Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 017



Yay for setting the scene! And, this is actually based upon a real place.

One day when my sister and I were out hiking through the woods toward my college’s sculpture building, we stumbled across this graveyard, which was even more dilapidated than the one pictured here. We didn’t know it then, but as it turns out, the cemetery separated the scientific trails from the art trails, and as we continued our hike, we found many strange artistic installations, some of which were somewhat unsettling. One of these creepy installations was a row of trees, which had been splashed with red paint and wrapped in gauze in places. It was just as I passed these that one of the loud machines in the sculpture yard was turned on, which gave a mighty roar and scared the snot out of both of us. Later on down the trails, there was a large steel cage suspended above a creek, which had been torn and bent as though something had broken out of it.

As I continued with College, the cemetery and woods became a place for me to unwind, and I spent many hours eating lunch in the graveyard, or amongst the banks of the creek that wound through the woods. I even put a few of my own installations there, ranging from small stone cairns, to tree decorations, to werewolf prints. I’ve had a fondness for old graveyards ever since, and every year around Halloween, I place a mini-pumpkin in the graveyard.

And, on that somewhat morbid note, I hope everyone had a great holiday, and has a great new year!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 016


Surprise! She’s dressed as the same thing as she was on the cover.

So, which would you rather encounter? A whomping willow or a pissed off ent?

Also, um, sorry, I know this definitely is not my best art here… And also, a possible apology in advance here, but as is common this time of year, no guarantees about an update next week, what, with the holidays and all.  I promise I’ll try my best to have something to present, at least.

Regardless… whichever Holiday you’re celebrating this season, I hope that you have the best and brightest possible.  The very merriest, to all of you!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 015



Well, folks, I can’t exactly say I can take full credit for the erm… unique costume idea. It’s inspired by a friend of mine, and, well, let’s just say I’m glad that I’ve always worn a costume to her Halloween party.  As they say… write what you know.

Well, folks, in spite of the comic’s current theme, the Winter Holiday Season is in full swing here, and that’s keeping me quite busy. So flipping busy.  Put up the tree, been to a party, been to a Christmas wedding, wrapped all the gifts up, sent stuff off, watched Charlie Brown… and yet, I’ve been having a devil of a time getting into it though.  Maybe I should just consider it as Hogswatch, or, better yet, Snoggletog season.  I think I like that better.

Oh! Also, if you happen to have clear skies tonight, you may wanna pop outside and look at the geminids!

Gah… gotta get working on the next page.  Catch ya later!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 14


When I first started working on the partially shifted version of Faith, I tried to figure out what was reasonably believable.  Well, believable in the hippy town with a bar full of paranormal creatures and a shop run by an old fart who is secretly a dragon.  Besides, Faith might not be the only one taking advantage of the holiday XD

Anyway, I figure, these days, you can get facial prosthetics such as those by Don Post http://origin.kaboodle.com/hi/img/c/0/0/14e/d/AAAADKaIoVAAAAAAAU7c4w.jpg?v=1303654644000  and masks that have moving lips: http://images.halloweencostumes.org/werewolf-motion-mask-zoom.jpg  there’s some plausibility that Faith could get away with it, if she was careful.  I figured her ears could be explained away with some cables… but as it turns out, even though the script still says puppeted, there’s an even better explanation: Mind-control cat ears.  No, really.  Look here: http://neurowear.com/  (I want some so darn bad!)  Heck, folks are even building these things on their own with the ‘mindwave’ type toys: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13390  Of course, I’m sure not everyone would be fooled.  Kids are way too smart for that.  ;3

Eldritch: Halloween 13


So… there are two things I want to talk about regarding this page… The first of which is a local store, the year-round Halloween store I mentioned earlier in this chapter. When I was younger, it was kind of like magic… around Halloween, folks could go in, and while I was sizing up the scary decorations outside, deciding if it was safe to pass by them, something else would come out in their place. It’d wear the same shirt or jacket, but seemed to have transformed inside the shop, the head of that person now bearing fangs or horns. Of course, these folks were wearing masks, but when I was a kid, they looked real enough to me. It was like people went in normal, but left as monsters… which really inspired me in this part in the chapter.

The second thing I wish to discuss is Disney’s Gargoyles, an influence I’ve listed before, though in this case, specifically, I’m referring to the episode called Eye of the Beholder, which not only has a werewolf since, but had the first really wolfy werewolf I was allowed to see (My folks weren’t gonna let me watch An American Werewolf in London when I was eight, of course!) but it also included supernatural characters that dress up and are thought to be ‘normal’ during Halloween festivities, a theme found occasionally in modern media, such as in Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown, or even at the end of Witch’s Night Out (Points to you if you’ve seen that) where literally everyone was transformed into monsters at the end, and were cool with it. As a little tip-of-the-hat to that episode of Gargoyles, though, the costumed boy who meets Faith (Can anyone guess who he’s dressed as?) has the same line as someone dressed as a wicked witch in that episode.

And that’s about it folks! Gotta get working on the next page!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 012


Well, folks, here in the USA, it’s almost Thanksgiving. We’re not as punctual about it as some other countries, but we try our best. And on my end, I have a lot to be thankful for. Not the least of which is you guys.

I’m really lucky to have such a kind collection of readers (I need a better word to refer to everyone as. “Readers” seems so drab, and you guys need a better word than that.) There are Wednesdays when I get home from work, I’ve had a god-awful day, and yet, I get home and see what sweet things folks have said about the comic update, and lemme tell you, it really helps. Like any artist, I have my periods of , well… we’ll call it “exceptionally low self esteem.” However, then someone does something awesome. I get a comment saying a friend recommended the comic to them and they like it, or someone says they enjoyed the artist’s comments on one of the pages, or someone donates (sometimes even though the jar is ‘full!’) or sends a pleasant note, or just clicks that +fave button. It’s things like that that let me know that I’m not just tossing pennies into the well, as it were, and that folks do care about what I’m doing, even if just a little bit.

I’ll be honest with you guys: I don’t know if I could have kept this up this long if it weren’t for the support you guys give me.

Happy Thanksgiving guys. And thank you.

Eldritch: Halloween 011

Yay for emotional triggers! I was glad when folks noticed that Faith was occasionally showing little bits of wolfy traits now and again in Layline, like the slight, momentary claws when she was freaking out about how ‘monsters’ and humans could end up mating, or the little fangs she had when Todd first showed up, and such. I hoped it would give folks a wee little head’s up for when this (finally) happened.

