Chapter 6-Rika

[Tealya]

I've modified it to include all of chapter 6. There are about 6-7 more weeks left of this chapter. It may be 5 weeks, depending on how I break up the pages. It's not too much longer, though. After that, Yang Child will go on hiatus while I finish plotting out part 2 and updating the site. I still have a few more images I need to do and decide on a new background. Any suggestions?

In the break time, I will put up fan art (if I get any) and will do a few character responses to your letters. If you'd like to ask any (or all) of the characters a question or two, please post them here. I'll answer a few in comic form and a few here.

[Tealya]

I guess I am the only one that still comes to the forums. I need to find some way to liven things up a bit.

[Tealya]

Well, maybe if I talked to myself for a while, more people will show up.

So, Thursday the 15th's update turned out nicely in my opinion. Personally, I love that Luta is playing along with the 'Bertha' thing. She's so calm and indifferent about the whole thing. The poor kid just can't win.

I've been drawing backgrounds a whole lot more these days and I think I like the effect on the whole image more than the copied, pasted, and slightly blurred backgrounds. The diamond windows were a pain to do, though. I have the pattern but putting the orange highlights and shadows on them takes far too long. I don't think I'll be doing these windows much. The chibi Bryoak in the second panel ended up more stretched out than I first expected. He didn't look that stretched in the pencil. That would be the only thing I really don't like about the page, though.

Next update: What is the kid's name? Read on Tuesday to find out. ;D

[Tealya]

And his name has been revealed! He is Rika, a name that is apparently very popular with wood elves at the moment.

This weeks updates both amuse and frustrate me. I like the over all layout and dialog, especially when Bryoak really removes the wind out of Rika's arguments by pointing out he's met 3 female Bryoaks. Poor Rika just is not sure what to say after that so he goes back to pouting. I also love when Luta agrees with Rika that his name is 'girly.'

There are some shots, however, where I just don't like how the characters turned out at all. I was finishing the drawing last minute and it shows. In the third to last panel on Thursday's update, Luta's pose is odd and sort of foppish to me. I also really don't like Bryoak's profile in the last panel. His eye is too high and face is over all too flat. I do, however, like Rika in that panel. I don't think he has really figured out that he's now stuck with these people. He'll learn quickly, though.

Next update: A little more info on Rika and wood elves.

[Tealya]

5/27 and 5/29 updates:

First, this is the last updates of this scene. The next few pages will be in the morning, leaving. I'll give a 2 week notice for the end of the winged kitty contest for everyone. I'm hoping for more than three entries. If not, I guess I'll have my first, second, and third place entries.

Now, for the pages themselves, I love the chibi Lea hugging Rika. I was tossing around an alternate line where Rika was shouting about girl cooties. He's still in that stage. For the last Tuesday and first Thursday panel, I can't tell if Luta's bored or depressed. She's supposed to look bored but came out looking rather sad looking. The second Thursday panel, however, gets right back to the Luta I'm more used to. She does leave us with the question of why she saved him, though. I'm not really sure why she did so at the moment. Despite what she says, I know she does have a heroic side to her. It's just very rare to see it.

What I really dislike: Luta's arms in the third Thursday panel and the waitress in the background of the first panel. I couldn't get Luta's arms to look right in that last big panel. Everything I did looked wrong. As for the waitress in the background, her head is tilted weirdly and it doesn't look right to me. I wasn't trying to have her head tipped at all, so I'm not sure why I ended up doing that.

Next week: Rika knows what girls look and Luta is clearly not it. ;D

[Tealya]

6/3 and 6/5 updates:

If Rika's not careful, Luta will teach him a lesson. I highly doubt that he'll enjoy her teach methods. ;D He'll learn soon enough, though.

For Tuesday, what I like the most is the sun window in the temple. I wasn't sure what I was going to put there originally, but I like the sun symbol in it. This is also the only shot where you can see the gardens on top of the building. What I don't like are the bridges between the towers and Luta in the third panel. I just could not get the bridges to look right at all on either of the updates. As for Luta, she looks better than she did in the pencil sketch, but she still looks too flat to me. She was supposed to look a little hunched over and depressed. Instead she looks like she's angry and has her shoulders raised a little. It's not the look I was going for at all. It still fits, but it's not what I was going for.

