This is a group shot of several of the current models with some rigging

They’ve got a few issues, and the silhouetted characters are very incomplete (and unclothed, thus the silhouettes), but it’s all coming along. Oddly, the nonhuman characters like Tyron are far easier to rig.

I’ve run into a few issues where my 3D software crashes incessantly if you glance at it wrong, but that’s helped by saving early and often (which I try to do in any case)

Here’s another Art Day post.

This is the base model for Gaxurea, like Uri.  Right at the moment, it’s just a fairly ordinary bird.  Since the male and female Gaxurea look different, I built this model first, and when I’m happy with the rigging and such, I’ll modify the mesh to suit each sex.

I’ve also refined Shadow’s model since last week’s Art Day.  I’ll post that again when I get further along.  The previously posted version pretty much had a semi-realistic face with cel shading applied.  The face  was rebuilt and looks more stylized, more consistent with the drawn comics (for whatever that’s worth).  Character design wise, I’ve never been shooting for anime style in particular for Shadsly, but it seems to be what I gravitate toward, so I might as well just run with it.

She now also has hands, eyes, and ears, and I’ve improved the surfacing (it looks a more like today’s pic).

Story Notes: Not much to say about this one.  I don’t even have a snappy comment to make (probably just because of the intense frustration this page caused).  Mostly I’ll just remind you that Uri was placed on guard duty by Tyron several pages back.  That’s what she’s doing here; circling above the conversation in the alley.

Art Notes: Really not a complicated page, considering how much trouble it has given me.  I think the transition to tablet-only has caught up with me.  I managed to get some reasonable bits out of it, like Tyron’s eye in panel 3 and the pic of Uri in panel 4 (which is probably my favorite panel here).

I’m still not at all happy with Panels 1 and 2, though.  I may actually redraw Panel 1 from scratch before all is said and done (though I’ve done that about three times already).

Colored version will appear when I’m less fed up with looking at this page.  Note to self: fix balloon in panel three so that Tyron’s eye isn’t talking.

She’s taking this quite well, all things considered.

Quite heavy on the dialogue, this comic.  That’s going to be the case for the next several, though I don’t think any more are quite this dense.

Basically, these comics are going to lay the groundwork for understanding this setting.  They obviously won’t cover everything, or really do more than scratch the surface, but you’ll get an overview of what’s going on in the world.

Title Reference: Just Tyron’s assertion that he knew Shadow as a young child.

Well, that’s two things you certainly do not see every day.

It’s that guy from page 1 (with the glowy forehead)!

… Just take my word for it, OK?

Poor Shadow.  I think the shock was just too much for her so soon after her confrontation with Escutcheon & Co.

Title Reference: It’s this guy’s name.  For the record, the bird’s name  is Uri.

“Polly want a cracker?  Err, on second thought…”

Title Reference: Poe’s “The Raven”, for reasons which should be obvious.

Story Notes: This is the very same bird seen flying on page 1.

Imagine the strongest feeling of eeriness you’ve ever felt.  Now listen to fingernails on a chalk board.  That’s roughly what that bird’s cry is doing to Shadow.

And it apparently knows her name.

Art Notes: I’m not so happy with the coloring on this page as the previous page.  Pretty much panel 1 and the scenery in panel 3 are all that I like about it.  This is one of those pages that looks better before you add color, though I’m not sure why.  The drawing also bugs me, especially in the last few panels.

Those leg straps are held up with magic.  Magic … and Love.

A bit of a montage to get things started.

The girl front and center is our protagonist, Shadow Manning.  She has an eccentric taste in clothing and is a little bit goth, but otherwise seems to be a fairly ordinary teenage girl.  The title of this webcomic is partly a reference to her name.  There are other meanings, one of which will show up on the next page.

If it weren’t clear, the figures on the right-hand side of each panel-row are all the same person, and he’s being illuminated by a flash of lightning at the end.

Title Reference: I like to make allusions in my titles, when I think of them.  Sometimes I will even explain them in a section like this one!  (No promises, though; sometimes I might prefer to leave them mysterious.)  In this particular case, the title of the comic is also the title of the Chapter.