And, as usual, I have a wee bit of extra info for you, on werewolves and emotions. Now, in terms of old folklore, I’ve yet to really come across much in terms of emotions causing werewolves to shift (Though, parallels between berserker rages and werewolves can be drawn, of course).

However, there is some nonfiction context here, from a criminal case in 1988-9. Within Bordeaux, France, a horrible murder took place, and a twenty-eight year old male, along with another male and a female friend were suspects. As it turns out, the young man beat the victim to death in a ‘wild rage,’ using nothing more than his bare hands. This, in and of itself is not that unusual for a violent homicide.

It wasn’t until the prison psychiatrist Professor Michel Benezech saw the man did things get interesting. The man told the doctor “When I suffer an emotional shock, I feel myself undergoing a transformation… I have the impression of becoming a wolf, as I look at myself in the mirror, I can see myself transforming.”

Thinking this was made up on the spot, his female friend was questioned, and she commented that in their relationship, he often howled like a wolf, and slept lightly, like a wild animal. He had even bitten her on several occasions. Curiously, his arms were covered in scars, a trait similar to Pierre and Georges Gandillion, werewolves of Jura, who in turn matched Paulos Aegina’s description of a lycanthropist pretty well.

The man in custody, after much study, was finally diagnosed with medical lycanthropy. And while the focus of stories about this fellow focus on his horrible behavior, his admittance that his delusional transformations can be triggered by emotional shock is the part I find most interesting, as you can all certainly tell by now.

Please also read:

The Beast Within --Adam Douglas
The Secret life of Ghosts and Werewolves --BBC Television

The Book of Werewolves --Sabine Baring-Gould
Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits --Kathryn Edwards
The Werewolf in Lore and Legend --Montague Summers
A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture --Charlotte Otten

Eldritch: Halloween 10

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 009


Woo. double post, since I was away on a little field trip last week.  I left on Halloween Night and just got back.  Halloween is a busy time for me, and I’ve been making some time to visit a haunt or two, because dang, does it feel great to prowl through them XD You know, the first haunt I ever went to was a haunted museum… which, well, really, it was a wax museum of horror figures. I was tiny and it was eerily lit, so it was scary as could be. However, what I remember most was an open coffin, and inside the red velvet lined box was a pale vampire with blood trickling from its lips. When you’re like, five, that’s scary stuff right there. So, of course, I had to include a similar wax vampire in Eldritch.

Well, folks, I think I’m going to grab my bag of Gummy Werewolves and my Werewolf Fur cotton candy, cuddle up with a good werewolf movie, my pencil and paper, and work on the next page!

Eldritch: Halloween 008


Ahhh, October. I miss you already. I adore the warm days followed by crisp nights, the smell of dried corn stalks and warm apple cider. And I adore the haunts.

When I was a kid, the smell of artificial fog gave me a headache, and made me queasy. Now I ADORE it because I associate it with haunted houses and trails. I love them so much… I’m a wee little bit of an adrenalin junkie, so haunts and roller coasters are like a breath of fresh air to me. Thus I’m lucky that the nearest amusement park combines both for the Halloween season. But, of course, I also visit local haunts. There’s one that’s actually close enough to hear sometimes, and it’s always amusing to me to be gathering some herbs for spaghetti or whatever, look up to see the full moon, and distant hear cries and screams followed by the faint roar of a chainsaw. It’ll shoot a thrill through ya.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 007


Sorry about the messup last week guys... life has been busy.  I’m actually going to be leaving on a little trip this Halloween night… I won’t have any computer access and won’t be back for a little over a week. But, I'll give you an update Halloween Night, instead of Wednesday!

So folks, I think I’m going to grab my bag of Gummy Werewolves and my Werewolf Fur cotton candy, cuddle up with a good werewolf movie, my pencil and paper, and work on the next page, which will update on the ninth of November. After all, the weekend will be occupied with the baking of werewolf cupcakes and witch hat cookies, the mending of old stitching in costumes, and much merriment and revelry.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 006


So. Never underestimate old guys with bad teeth. Those ‘bad’ teeth may simply be a bit of the true self peeking through.

For a brief while, John was going to be much younger, and like most of the various characters in my head, for a time was considered as a possible main character. But, things change as you work out ideas and he’s become a bit different from his initial plans. He does just what I need him to though, so while a side character, I still love him.

When I was planning out Mapleveiw and first decided I wanted a toy shop there, I knew I wanted it to be run by a dragon for the purpose listed in the comic. He’d have easy access to what he’d chosen as his hoarding item: Plushies. However, deciding what type of dragon was the fun part, especially since Snap Dragon was the first real comic I worked on, and shaped how I do comics.

Since so much of the comic centers around the ability to shapeshift, I wanted to pick a dragon that was able to assume a different form, in one way or another. After all, dragons of varying kinds are well acquainted with shapeshifting… Heck, I mean in the story of Jason and Cadmus, they would sow dragon’s teeth—just the teeth, and men would basically grow from those teeth. If that isn’t freaky shapeshiftingness, I dunno what is.

But I digress! I toyed with the idea of having him be a descendant of the French Melusine, which, according to some stories, became a dragon-like creature. However, I’ve also heard that she was associated with merrows, nixies, and sirens… Normally I would have a book reference for you, but the Siren associations I actually came across in college psychology class. Apparently Jung saw them all as related archetypes. At least, that’s what my notes say my professor said. So… that idea was dismissed fairly quickly.

I also considered having him be “a” Quetzalcoatl. Of course, in Aztec myth, there was only one Quetzalcoatl. He was a god in the form of a feathered serpent, and is often lumped in with dragons. Sometimes though, he was depicted as rather human, and at one point, his brother turns him into a human! But… well, I just wasn’t feeling it. So, it was binned.

Other dragons were also considered for their appearance in Alchemy, which had an emphasis in turning one material into another… for instance, Wyverns represented untransmuted metal, dragons could be used to represent mercury, and most folks who know a little about such things are familiar with the oroboros, which has cycle-based symbolism similar to other creatures like the phoenix. One other sort of dragon to appear in alchemical texts and illustrations though, was the Lindorm.

