#fatalk

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Not that long ago I went to look at old concept art made before FadeAway started, and I dont think Ive ever shown them. Specially not on tumblr!

This was the last page concept art before I went ahead and started the comic. At least when it comes to rendering style and paneling and speech bubbles and backgrounds and stuff, it's pretty close to how the pages are at the start of the comic. I also just think its really cute!

Context is too related to how Kana and Ash get to know each other in the comic for me to explain it. But at least I can say they start meeting up in the woods just the two of them, and this page is about that!

The second to last one! A smaller test for character rendering I made. I believe I had done a bunch of concept art for how Noriel's hideout was supposed to look (it ended up not looking like that at all lmao) and realized I could use them as copy pasted backgrounds for a quick test! I thiiink the context behind this dialogue I had in mind back then is related to conflict we have already seen! It just wouldn't happen like this anymore for character reasons. But I believe it was Noriel asking Kana if she would tell any of her friends what shes been doing out here and Kana was like lmao… no?

This was the first and oldest test page that didn't make it past the sketch/thumbnail. It was mostly to see if I liked this page size! (I didn't lol) On this page they are in the bridge near Noriel's hideout! The one we saw in the comic very recently. So you can see for how long this bridge area has existed in the story. Why are Leo and Vi here?? idk lmao, I don't think there was any context beyond what's on this page. And with current lore, them being out shouldn't even be possible without Dawn causing a problem.

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hi just found and read the comic so far im a fan of telling ppl when you like smtg they did so i just wanted to say ☝️ i 1) am very intrigued by your lore. the way you illustrate real terror is astounding and inspirational. the metaphorical horrors in a story that supposedly doesnt have heavy fantasy elements is very well done. your tied in expressions are rich and full. 2) absolutely love the way you do lighting and shadows. from what ive read so far the light and shadows feel like their own character and i think you execute it very very well. 3) drippy goop dog is fabulous both in design and again execution. 3) the way you love your characters absolutely shines through so so deeply and dearly in your work and i am excited to get to know them more. looking forward to whats to come next 🙌

Hi hello!! Thank you so much for the kind words. I just recently reopened my asks because A Situation in my ask box had left me paranoid for a bit. So this being one of the first asks I get since reopening them again has made me very hopeful and appreciative that you took time out of your day to leave a nice message! I'm glad you liked Nostalgia my little grape juice wolf, and that you think my characters are nice and fun to learn about ;v; I hope you continue to enjoy what I have in store for the future.

As for your comments on the shadows and how my lighting and shading/shadows feel like characters themselves and the horror of them, I'm very glad that's the vibes they give!! That's my goal :D I know they have a strange way of working with the world and the story. Kind of other worldy and they can be hard to comprehend sometimes but that's the point and part of the horror of it.

If you like this sort of thing and want to dig deeper into its inner workings, FadeAway falls into an specific story genre: Magical realism!

Magical realism is a genre that originates from Latin America, which makes FadeAway a piece of Latin American art/literature in more ways than just its author (me!!). In simple words, its a Latin American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. Magic realism is a natural outcome of postcolonial writing, which must make sense of at least two separate realities—the reality of the conquerors as well as that of the conquered. It employs magical elements to make a point about reality.

1) The narrator plays an important role because when describing a fantasy event, his voice speaks normally. Therefore, he doesn't attach importance to the unreality of said event to an extent, since he accepts it as normal. The one who does give meaning is the reader, who realizes the magical events.

2) Characters with supernatural powers: This is a key feature of this type of text, as the characters appear to have extraordinary abilities.

I think another good way to explain what I'm sorta doing here is I think there are a lot of real experiences people deal with that if you heard them without experiencing them yourself you'll think that's just impossible or super weird and unusual! This is the least extreme of cases but that's what empathy and high empathy is like to me. Im low empathy and strong empaths explaining how they experience it has me like what do you MEAN you feel other's emotions??? enough for them to have a real effect on you? Or people who can see images inside their mind, for others who cant. And way more!! It's otherworldly to some, but it's reality for others. That's what Noriel's sensing of shadows is like to me. And part of the importance of what magical realism stands for in the story sometimes. It also makes her feel othered, even tho it's part of reality like everyone else, just because it isn't majorities' experience of reality. Mirroring her Black-latina identity in a very white USAmerican centric town. There is also something to say about how it mirrors trauma as well! I think there is a lot that can be analyzed from it but I'll leave some fun for all of you.

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I think about them both every day

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Now with the prologue over, I will be updating chapter 1 three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) until we are caught up. On the first couple of posts I will more than likely put more than 1 page a post because the first pages make me cringe and I wanna get over them <3 the writing is fine, its just the art lol.

For now, here is some concept work I made for the prologue!

Thumbnails for the 4 pages. I always thumbnail because I find it makes paneling and spacing everything out so much easier for me. But they are rarely this clear, I only make them this detailed in important scenes where I'm trying to do relevant visual storytelling, which the prologue is very much filled with!

I was originally planning on keeping these to myself but I decided to show them anyway (Hope I don't regret it later.) The first concepts for the prologue cover! The last one is actually my favorite but I decided to save it for a future, more fitting time.

So I picked the second one from the first batch and played around with it! Sad I didn't get to include a spider in the cover but it just wasnt fitting right. And I'm quite happy with the final one to be That sad about it anyway!

Color mapping! I have done concept art for areas in my stories before but never like this! I was very proud of the script of the prologue though, so I really wanted to make sure the visuals turned out just as nice. And the mood and visuals of this prologue are VERY important, the color palette needed to show how Noriel feels throughout it as clearly as possible.

The goal was for something that made the world feel distant and eerie, but also gross to the touch and dangerous. Like dissociating because everything around you scares and grosses you out. #9 fit perfectly with the first half of what I wanted, while #2 fit the second half, so I combined them to get the final one!

The lineart is different in these pages compared to the rest of the comic, they are more scratchy to fit the mood. And Noriel has a different design because this prologue takes place at a different time compared to chapter 1! So I made quick references to help Aitebit and Trailing in those areas :]

I am very proud of how the prologue turned out, both in writing and art, scenes like these ones are always my favorites to work on and I can not wait to reach other similar ones. It scratches that brain itch.

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Hi hello, making a post to notify that the comic's trigger warnings got updated, so I would recommend taking a look at them again as a couple of them will start popping up soon.

In summary, two new ones got added to the list (Gore and suicide attempt), and the in depth run down of all the trigger warnings got rewritten a bit too for better clarity.

If you don't have the need to read the short or in depth list then that's ok! just make sure to not read something you can't handle and if there are any questions for clarification, feel free to send an ask!