in this comic, so two people with red eyes are going to look more similar than different unless they are radically different looking.
So, that’s the end of Chapter 8! Might be the shortest chapter yet. What comes next is something a bit different, but hopefully ya’ll find it interesting. Don’t worry, we haven’t seen the last of Peter’s schemes, it’ll just be maybe a short interlude…?
Hopefully we’ll keep updating on schedule, sorry it’s been a little hit or miss. Just been busy with a lot of stuff (even if a fair chunk of that stuff is pointless procrastinating other stuff, you know how it goes), and finding the time chunks to scratch these out has been a little harder. Want to find a good way to pull in more comic drawing time, but it’s still a work in progress to sort out a good approach there.
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L think the assassin in blue is in for a nasty surprise, because I expect Mium/M.Y.M. to be there in some form or other, and may spoil her plans again.
A while back, there was some speculation that Peter might have a chip like Miko (click on THIS LINK, and read the comments). There are good reasons why he doesn’t, but I’m beginning to wonder if some of his calculations are Mium-assisted. ^^
(P.S. @Ferrus:, I answered your question on that page. ^^)
I thought that looked like Rovak. Wonder what makes them look so similar. Also, she’s funny. “If they send you after that Miko, ask for a raise.” Because, you know, that’s a regular thing to ask for when being sent to kill “a kid”.
Also quite the info dump there between the two of them. Rovak and this guy clearly have some sort of relation (possibly both orish warmages?), teleporter lady who went after Miko is apparently the one who hit the Bridgepoint data, and then back to Peter to find out there’s stuff he can’t be sure what to plan for. (He’s probably figured like 80 different outcomes and has six plans for each, is just hopes it ends up a way he already has ideas for.) That sounds like something others should be worried about, though. Peter can’t plan for this one. (The guy who makes information his business like Rovak makes being Crazy Awesome his business. Really sounds like it should be worrisome.)
What makes them so similar is coloration.
Comics are not very high on detail. Like, we can only assume face structure, we can’t actually see it. And there is too much discrepancy in hand-drawings to ever be sure of a character’s face details.
So, what we, as comic readers use is general shape and coloration. Skin tone + eyes + hair color/style + body style + any apparent markings.
And, if you actually start doing cartoonish stretching of faces, as for extreme surprise, or other gags, then the ONLY thing to identify a particular character is basically color of skin and hair.
I was actually talking about if there was supposed to be some kind of processing that made their faces be similar with the same hair and eyes, or if it’s some massive coincidence, or just how people like them are, or what.
Obviously the hair and eyes were the same color. Why, though? (Is there any reason to it?)
On the subject of “mirror issues”: The only issue I see is panel 1, in the hands (of course). It looks to me like we’re seeing the back of her hands when we should be seeing the front. IDK exactly what would fix it, but it seems like the wrists twist wrong, perhaps.
I love Peter’s last few lines, but I do want to know what that white board had on it… 😛
The mirroring is actually done pretty well, but once I was looking closely I noticed that the lengths the horizontal hair tufts on the top of the bun are different in panels 1 & 2 (but mirrored properly in both!) So that’s actually fine.
As to the hands, it’s an angling/occlusion problem: Her arm is just pointed in a physically impossible angle. It either needs to be further in front of her, which will hide most of the forearm behind the upper arm, or further to the side, in which case the elbow should be almost level with her shoulder. Just model a little with your own arms and it’s pretty easy to “see”.
I think it’s more the lack of visible thumbs in the reflection – or, more precisely, the lack of a visible thumb joint, despite seeing the edge of her hand…
What I find funny is that the eye reflection is mirrored. PastUtopia always draws the eye reflection dots at the top right and bottom left of the eye, even if people are standing across from each (when the light would have to be opposite for them). But for the first time I can recall seeing in recent art times, the eye reflection is mirrored in the mirror.
I wonder what Blue’s job in this is going to be, cause that doesn’t look like standard combat attire. Sexy though.
Guessing by the timing and context, she is probably going to meeting between Malsa, Resh, Arpon, and the I.D.S..
Miko said previously that she was probably a member of the Families, so likely has connections that can get her in there, assuming she is not widely known as the teleporting-murder-assassin (or maybe even if she is, I am a little suspicious that the Families are not much better than the Battle Mages when it comes being a little nuts).
The only Family member we have seen dressed up was the Consul’s adviser, who wore a similar style of outfit (Arkady being the only other one we have seen, and he was walking around with his school friends so probably dressed for the occasion).
It looks like we might know who swiped the Bridgepoint data now. A teleporter known to have stolen from the I.D.S., only the cameras in the access room were tampered with, and we know Peter has been concerned about teleportation for a while.
I agree, though I still have some suspicions. Just teleporting into their server room would not be enough to steal and corrupt the data. They likely have to have the cooperation of a hacker, and they just needed Blue here to plug something into the I.D.S. server directly (as that sort of thing would not be connected to the outside I assume).
I think there is about a fifty fifty that it is someone new (or tealy-the-hacker girl) or Miko. Blue was hunting Miko for being too nosy, and we know that Miko and Peter have a presence on the hire-an-illegal-hacker.com (or where you find these people) since Ryn hired Miko.
Peter claims that he will get it back and that it is an inconvenience, but he also keeps saying he needs more time. If the I.D.S were actually on the verge making it, stealing it and corrupting the data could easily have been a way to buy more time.
In panel 6, “… out IN front of …”
Huh, fixed. Thanks.
in panel 3: “if you are so worried about what he’s doing with Bianca, why didn’t you just kill him when you had the chance?”
Nah, “for” works just fine. “With” implies partnership (or at least equal footing in the arrangement).
It’s my bad, I fixed the error he was correcting (I had he’ instead of he’s), but also changed the for.
Sorry 😐 hadn’t replied to the comment yet after uploading as I got distracted by shiny things on the internet.
Fixed, thanks!