Now… there are different ways of spelling or saying the name of this critter. Lindorm, lindworm, lindwurm… it varies upon which story you read, and where that story comes from. I first heard it spelled as Lindworm, however, there is a wonderful Swedish story called Bride of the Lindorm King and it’s that story I want people to think of when they read this comic, due to its shapeshifting content.

In the story, a woman gives birth to two sons… one is a perfectly normal human boy. The other is a lindorm… a snakelike dragon that has only one set of limbs: A powerful pair of arms, ended in cruel talons. The lindorm was cast out into the woods, where he grew and then returned to tell his human sibling that until he had received the love of a willing bride, his human brother would not marry.

Naturally, folks tried to hook the dragon up. It didn’t go so well, until a fortuneteller instructs a woman to be offered to the Lindorm while wearing nine dresses. The Lindorm is of course confused by the surplus of clothing, and asks her to take them off. She agrees, so long as he sheds a skin for every dress she removes (a requirement she was told to ask for). When the ninth skin is removed, underneath is the body of a man! And a handsome one at that.

Naturally, they wed and lived happily ever after. You can see where I get some of my ideas regarding ‘monsters’ being born of normal ol’ humans, and those monsters being capable of shapeshifting.

So, as you can see, The Lindorm eventually won out in the comic, and that’s how we ended up with John the toy store owner as he is today. What can I say? I put a stupid amount of thought into side characters sometimes.

Please also Read:
Giants, monsters, and Dragons: an Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth -- Carol Rose
Dragons – Peter Hogarth and Val Clery
The Illustrated Book of Myths: Tales and Legends of the World –Neil Philip
Dragons –Jonathan Evans
The Enchanted World: Dragons -The Editors of Time-Life Books
Gods of Sun and Sacrifice: Aztec and Maya Myth –Tony Allan and Tom Lowenstein
Dragons: A Natural History – Dr. Karl Shuker

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 005


Oh man guys, I’m sorry I couldn’t update last week. As the comic's disclaimer says: "Eldritch is done on the author’s free time, which means page quality will vary. In addition, updates may be missed if the author has a busy week or becomes ill. Should an update be missed, it will be at least a full week before more content will be posted. The author apologizes for the inconvenience." What can I say? I’m only one person, and my life got really messy.

The thing is, you know how after the Big Storm, I started whining about how my comp was acting up? Well, the hard drive was about to fail, and I found myself suddenly without a computer, and that meant I couldn’t even work on the comic, let alone update or let you guys know I was gone. Sometimes, I really miss having college computer labs at my disposal. Thankfully, aside from time, I didn’t lose anything important. But, add that hassle to my job and having to take my car into the shop for maintenance and that makes life… interesting.


I think I’ve mentioned before that Mapleveiw is based upon a few places I know and adore in real life, one of which loves Halloween. There is one town near where I grew up that goes insane for Halloween… We’re talking, ghosts and goblins rigged to fly across the street kind of insane. In fact, its general store has Halloween merchandise year-round, including a huge collection of masks. One of my earliest memories of Halloween memories is going into this store, being terrified by the masks, but receiving candy coins for trick or treating there. There’s no better way to convince a kid not to be scared of monsters than by conditioning it into thinking that it’s going to get candy every time it sees one.

The place has kind of always been our area’s own, private Cooger and Dark’s Carnival. I recall one Beggar’s Night, just before I graduated from High School, dressing up and walking from my friend’s place to the downtown, and even though the comic book shop and library, and other stores and businesses were long closed, we found the place swarmed with other folks my age, who weren’t out trick or treating, but dressed up and reveling there, spending long-saved lunch money on candied apples and caramel corn sold by vendors on the streets. In fact, it was in this town that I bought my first, and only latex werewolf mask.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 004


So… it’s ramblin’ time!

It’s come to my attention that some folks don’t know Eldritch is a real word. (To those of you who looked it up, massive, super kudos. Research, ftw!) Definitions vary depending on what dictionary you go to, but the definition my father gave me when I was a little girl was “It means strange, in that elfin, or faerie sort of way.” The word is thought to have been derived from the Middle English word elfriche, which basically meant fairyland. In the comic, (as is seen in Layline) the main characters are generally referred to as ‘eldritch folk,’ as in beings from the fairyland, or magical people. You know, like werewolves and stuff.

With that out of the way, onto the main topic… I’m going to talk about how this comic is made. I don’t think everyone understands what goes into something like this, and some folks act like I’m making this up as I go. Honestly, I think it’s kind of a compliment. Why? Because there’s NO WAY I could keep this all straight if I was just doing it on the fly. I’m just not that smart, people. I mean… I’m not a moron, but I’m not brilliant either. But when the disclaimer says I have a lot scripted and planned… I mean it.

The first stuff done was research and preproduction work. Thankfully, since this basically ties in the stuff that’s been put together over years of development both in and outside of my gallery, a lot of the groundwork for the comic is, well, finished. But I have done, and heck, I still am doing, a ton of research. For instance, a lot of my books look like this: http://nashoba-hostina.deviantart.com/art/Research-hurr-durr-259117686 Full of highlighted bits, extra notes with translations or additional information, and tabs that mark important tidbits left out of the index. Some of the stuff I research, develop and plan out will never make it into the comic. But by having the Eldritch characters and universe all set up so I know how it works, it makes it easier for me to work in it. I mean, honestly, Seamus has been in my gallery forever, talking about everything from shapeshifter genetics to discussing varieties of dragon species. Maggie’s design begins at this old piece: : http://nashoba-hostina.deviantart.com/art/Tea-at-the-Howling-Moon-Cafe-5557272 and Faith’s design started out as an old piece of mine, Lil red: http://nashoba-hostina.deviantart.com/art/Lil-Red-43914237 Some characters that were eventually dropped, like Bobby http://nashoba-hostina.deviantart.com/art/Bobby2-114918857 made it to very late developmental stages.

In the case of Eldritch, much of what I worked out was initially going to be simply for my own benefit. The comic was going to consist of strips, and be much simpler. However, I realized the real comic resided in what I considered the “Backstory.”

And then the more exciting work began.