On the Thursday update, I hate Bryoak's right ear in the second panel. I don't know why, but when I scanned it, the lines there were distorted a little and smudged. It made the ear look very odd. Again, I also hate the bridges on the temple. As for the temple itself, I'm not fond of it, but it actually works well. My original view was to make it more elegant. My intention was to have the windows be intermingled in the tree branches. Instead, it ended up looking a little gaudy and like it has a face. It's not what I was going for, but it works in the story. Lath temples tend to be over decorated and look a little gaudy.

Now we are left with several questions: what did Rika do to the temple? What's Leanna worried about?

There should be only 3 weeks left before I go on hiatus over the summer., unless I do the epilogue. The epilogue in one more weeks worth of updates. It involves X and answers a few questions about what it's up to. If just one person posts, I'll do the epilogue too. If not, I may do it, or I may not. It will depend on how I'm feeling about it when I get there.

Oh, and I'm still taking questions and comments from readers. If you'd like to ask the cast or me a question about the comic/characters or send a comment, and see it answered in comic form, post them here. All questions are welcome.

[Merlin]

Jun 5, 2008 12:12:15 GMT -5 Tealya said:

6/3 and 6/5 updates:
The epilogue in one more weeks worth of updates. It involves X and answers a few questions about what it's up to. If just one person posts, I'll do the epilogue too.

Psh, I think the real reason there's no comment on this is because we all know what X is up to...

...that sneaky cat.

Haha, for serious though, I wouldn' mind seeing that. I like x.


Oh, and I have a 'question for the cast', for Bryoak (sorry if you've already answered this).
Do wood-elves have any innate magical powers?

And comment? I'm still loving the work you put into your backgrounds.

[Tealya]

There's been a comment! Yay!

lol. That is wonderful, Merlin, and so something X would do. ;D Nope, that question has not been answered. It'll be the first they'll address.

6/10 and 6/12 updates:
So, they are now inside the temple. Luta is noticeably not pleased. She and Leanna don't like temples much. I love Leanna's definition of casual, though. Marching is not suspicious at all. Everyone should have seen the priest's anger coming. There are very few people that Rika has not angered in this town. I'm leaving exactly what he did up to your imagination. I'm sure you can come up with some better pranks than I could.

The inside of the temple was a pain to do. So many small, straight lines. The first panel on Thursday's update took forever to ink and put shadows on. I love the shot, though. The grooves in the columns turned out pretty good. It took a little fiddling with the get them to look like grooves, but it was worth the effort. I would move Luta and the others down further in the room if I did it again, but the perspective is just what I was going for. It gives a good view of the temple and how empty it is. I can't say I'm as pleased with Teskis, though. She was supposed to look a little more squid like. The water scene behind her turned out nice, though. It's one of my better photoshop only backgrounds. I should have made Teskis separately from the paper ink so I could fiddle with her design more.

Next week: Getting the priest to treat Rika. With the epilogue, there's only 3 weeks left.

[Tealya]

6/17 and 6/19 updates:

Meant to get this done last night but was too busy with squffies stuff. I'm finishing the story and images for the summer solstice celebration there.

Anyway, on to the Yang Child updates. I think FWTrump in the shoutbox summed these updates up best: Little Girls: 1, Priests: 0. Leanna can be very influential. After all, who can resist a crying girl. You've got to love how the priest quickly changes his tune.

I can't say there is anything I particularly dislike about this page. I wish I had made the 2nd panel on the Thursday update bigger and put people moving behind Bry and Luta in the fifth panel. Otherwise, I fine with these updates.

What I really like is the priest's expression in the first panel on Thursday. He clearly was not expecting Leanna to start loudly crying like that. Originally, I was going to have Luta whisper to her to cry, but I decided Lean really didn't need prompting. She's been traveling with Luta long enough to know when to do these sorts of things. I also originally thought about adding a short little one panel scene about why Luta and Leanna dislike temples. Then I thought it was more interesting to just let you people keep wondering. I also didn't have room for it. I'll reveal it eventually, but not today.

Next week: The last page in this chapter. Time to wrap up this chapter and start down the road again with Rika in tow.

[Tealya]

6/24 and 6/26 updates:

I got this done the night before! Go me! ;D

So, that finishes out this chapter and the next week will finish off part 1. Huzzah! It feels like it took forever to get here. Actually, it took 8 months with a few breaks in there. It always feels good to get a chapter done. It'll feel even better when I have this part completely finished.

