#ruotola

[jumalanpelko]

Ive been practicing a lot for my next comic @ruotola (semi anthro cats on a weird haunted island) and wanted to draw Jumalanpelko cats in the style

Ruotola will (if everything goes as planned) be drawn straight with marker on paper. No scketches, no eraser. So did that here

[kaikuu-kaikuu]

The main characters! Character designs are from about a year ago! Some designs have changed or will change

Turska (Cod) super quiet young cat. (second pic is newet version of the design but not final)

Kedokki (Keto = Field) is a new cat in Ruotola. Traveler and an artist.

Varpu (Briar) fisher and Turska's.... adopted... parent???? But their relationship seems distant. Cold and angry

Unikko (Poppy) charming jokester with a temper (its personality has changed since making this pic). Was Varpu's best friend but something happened. Still wants to be friends

Old Muusa (old Muse), lone cat who lives alone in its cabin. More of Turka's parent figure than Varpu since Varpu is so distant

Ujo (Shy) is HUGE fucking cat. A bartender. Tired of everyones shit

Lighthouse keeper! Very kind, lonely cat who is very bad at its job (and seemingly at everything) and hated for that

[kurittomat]

MORE QPR CATS!! YESSSSSS

Everything I touch turns into QPR

[kaikuu-kaikuu]

Some more practice art!

[kaikuu-kaikuu]

I decided that it is not a spoiler to know what supernatural is happening in Ruotola! Because the story needs a hook!

So! Lore!

-the island of Ruotola is haunted but not in the most traditional way. Instead time in the island has cracks in it

-stuff from past and future that has strong emotions (often trauma but can also be positive) echoes through them.

-how strong these echoes are and how they can be observed differs. (Sounds, touch, visions, but it is often very blurry)

-Some are more sensitive to echoes than others

-you are more likely to experience your own echo (aka your trauma ect) but you can also just walk into someone elses memory/future

-Echoes arent (physically) dangerous almost ever (i am still playing around with this one)

This is inspired by Haunting of Hillhouse and Lake Mungo but i have put my own twist in it

[kaikuu-kaikuu]

Since Ruotola cats are more like humans I think I will make them swear. But in Finnish.

So let me give you a little "how to swear like a Finnish person" lesson:

-Vittu = vagina (used often like "fuck")

-Kyrpä = dick (but more intense)

-Perkele = devil

-Saatana = devil

-Helvetti = hell

-Paska = shit

-Hitto = very mild swear, kinda like "damn"

-Jumalauta = "god help me", used like "god damn it"

[kaikuu-kaikuu]

I am very excited about this so I want to talk a bit about what kinda of horror Ruotola has!

Mostly the comic is kinda "childrens story" coded. It has few longer "episodes" that focus on the main characters helping some of the other characters. These problems can be pretty dark, like helping people in abusive situations but nothing super fucked up. In addition to that there is slice of life stuff. These cats living on an island, making food, hanging out ect

But there will be hints dropped about something that happened at some point and is still happening but the characters who know about it refuse to talk about it. And this is ~some fucked up shit~

There will be lots of stuff like details in the backgrounds and stuff that cats say that hint to The Thing ect

I am very happy to try out this kinda of story!!

[kaikuu-kaikuu]

More concept art under the cut!

I very stubbornly make these with no scketches, just marker to the paper. Idk if i can keep that up for the comic but it is weirdly fun