The first thing to do after that was make a very rough outline for the entire comic, from beginning to end, and divide it up into manageable chapters. Yes, I do know how this comic will end, and some day, it will be finished. That rough outline incorporates the ‘arc’ of the whole story’s plot. Then, I took the ‘arc’ below that, and wrote a more detailed outline of the chapters in that. From there, I defined and refined it more and more until I had concise, clean (though, admittedly, not spellchecked) guides of each chapter, so that I knew where all the little details were going. That way I can tie one thing into one another… the lack of full moon when she was bitten, how Maggie knew that Faith had been mauled and dumped outside a hospital, even down to little things like how the fennel in chapter one ties into stuff that happens later. After all, things like, say, establishing just how much Seamus rambles and carries on in chapter two makes it so Faith can reflect upon his teachings as the story progresses, rather than have endless scenes of her sitting in the Layline with Dylan’s subconscious version of his coyote self making faces behind Seamus.

However, after the outlines are all set to go, it’s time to script.

Every chapter is scripted before pencil ever hits paper for the cover. I will admit, that I rarely go back and fix spelling and grammatical errors, something I should start doing. Just, when I script, I’m more worried about the content of what is being said, how it’s being said, and what should be going on in the panel it’s being said in. For instance, I’ll include things like whether or not the moon is full, or whether there’s fennel, or a reminder that Todd has a bandage on his left upper leg from the bullet burn from the previous chapter. I usually clean up the typos a little closer to as I’m going, and sometimes, I make mistakes. However, while I will occasionally make minor edits here and there, but I generally leave them untouched as I go. Why? Because I’m not the brightest bulb in the batch and may mess up consistency. Randomly, I suspect the character that has the most edits is probably Todd. I sometimes change where he puts his RRRRrrrrs and such in his speech. In addition… sometimes I have what I want to discuss in the artist’s comments in the actual script.

Once the script is done, it’s time to start layouts. I’m usually a few pages ahead in the general layout of the pages. These are super rough sketches of what is going on, and I’ll draw in the bold borders in a layer overtop it, so when it’s time to start that page, it’ll be ready and waiting for me.

Next, I go to pencil sketching. I’ll print out the layout page, and draw inside the panels. It’s not how the pros do it… but dangit, I can’t afford the super huge super nice paper and ginormous scanner and stuff. So, I make do, and I don’t think I do too terribly. Then, the pencil sketched images are scanned and put into the page layout.

Then comes coloring, and coloring means layers… lots and lots of layers. Most characters require at least two separate layers to render, and when I first started, I was using more like four or more as a minimum. There are usually multiple stages of each character, ranging from block colors to soft shading and reflected light. Then, there are additional things, like the backgrounds, objects, and such. Here’s a little fun tidbit: Dylan’s blue spirit coyote ‘form’ is almost always done in the coloring stage, nearly entirely on the computer, with only very minimal pencil sketching beforehand.

Afterward, for the dialogue, I retype the script in all caps, and copypaste that into the comic page. Behind them, I render the word bubbles or text boxes, and I generally add in sound effects last, before I lower the opacity on them.

Then I save it as a .jpeg, post it, and there we are. After hours of work, and, well, years of planning… there’s the comic page.

Like I said… I’m just not smart enough to keep track of it just in my head. There’s just too much going on. Heck, I probably missed a thing or two in this explanation. But I have to get going on the next page. Aughggghhhghgg, too much to do!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 003


So,  I kind of want to talk about a couple of the things in this page. The first of which, is, predictably, folklore. Many modern sources will mention that werewolves have a deep thirst; however, not all of them explain where that came from. Fifth century author Aetius discusses “Lycanthripia” in his work On Melancholy. While he lists several symptoms and behaviors of lycanthropists, such as excessive thirst, he does not actually list a physical transformation into a wolf as one of them. Seamus would have mentioned this… but Dylan isn’t as well read.

To be honest though… werewolves seem to like water just as much as dog would on a hot day… A LOT of the old means of becoming a werewolf require water in one way or another, be it as an ingredient for a ritual lycanthropic fumigation, or something you drink to become a werewolf, such as water from a wolf’s paw print, water from a lycanthropous stream, or water from the same stream three or more wolves also drink from. And of course, there are the Arcadian werewolves, and those of the Anthus family, who swim across a body of water and emerge as wolves on the other side. That’s just a sampling though… if you want to know more, you’ll have to do a bit of reading on your own (sources, as usual, will be cited at the bottom of the comments). Or, you can wait until I feel like getting chatty here in the artist’s comments again.

The other thing I want to address here is gore. I know. This is a bit bloody and gross. Personally, while I do like my steaks on the rare (not raw) side, munching on raw venison isn’t high on my priority list. Faith, however, thinks otherwise. I hope no one is too bothered by the blood and guts here, but I’ve warned since the beginning that this is intended for mature audiences, and will contain violence. I’ll mark it on DA for the gore as a precaution, but, well… What can I say? This is a werewolf story, and odds are, there will be gore worse than this later on.

Please also read:
The Werewolf in Lore and Legend --Montague Summers
Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits --Kathryn Edwards
A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture --Charlotte Otten
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Werewolves --Nathan Brown
The Beast of Bray Road --Linda Godfrey
The Book of Werewolves --Sabine Baring-Gould
Werewolves: The Occult Truth – Konstantinos

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 002


Okay, so I bet you guys were wondering where I was last week.  Well...
Momma Nature kicked our butts.  Nothing was too badly damaged and no one was hurt, but as you can see, we… well, we have a lot of work to do around here, and we can’t do it all by ourselves, so… it’s gonna be tight here for a month or three. And… I honestly don’t know how this will affect the comic. The computer’s been acting funny, and I wonder if somehow something got through the surge protector. I’m going to try my best to keep the comic going every week, but… I never saw this coming, and I’m a bit overwhelmed.
With the exception of my friend Wolfie, everyone loves a full moon, be it the Greek Goddess Selene (I always thought that was a nice touch in the Underworld movies), the makers of the Wolfman, or the folks who wrote The Werewolf’s Guide to Life.  So, I hope you guys are enjoying yours! 
I remember someone once telling me that the full moon had nothing to do with werewolves in folklore.  Which… well, wasn’t entirely true.  It just isn’t terribly common; though is certainly common enough to crop up in our modern mythos: our movies and books.

