Hello friend. Are you ok? You’ve been quiet a while and I wanted to check up on you.
G'day, don't worry I'm ok. I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus at the moment since I got hideously burnt out from working on the comic for about two years straight. I'm taking the time to recoop and finish off a D&D game I run with my mates, since they are up to the grand finale.
I have full intentions on coming back to the comic, not to worry. Sometimes I boot up my documents to tinker with the ending here and there (scripting is still a bitch, but fun).
I figured it best to have a break and not post at all; so not to flood followers with non-content, or at least, content they did not follow me in the first place to see. It should be a nice surprise for when I do get back to work and it pops back in everyone's feed. :)
Just a little PSA for those who value their fucking eyes on this website and don’t want a fucking headache when you want to read a long post or fanfic;
Download the New XKit extension for your Google Chrome,
and search “Old Blue” in it.
Picture of Rythian dozing on the couch from the AMA I did a few years back.
Re-uploaded because tumblr’s hypersensitive flagging algorithm took it down.
... your AMA drawing of rythian snoozing on the sofa with a book that i reblogged many, many moons ago has just been flagged on my blog... probably cos the book he was reading has like kissing in it and stuff pfff ;)
God. Damn. It.
I don’t even get notified about these.
I’ll re-upload it after work. Sorry guys.
On the side-note of work; for last week and for the rest of this week, (due to missing staff,) I’ve been booked to work and haven’t had the time nor energy to work on literally anything. Apologies for the delays, January is a shitshow for everyone it seems.
Overwhelmingly the response is that you want to hear from me the little fun things can can be found and noted in the picture. I can happily oblige, however I’ve seen many of you, collectively, have found all the funfacts!
I’ll write them all under the “read more” line for those who want to look over it themselves and don’t want to be spoiled. I know for some of you, working out these little things for yourselves is half the fun.
Some details such as age of the picture will be discussed next page, so I’ll keep anything too spoiler-y vague.
Onto dissecting the picture and funfacts!
1. “Strife Solutions”.
Strife Solutions was his make-shift lemonade stand, “Solution” referring to both his problem solving skills and the lemonade he sold to his tired hardworking heroes.
This is exactly what Honeydew and Xephos where referring to back on page 69. Honeydew even still referring to him by the nickname they used to call him.
2. 50cp.
Hard one to spot, because he tried to clean up his mistake. It’s just a little fun nod to the fact William Strife (the actual person) is american as apposed to our almost entirely British cast. Strife (character) originally wrote “c” (cents) instead of “p”(pence) on the sign because he was still getting used to the different currency.
3. Blue eyes, scruffy hair.
As a number of you have noticed, his eyes appear blue without the red in them, and his hair is rather scruffy. His hair is actually shorter too, but given my inability to keep on model with hair lengths it’s probably safe to ignore it. The eyes however? Well, it does mean something... but what amuses me the most is that you guys seem to forget that this isn’t the first time you’ve seen them pure and untainted.
4. Xiphos. (the Greek one-handed short sword.)
Yes that is Xephos’s sword on Strife’s back, and it’s very obviously not sized for him, the belt hangs loose and you can see the tip of the sheath poking out from behind him, there is no way Strife could draw it out while on his back, unlike the adult Xephos. Even if Strife could draw the blade, it would be a two handed sword for his tiny bab hands.
5. Strife’s Sunglasses.
They are hanging from Xephos’s shirt because they used to be his! He gifted them to Strife around the time of this photograph. I tend to be fairly inconsistent with how I draw them (sometimes more rounder or squarer dependent on angle), however he is the only member of the cast who wears sunglasses, so I like to think I get a little bit of leeway. Despite the recent animosity between them, he still kept the keepsake and photo of them together... After all, he wasn’t lying when he said he was honoured to see them both again.
6. Honeydew’s Helm Horns.
Honeydew likes his beanie like helmet, he’s worn it so often over the years that the bone horns have worn down to cute little nubs now, which does make it safer for children to ride on his shoulders at least.
7. Scars.
What some people have guessed might be a rash is actually scarring across Honeydew’s back. He got basically sand blasted across the back in the fight against “the shadow”, which has left some pretty nasty scarring back there, and his back is now hairless! For shame, no dwarf should have a waxed back! These days it’s not such a common site since he wears that sheepskin cloak.
Supplement for page 91, A full, cleaner image of the photo Rythian was holding.
As you can tell, it’s a rather old photo of the boys and there a number of fun things to be found and noted in this image for those who spot them. If you guys want, I can make a post with all the goodies you can find in this picture, just shoot me a message if you want to know. Love to hear your thoughts.
(Funfact: My patrons got this image back in early December~)
<< Page 91 >>
I didn’t even realise who that child was at first.
What did you find there Ryth? Oh, that?
That’s the photo Strife. Such a cute kid.
I struggled to complete this page before I had my break, today I went "Hey, I feel like finishing those backgrounds." and got the entire thing done in a few hours. I also figured it would be a tad inappropriate to post this page during the Christmas season, so I figured it might be a good opportunity to take a break anyway. Discovery from all of this is that, good lord, I must have been burnt out the past few weeks... I'm shocked at the contrast of how hard it was for me to complete this page before compared to today.
I think i need to learn how to look after myself better...
You’re telling me the bot thought this hug and my Lal sketches are more sexual then Xephos in THAT outfit?
Good lord, why didn’t they just implement a similar system Deviant Art (i think) has where if it’s possibly nsfw, you have to click a button to see it. That keeps everyone happy.
Me and @fighteramy did a collab: I drew it she coloured it and background and she really likes sunsets. I have no idea what Lal and Xephos are talking about, whatever it is he isn’t pleased.
<< Page 90 >>
The explosion from the top floor of Solution Tower could be seen and heard from every part of the city... I’m sure Xephos had a perfect view from his office.
Kaboom!
At one time I dreaded this page; I feared the backlash I’d presumably receive, but now I am content with it. It was the first page I had storyboarded out of the past 5 or so. I knew the starting page and I knew this would be the ending page, however I wasn’t sure of the order of the other pages. I think I’m happy with the order I've placed them in. :)
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