I was struggling how to work this page to resolve the various sub-cliques and give them some form of an exit scene before moving on. When the “Are you stupid!” panel jumped into my head, the rest wrote itself. 😀
A reader mentioned Chanelle in the last strip's commentary and how she sort of... disappears from the scene in the last two pages. This is partially a result of me avoiding excessive panel crowding, but also part of my earlier effort to work Ricky into the scene a bit more strongly than he was initially written. I feel, as before, that this scene works better overall if the Orphanage Crew is prioritized over "at-school-friends" like Chanelle. Even though her physical presence is being downplayed, I think there's enough information to work with from previous strips for Chanelle's fate in the incident to be inferred.
Coach Griers is also adept at the Voice of Command. Also, because the song is stuck in my head and has been a constant factor while drawing the last couple strips, have some Mars Volta. It’s loud, so be careful[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Storyline strips RESUME! Yay! (I feel a little bad that this Selkie-less strip is the one to air after missing two updates, but it would have been next anyway. I know a lot of you are worried about Selkie though,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
One of Tony's Random Acquaintances (Lynni, the girl with the wavy blonde hair in the last panel) is basically a walking accident. She is a caucasian girl with long blonde hair in an orange jacket. Heather is ALSO a caucasian girl with long blonde hair in an orange jacket. Both also have very similar colorings in terms of skin hair and clothes. I wasn't thinking about the similarity when I put Lynni in an orange jacket and it's been driving me batty. XD
The wedding was fantastic! I am now the proud brother-in-law to a great guy who married my amazing sister. Love you both so much! As for the Mystery Update, I present to you… a coloring page! This is line art[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
SELKIE wants to learn Bubble Beam! But SELKIE can not learn more than four moves. Delete a move so SELKIE can learn Bubble Beam? >Tackle -Hi Jump Kick -Water Gun -Poison Sting 1... 2... 3... POOF! SELKIE forgot Tackle! SELKIE has learned Bubble Beam!
This guest comic comes courtesy of The Merry Lurker, with writing assistance from younger sisters who inspired this interpretation of Selkie versus Crackers. 😀 Thank you TML!
We are now about 3/4 or 2/3 through this arc, depending on some decisions I have to make about the final scenes. FYI. I received a fantastic guest comic to show, and I’ve decided to air it on Friday so[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
"Shake it off" is probably a very poor choice of words.
Seems like the sort of thing Amanda would laugh at. – – – – – So, a little bit of bad news for which I am wholly responsible. I may possibly not be able to make a Friday comic this[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Truck's gravity-defying tears are an art oversight that I chose not to modify because I really like how his face came out and don't like it as much with the tears running downward. Can't articulate why, it just loses something to me.
Firstly, I want to thank everyone who opened up in yesterday’s commentary about their own experiences with bullying and harassment. I know this stuff isn’t always easy to speak about or relive, and I wanted to say something openly to[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I went through multiple iterations of what action Selkie should take to defend herself against Truck in this strip and had a hard time weighing pros and cons of different reactions. First draft of this scene, she bit him. And I did not miss all the readers calling for that particular action beforehand, either. ;) But I decided biting him, with her sharp teeth and venomous saliva, presented too many problems story-wise. How does she explain it to witnesses? How drastic of an effect does it have? Does Truck even LIVE through it? A different iteration on this theme had her spit a huge loogie in his face instead of biting, but that had the same problems. Another draft had Selkie screeching right in his face and slashing with her claws. The problem here is that Selkie, by the nature of her character design, walks a very fragile line where she can easily become too "monstrous" and lose empathy. Plus slashing with her claws creates more witness and severity of reaction problems on top of that. In another draft, she dodged the grab, returned snowball fire, and knocked Truck over on top of Amanda and Tony. It's funnier and more light-hearted than the other ideas and was a strong candidate for awhile, but made her victory too easy and robbed "Tommy the Truck" of his chance to establish himself as a valid threat in the Rogues Gallery. Ultimately, I went with the groin kick because it allowed Selkie to obtain a victory over her aggressor without overdoing the combat elements of the scene or making her victory too easy (you could probably argue that I made it a little TOO difficult for her actually...). Eventually, though... I'd like Selkie to utilize her saliva in self defense. But it's still too early for that. Someday, though. Someday...
I don’t think I’ve wrestled this heavily with the decision of whether or not to actually go through with a particular scene since the shirt theft.
The background kids on the playground should PROBABLY be included for continuity's sake, but I feel this works better if Selkie Amanda Tony and Tommy the Truck are... isolated.