For instance, in Perigord, it was once said that some folks, particularly the sons of priests are compelled to become werewolves during the full moon.  The Voukodlak (a werewolf/vampirelike entity) prowls “When the moon is at her full,”and Sicilian werewolves occur when folks sleep with the full moon shining on their faces.  The werewolves of Palermo are also affected at the full moon, one use of lycanthropus flowers is to be done at the full moon, and Gervase of Tilbery seemed to suggest that lycanthropy was somehow linked to the full moon.  The German tale of Her Hellen’s lycanthropic adventure in the Harz Mountains occurs at a full moon, and in the works of Pliny, there is a werewolf transformation when “The moon shone as bright as day.”  Heck, the Full Moon is even offhandedly mentioned on one of my favorite werewolf legends “The other side.” 
It’s not a lot.  But I can certainly see where modern filmmakers got full moon fever.
And, of course, everyone has their take on how the full moon effects lycanthropes.  Some say it’s the light.  Others (Like one of the folks in a video linked below) have connected it with the tides and how much water we have in our bodies.  Which is a tad silly in my humble opinion, since the amount of water in a human is so tiny in comparison to the ocean, and since all matter would be effected, not just the water. 

Curiously enough, one explanation for werewolf myths that I’ve heard tossed around is that it was started by people suffering from a theoretical condition called “Lunar Effect.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect Opinions on it range from those who totally believe it, to those who think it’s hogwash.  For instance, this seems to sustain the idea: http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/tv/National-Geographic/98631/1354043548/Howling-at-the-Moon%3A-Are-Full-Moons-Linked-to-Lunacy-/videos while this is less supportive: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lunacy-and-the-full-moon .  I don’t know myself.  But one of my good friends, who works at a pizza call center, says the crazies call during the full moon… and, well, I know my mom sure gets cranky when the moon is full ;3
Okay, joking aside… the moon does play a role in nature, beyond the fairly negligible effect on geomagnetic fields and gravity.  For instance, there are these fish that spawn just after the full moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVEPkC9LBEQ and here’s another article with birds: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/18/full-moon-birds.html and yet another with frogs: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8145000/8145125.stm  Conversely, the 15th kissue of BBC wildlife magazine says that nocturnal insects are less active on the full moon.
Last but not least, have a full moon diagram for further reference.

  http://www.moonconnection.com/images/moon_phases_diagram.jpg

What do you guys think?  Does the full moon effect your behavior?
Werewolves (Around the world) --Elliot O’Donnell
A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture --Charlotte Otten
Werewolves --Dr. Bob Curran
The Book of Werewolves --Sabine Baring-Gould
The Werewolf in Lore and Legend --Montague Summers
The Beast Within --Adam Douglas
The Book of the Moon --Rick Stroud

Eldritch: Halloween 001


Another page?  But wait, there's more!

Eldritch: Halloween Cover


This is Halloween, this is halloween, halloween, halloween, hallo... okay, I'll stop singing now XD

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 039



Aaaand, the chapter ends right where it started, geographically speaking.

Well guys! I cut it close this week (Crazy stuff happened, sorry about the derp!faces.) but somehow, we’ve all made it through a third chapter! Next week I will upload the cover to the new chapter, and two weeks from now, the storyline resumes! Thank you guys so much for sticking with me the past few years. I mean… while preproduction started long before the first page, Eldritch started in early 2009. Where did the time go, guys?

And since we made it this far, that means that it’s… actually time for me to start looking into getting this self-published somehow. Egads, that means I have even more research to do. *Collapses* Don’t worry though… I’ll still be keeping this stuff up here, if I get it self-published. Though… there will be some extra content that won’t appear here.

Well guys catch you all next week!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 038



I honestly don’t know who I feel more sorry for, Faith, or Jay.

You know, Jay is one of a few characters that took over the jobs of characters that never made it to final development. There were several characters that I wanted to include, but, well… Their roles could be handled just as well, or better by other characters. Jay was at one point going to have another worker back in the storage room named Colin… but, I found that paying more attention to one character rather than two worked better for development. So, the two got merged into one.

In fact, until very, very late in development, I’d planned on having a harpy named Bobby be a main character. I liked him a lot, but, much as I tried, he wasn’t going to work, especially when Maggie and Todd could perform the same roles he did. So, he got demoted. Maybe someday when I’m rich (Like that’ll ever happen) and don’t have to do things like worry about supporting myself, I’ll make a spin-off comic about him XD

Bah… I should go to bed soon. I have to be up to go to work in five and a half hours… and then after that, I need to hit the library again. Then after that, I'll check to see if I have my Pottermore letter yet and work on next week's comic. My life is so exciting 9.9

Also... today I’m gonna talk about the importance of sticking to your script.

I have a LOT of this all worked out, and ironed and ready to be comiced. Some of it I have highlighted, so I know what will be important later, and what I can cut. You wouldn’t believe how much stuff I’ve cut out; and a couple of pages have been mashed together. However, aside from those two things, I have one big rule: Stick to the script, and don't change it.

I totally broke that rule and got caught. I had a consistency error (OMGOSH). I altered the name of Jay’s and Ranger Dick’s dog, from Kristi to Spot because I thought it sounded like a human got attacked at first. But I didn’t change the name later in the script. Thankfully, folks (as always) were happy to tell me when I'm wrong and caught me on it pretty quickly. Oops.  I suppose I'm only human... if only I could get Gaoth to schnooker people into thinking I didn't make a mistake, like he did Jay's dad ;D

Lesson re-learned? Yes.

What can I say?  I suppose that if they can mention Tonks’ and Lupin’s baby in the HP movies when they never really show her preggers, I suppose I can mess up now and again.
Okay.  Running on three hours of sleep.  Gonna go collapse now.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 037

So, thankfully, Todd is okay.

*Chuckles* Recently, while talking with a friend after work, they asked why my Bzou was named after the fox from The Fox and the Hound. Now… he isn’t intended to be so. But he is named for the same reason.

Todd means “fox”… Which may initially seem to be an odd name for a wolf. However, in this case, the name isn’t intended to refer directly to the animal, but rather, the colloquial uses of the word in regards to a person. He’s a “fox” in that he’s touch on the sly side, sneaking a peek when Faith is stripping down, trying to impress her by speaking French… “Fox” can also refer to a good-looking individual, which Todd considers himself to be. Furthermore, what does a fox pursue? Vixens. And Faith has been a bit of a vixen from his perspective. So, anyway, in case anyone else was wondering, that is how the horndog got his name.

Also, randomly… since for some reason I just wasn’t feeling werewolfy this week, you can thank music for keeping me focused while making this page, particularly Mowgli’s “How to Be a Werewolf.”