Anyway, these pages were my typical ending pages with the characters walking off into the sunrise. Maybe I'll have them walk into the sunset one of these days. A few loose ends are being tied up. Rika's wounds have been treated and (for now) he seems content to go with them. He's stepping out into the great big world for the first time. Truthfully, Rika was not that against going with them. It's a chance to get out. His opinion on staying with them will change once he's in a new place. We also learn that Bry wont be keeping the kid. Bryoak is not ready to be anyone's father just yet in his life, so he'll be passing Rika off to his parents. They really are good parents, by the way.

What I don't like: the walls of the city in the Tuesday background. I meant to put some more shading on them to make the logs of the walls look more 3-D, but forgot. I kicked myself later for that. I'm going to go back and fix it on the original sometime in the next week or so, though. It's easy enough to fix. I'm also not happy with the chibis on Thursday's third panel. Rika is not angry enough. Leanna is too flat, and Luta just looks odd all around. The Bryoak chibi is the only one that really turned out right. Also, if you'll notice, Emma has just disappeared. She poofed out of existence for that panel. I keep forgetting to add her and Mae. They didn't get big parts in this chapter, so I keep forgetting them. They'll get bigger parts in the next chapter so I shouldn't forget them then.

Overall, I love the background of the Tuesday update despite the flaw in the city walls. I played around with colors and techniques with it, and got an effect I like. It shows both how big and how small the city is, and a little of how empty Zeeah is. It's one of the least populated provinces after the Riokos. I also really like the last panel of Thursday's update. I should have made the characters smaller, but I still like how it came out. I think Bryoak may feel a little bad that Leanna never hugged him in the last two panels. She likes (to torment) Rika more than him. Poor Bryoak. I'm sure he'll get over it in a few days, though.

Next week: X returns! Dun dun dun!

Also, this is the last week I will take winged kitty entries. Get them to me, if you haven't already.

[Rina]

I noticed something about the latest page- Emma seems to disappear in panel three. Something tells me you didnt mean to do that but you might have missed it ^,^" (This is my first time visiting the forums... O.o should i be worried about anything?)

[Tealya]

Welcome to the forums. It's fairly quite, but all are welcome.

Actually, I noticed that part way through coloring and commented on it:

Also, if you'll notice, Emma has just disappeared. She poofed out of existence for that panel. I keep forgetting to add her and Mae. They didn't get big parts in this chapter, so I keep forgetting them. They'll get bigger parts in the next chapter so I shouldn't forget them then.

I feel bad for doing it, though it's not the first time I did it this chapter. I shouldn't in the next one because they will have a bigger part.

(This is my first time visiting the forums... O.o should i be worried about anything?)

I don't think so. No one bites without permission, so you should be able to come through unscathed.

[Tealya]

7/1 and 7/3 updates:

It's over! Er, well, this chapter and part are. It took far too long to get to this point, I must say. Oh well. I was still figuring out what I was doing for a while and working a lot on my art. The early pages make me laugh, they're so bad. I really need to go back a fix them. I have a whole different idea for the beginning that I may go back and fix at some point. Maybe for the next chapter, I'll alternate between doing new ages and redoing old ones. The new beginning starts many years after the story takes place with someone else telling the story to others. We'll see how I'm feeling in September.

So, on to this weeks updates. I adore X in so many ways. X has been my main guide to so much of the world Yang Child takes place in and has usually been good about filling me in. X is sort of like my teacher in Aliydea, so X has become one of my favorite characters in Aliydea. For everyone else, however, X likes to maintain a certain level of secrecy. This is why you're not going to know what X is up to for a while. ;D

The only thing I don't really like on these updates is the second panel on Thursday's update. I was originally trying to do an overhead shot from the mysterious woman's perspective, but I just could not get it to look right at all. I settled for that shot at the last minute and am not entirely happy with it. I really wanted a look from above.

What I really loved about this page was the woman's glow. It came out very nice and gave her the exact effect I wanted. No, you don't get to know who she is yet. You wont for a long time. Just like X, she is a mystery for now.

This is the first time we get to see X with color, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Most of X's outfit is black and white, making it sort of simple in appearance. It's a pain to draw, though. It has a lot of straight lines and I'm terrible at drawing straight lines. I can't do them right, even with a ruler. The fact that X's costume turned out as crisp as it did makes me happy. I really need to do a good, full picture of X for my deviantart account one of these days. I'll add that to the list of things I want to do over the break.

So, next real updates will begin mid September. I'll take fan art and questions until then. Updates will be a bit random while I work on getting a really big story done for Squffies. You can post questions on this thread or posting fan art in the Fan Art section.