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 036



Well. That’s cutting it close.

Maggie is a quick shapeshifter, which is why most of her shifts are near-instantanious, and there's no midpoints shown. Here though, the scene occurs in such a short amount of time, I could sneak one in.

Other than that... not much to say about the page this week… So, I’m going to discuss folklore and science in relation to Faith’s character design. I’m doing it mostly because someone over on DA asked a really good question, which, in short was “Since Faith’s fangs aren’t oversized while in wolf form, is she not able to infect others with lycanthropy in her wolf shape?” I do not mean this to be an invitation for all questions, because there is a LOT I cannot discuss yet. However, this particular subject is not something I have Seamus explaining in the next few chapters of script, so I'm going to address it here, because it might get cut in final editing. (I often write far more than I need). This is a rare exception.

Yes, Faith can infect someone with lycanthropy in the wolf form. The point of the form is to, well... move and look like a wolf. Besides, if something as tiny as a snake's fang can inject enough venom to kill someone, something the size of a wolf's fang can infect someone with lycanthropy.

If werewolves maintained their snagglefangs in the wolf form, in times past, they'd have been easier to identify and kill (for example, some folklore states that a wolf without a tail is likely to be a werewolf), so the ones that looked more lupine in their wolf forms were slightly more likely to survive and pass on traits. This became even more likely as time passed, and the wolf became protected in many places. Not all “Grahll” werewolves lack snagglefangs while in wolf form, but it is more common.

This is also why Faith doesn’t have much in the way of folkloric means of identifying a werewolf while in human form… like a ring finger that is longer than the middle finger, or hair on the palms of her hands, or eyebrows that meet in the middle. She does, however, occasionally display a trait or two that would have gotten her caught (were they not temporary for her), but are fairly minor. A few folks noticed back in Layline that now and again she had longer nails (a lycanthropic trait) or eyeshine. The eyeshine is how I interpret the glaring, twinkling, or blazing of eyes that werewolves of varying kinds are occasionally described as having at points.

However, there is less emphasis on ‘camouflage’ in the werewolf form. It isn’t very… well, subtle. Thus, it is an advantage to have drastically oversized fangs, so the likelihood of a werewolf catching someone with a fang is increased, thus rising the chances of passing on the lycanthropic traits to those who stumble across them.

… I think about this stuff a lot. And research a lot. Woo.

Please read:
The Werewolf in Lore and Legend --Montague Summers
The Book of Werewolves --Sabine Baring-Gould
A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture --Charlotte Otten
Werewolves (Around the world) --Elliot O’Donnell

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 035


Hooray wolfness!

As you all know, I spend a lot of time reading about werewolf folklore. God, you should see my copy of Montague Summer’s book… it has post it notes everywhere and highlighting and labled tabs and… well, actually, a lot of by books a re like that O.o Anyway, I am fascinated by the sheer amount of diversity when it comes to the different details in folklore, and even in the appearance of werewolves themselves.

In some tales, the lycanthrope takes on the perfect visage of a wolf. In others, they become monsterous wolves… sometimes they have tails, others, they don’t (in fact, lacking a tail is sometimes said to be a sure sign of a werewolf) and in yet more stories, they appear as hybrids. There’s even a couple really wonderful woodcuts depicting hybrid werewolves. I love how there’s enough folklore to support just about any style of werewolf that people like… even down to more humanoid versions, because, well, some of the folks who were tried as werewolves were just lunatics in wolfskins. :3

One of my favorite werewolf descriptions comes from Elliot O’Donnell’s 1912 publication: “A thing with a woman’s breast, a woman’s hair, long and curly, but the face and feet were those of a wolf; whilst the hands, white and slender, were armed with long, glittering nails, cruelly sharp…”

And... I don't really have a whole lot to say about the page this week.  And I'm tired from staying up all night to do the pottermore thing.

Also, I really appreciate the kind comments last week, though I’m sorry I’m not able to produce this more often for you all to enjoy.

In addition, I do apologize about the lack of larger image last week.  Sometimes blogger doesn’t work the way I want it to.  The larger version is accessible through the “Eldritch Lessons” page.

Anyway... it's late and I'm braindead.  So, I'm totally going to bed now.  ♥ you guys!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 034


I don't really have a whole lot to say about the page this week.
However, as it turns out, the next full moon coincides with the Persied meteor shower… which, if you’re looking for meteors, is a bad thing because the extra light hides the meteors. (But makes a full moon prettier?)  If you happen to be a werewolf, well... then that sucks; you'll be too busy being wolfy to look at all. ;3 However, if you want to catch sight of some meteors this summer, odds are, this weekend is your best bet.  The Delta-Aquarids are going to be streaking on through as the first Persieds are gearing up, and, it’s the new moon to boot, so there won’t be as much light pollution.
 Happy night-romping!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 033


Guys.  Guuuyyyys.  I stood in line next to a guy who looked EXACTLY like Lupin at the Harry Potter opening (OMG it was so good).  And I know, the pink werewolf looks pretty silly, but I still think that’s just a result of taking the wolfsbane potion regularly.  If he’d been unmedicated for a while, he’d totally look like the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London. Just sayin.’
Also, man guys, it’s been a crazy week here.  My work kept changing my schedule around on me, (They changed it twice just today.  Twice.) which makes it hard to set aside time to sit down and color the comic.  Thus, I just finished the comic an hour ago O.o  I’m gonna go reward myself with some watermelon and some ponies, before I get up again in… oh look.  Five and a half hours.  Joy.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 032


Dear Blogger:  Please allow me to reply to comments with my google account.  Otherwise I'll have to reply to folks in the comments section... like this: Eeee, glad to see people read my little ramblings XD
Stars, you're completely correct... I'm so glad to hear I was able to do it properly!
Fouquin: I'm doing much, much better,t hank you.  And no worries, hon.  You comment when you can, and I'm terribly grateful for it.
Aroo!

Now back to your regularly scheduled commentary:

I’ll be honest with you guys… I didn’t think I’d make it here, to the page I'd done initially as a teaser this soon. I suspected life would interfere and make it so I’d miss updates more often… and somehow, I’ve managed to keep this coming out reasonably steadily for some time. Who’d have thought?

Also, there’s a slight change in scripting here… the stuff up top was initially going to be on the previous page. But as time wore on, the more clunky I found that. So, when finalizing the script for this chapter, those text boxes got scooted onto this page. Personally, I think it makes it all flow better.

Either way guys… it’s been years since I did the initial teaser. I’ve learned a lot and will continue to do so over the years of material I have planned yet to come.
In addition, well folks, if you hadn’t guessed by the snitch on her bookshelf, or the Harry Potter fanfic comment back in Layline, Faith is a Harry Potter fan.  So, fi faith were here, do you know what she’d be doing? Counting the hours till Friday, that’s what.  I have my midnight ticket in my wallet, which is good.  This is because the theater I’ll be going to, which will be having fourteen different theaters showing it, is completely sold out.
In addition, folks, Friday is the full moon.  Lots of thinkers in the past, such as Pliny, discussed the moon’s influence over human behavior (thus, where we got the term, lunacy) based upon its influence on the tides.  Of course, back then, they didn’t understand gravity as we do now, so they made the erroneous assumption that the moon affected water specifically as opposed to well... everything.  But you know, despite that, I think there’ll be a lot of tears flowing by the end of it.  I know that if I cry, I’ll be blaming the tears on the full moon’s effect on the tides, and I’d have to be crazy to wear my school robes in July.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 031


So, that aside… Oh god guys, I’ve been so sick when I made this. Like… man, you guys don’t even want to know. And on top of that, oh man, this page just fought me the whole while. But, here it is. Noting too folkloric here, I’m afraid... but I will say I suck at drawigng graying orange hair in the dark.

In addition… I had an unpleasant interaction with someone recently.  The person involved was likely trying to con me, and ended up offending me pretty bad.  However, things like this force me to look around and realize just how good I have it. I mean, if this little trivial item is the big thing making me upset… that means I have it pretty darn good (well, having been super sick aside).

And most importantly: at the end of the day, it reminds me that I’m SO lucky to have all of you guys. While I don’t always agree with everyone here, or we frustrate one another (I’m sure some of you are so tired of “We’ll just have to wait and see”), I don’t really have to worry about you folks being insincere, or just hoping to use me for your own ends, or calling me unpleasant things, or turning into werewolves and mauling me in the night. Okay, maybe some of you I need to worry about regarding that last one…

I even get to know some of you just a wee little bit, because I see you week after week. You guys compliment me with your comments, your +faves, and your +watches. Some of you guys even donate, and it always just blows my mind that folks can be so kind and generous. Sometimes you guys even read my silly artist’s comments (Which, if you read them this week, and you want to comment, please add in a little howl so I know you read this). *Chuckles*
You know, there are few things as exciting, or as humbling, as a kind comment from a peer. And I do mean peers, since that’s what you guys are, even if you can’t draw, or color, or write; that’s because everyone is creative, and does creative things, be it singing in the shower or gardening or what-have-you.

I am so blessed that you folks have swung by my little corner of the internet.
Thank you.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011



Just a little disclaimer here: DO NOT PLAY TAG WITH YOUR TONGUE. In fact, for the most part, don’t do anything Todd does. Seamus is a much better role model, mmmmkay? Mmkay. I’m glad we had this talk.

In other news… it is now officially summer! Hooray! I’m looking forward to a lovely new season with lots of good growing food in the garden. A bit of niceness to even out growing amount of frustrations XD

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 029


You know… I was pretty good at tag when I was a kid. Of course, the way we played sometimes, you didn’t just touch someone… you smacked them. Let me tell you, getting socked in the back repeatedly will make as short, fat girl move like lightning.

In other news, life is slowing down a little bit, but things are still crazy busy, in some ways. But good ways… like today, I was able to get some new flowerbeds dug, put down some (were)wolf-print stepping stones, and plant some werewolfy flowers, like marigolds and moonflowers. Also, I recently received a wonderful gift: a copy of Meet the Werewolf which was the first werewolf book I ever read. So, I’ve been lovingly poking through that inbetween researching for The Moonlit Pathway, which has been updated for your listening pleasure. month's twenty minute segment is about Native American Wolf-Creatures and Transformations

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Eldritch: lessons 027



Oh man, I only had a couple of days to get this done. And it shows. Sorry about that folks, hopefully I haven’t made too many errors.

Aaaaaanyway, I’m gonna keep this pretty short, mostly because there aren’t any folkloric references in here. However, while I think there are only… maybe three people who remember it now, in highschool, had been writing a werewolf story, way back when I was really working out my Grahll werewolves, and Travis and Loren were the main characters. I never finished the story… but my mind often wanders back to them, and because of this, I set Eldritch in the world I started way back then.

In other news, hopefully, my life will be less crazy soon. The art show is finished, and I made enough to buy the expensive supplies for my next monster costume, so I’m all excited. Though, oddly enough, my one little werewolf piece that I did for the show didn’t sell. God, people love their gryphons and dragons though.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and stay frosty!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Eldritch: lessons 026

Gah, I knew I forgot to mention a couple of things last page. First off…yes. There is a Star Trek reference in there. I was raised by a spaceman and a cowgirl; what do you expect?

Also, I totally forgot to mention pocket universes/pocket dimensions, as were explained in Alan Guth’s Inflationary Theory. When I first introduced the Layline, I was kind of surprised that everyone just accepted that this huge club space was in the tiny little porn shop glamour-façade I depicted, especially since I hadn’t yet introduced Seamus to explain everything. I guess the Layline is the epitome of what Guth said himself: "It's actually safe to create a universe in your basement. It would not displace the universe around it even though it would grow tremendously." Which is interesting, because I think I've heard stories of houses that were actually bigger on the inside...

And now that I’ve covered the rest of update’s page, I can get to this week’s. When I first scripted this champter, I actually had another long, running sequence. Frankly, I love them. But the more I reread and tweaked the script, the more I realized that doing it again was simply redundant, and slowed things down entierly too much, because it didn’t really say or show anything new. And, let’s face it, this is a fairly quiet chapter thus far. There isn’t a whole lot of drama, save for some internal conflict. So, anyway, the second run sequence was cut down to one page, and ten points to whomever recognizes the background in the last panel from another piece of mine.

Aaand… well, I think that’s it. No need for me to go into repeating what I’ve already said about the history of ley lines and such. So, I’m going to try to catch up on a few comments, and then I need to play with markers and colored pencils, since I think all of my paintings are done for the artshow. So much to do, so little time, but thank you all so much for all of the kind comments, so I have something to look forward to when things settle down a bit!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons


SO! About this page. I finally got to the point n the script where I could use the Sand Squink I’d drawn ages ago, as he was intended to be. If you’re not familiar with sand squinks, they’re half-coyote, half bobcat electric monotremes from Lumberjack folklore. If you find this interesting, you may want to check out Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods by William Cox or The Field Guide to North American Monsters by W. Haden Blackman. In addition, if you’re interested in the generation of music via electric discharge, please check out Tesla Coil musical groups such as Masters of Lightning or Arc Attack

Also, about synaesthesia… I first heard about it when I was a kid. Mom and I were comparing what colors foods taste like, and Dad, bless him, brought up this condition. I’ve heard it crop up now and again, and find it to be a fascinating phenomena. That being said, while I do think of colors or whatnot with certain foods or letters or whatnot, I don’t think I have synaesthesia. Rather, I think my association with colors or sounds or whatnot with alternative stimuli is conditioned, due to the fact that it’s not consistent, and often match up with letter-toys I had as a kid or whatnot. Regardless, since I use colors to help identify characters, and because of the reasons listed in the page, I felt it fit the comic entirely too well.

Also, can’t forget to mention pocket universes/pocket dimensions, as were explained in Alan Guth’s Inflationary Theory.  When I first introduced the Layline, I was kind of surprised that everyone just accepted that this huge club space was in the tiny little porn shop glamour-façade I depicted, especially since I hadn’t yet introduced Seamus to explain everything. I guess the Layline is the epitome of what Guth said himself:   "It's actually safe to create a universe in your basement. It would not displace the universe around it even though it would grow tremendously."  Which is interesting, because I think I've heard stories of houses that were actually bigger on the inside...

And, last but certainly not least, there are a few cameos on this page! The smallest of which is Burweazle, my little troll character, but what’s more important is whom he’s riding upon. The amazing, awesome dragon is Gold Dirt, a character belonging to my friend SageGoat and the handsome hunk of Irishness is Domhnal, Wolfsjal werewolf character. Both characters are used with permission, and goodness, Dom was a character that was supposed to appear in my old, failed webcomic project… it’s about time he appeared in a comic here, headshot or no. … I notice you’re still reading. You know, those icons are there for a reason. What are you still hanging around here for? Go check out the awesomeness that is their galleries!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 024


If I recall correctly, I first read Carl Sandburg’s Wilderness in high school, and instantly thought the first part of it sounded downright lycanthropic, and wondered what made him write such a thing. Naturally, it must mean he was a werewolf ;3 Regardless, since then I’ve slowly put together a list of people I’ve thought would make good werewolves. To be honest, it helped me pay attention in high school history classes. Likewise, trying to work out how werewolves worked helped me in biology and chemistry. *Sigh* If only I found a similar way to make math more interesting and easy for me to understand. But I do appreciate where my interest in such things did help me in school, learning about bull moose and such. I digress though… you should really read Carl Sandburg’s Cornhuskers. Good poetry in there.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Eldritch: Lessosn 023


Ohgodguyssobusy.

So… yeah, December is busy because of Christmas. October is busy because of Halloween. May is busy because of EVERYTHING ELSE. It’s con month, it’s planting month, it’s my-costume-isn’t-done month, it’s art show month, it’s summer clothes season at work, it’s yard work month… well, it’s busy. So, here’s to hoping that I can manage to keep on top of it all (Also, replies may be slow for this week. I will be gone all weekend and such, but will try to get back to everyone!)

Oddly enough, back when I was scripting this chapter, this page was one I struggled with. For one thing, I like bunnies. We have teeny little bunnies here that eat my parsley and I love them in spite of this. But I also know they’re very, very tasty. I love rabbit meat. And for another… well, I liked some of the introspection I wrote, regarding the ongzorz thrill of the hunt. But in the end, it seemed extraneous.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Eldritch: Lessosn 022





So, now I’ve traded talking heads for blocks of text.  Woo? Woo.  Sometimes I think I really should have written a novel.

Anyway guys, I really should come up with something interesting to say, but I have some other stuff to work on, so I can’t spare a lot of time on yammering.  Therefore, while I go back to arting and listening to Monster Camp I’ll leave you with a plug to something my pal Wolfsjal introduced me to this week Journey Quest Since I hope that people spread the word about my comic, I like to point people to what influences and entertains me, so, consider the word spread and GO WATCH! YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU DID!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Eldritch: Lessons 021


What?  No folkloric references?  No random info about nature?  I must be slipping.  Um… I’m sorry I’ve failed you again, here, watch some poorly video taped wolves as compensation: http://youtu.be/TdhJH9cR3AY

Egads, cut it close on this page.  That seems to be happening a lot lately, but life has been busy.  I suppose it’s a spring thing.  While folks south of the equator are slowing down for winter, here, things are warming up and getting set for spring.  There’s hiking to be done, weeding to do, and of course, lots of limbs to remove from ice storms.

Okay, this is the last talking heads page for a wee bit, I promise.  Unfortunately, I tend to run out of room a lot.  You see, I don’t do these comic pages the “Right” way, with the ginormous scanner and huge pages.  I just plot out the layout based upon the script, and print it out, before sketching out the line work.  However, since a lot of what is going on is so dialogue based, I have to make room for all of that text too.  Sadly, this results in talking heads sometimes.  What can I say?  I have to make this stuff on the cheap, and I’m as always, still learning.

Wheeelllp.  End of act one for this chapter I guess.  Anywho, I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter, Ostara, Passover, or other springtime celebration, and I’ll see ya all next Wednesday!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Eldritch Moments: Earth Day


 Happy Earth Day!  Why are you on the internet? Go do earthy stuff!

... Okay, okay, I'm sorry for the lameness here. They wouldn't leave me alone until I did this and I am so ashamed of myself. I take no responsibility for Todd's idea of celebrating, and while Maggie's usually a bit more playful, what can I say? Planting trees is srs buisness. But she did say "Right now" so, at least he might have a short later, right?

Also, while most of the Eldritch Moments strips take place during the course of the plot, since I'm only into the beginning of October in the comic, this actually takes place before the start of the comic.

... By the way, the rest of the pickup line is "--the bark to go with it, if you anna show me the same amount of love."