You’re under direct orders to have fun, or else.
—–
Fanart update! Received this from Anna Rodman depicting a future Selkie and Amanda:
Thank you so much, Anna!
As long as nobody does the See Food joke, it should go mostly fine. Should.
You’re under direct orders to have fun, or else.
—–
Fanart update! Received this from Anna Rodman depicting a future Selkie and Amanda:
Thank you so much, Anna!
Love the fan comic. Definitely can see Sallie doing that as an adult.
Selkie. Love how a software update wipes out your autocorrect word additions.
Agreed! That fan art is the greatest!
Agreed! AWESOME fan comic!
The expressions are fantastic, too.
i used to bookmark individual pages in webcomics i really liked, till it really got outta hand, but that fan art has required me to bookmark it, so good
Just save the pictures!
That is some great fan art! 😀
The fan art could be it’s own spinoff ! I love it 😀
its*……
I love the fan comic!!
“Fun will be had.” EXCELLENT.
Oh, and fanart? STUNNING. You NAILED both of their personalities and mannerisms exactly. This is exactly what I expect them to look like in 20 years or so.
Hoping Amanda will be able to tone down the nasty for Carrie’s sake
Holy moly, that fanart is gorgeous. o_o
Why are they both ugly in the guest comic?
Wait ’til YOU get old.
When my wife took my last passport photo I noticed become…
…Shatner-esque. AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY.
Because, first of all they’re not ugly, and second most little girls do not become supermodel-esque hot when they grow up.
In other words, this fan artist imitated reality.
Because not every art style is about being aesthetically pleasing and more about being artistic depictions of realistic body-types.
And even then, to me only the last one seems off, the rest look fine.
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder? But I’m a guy, maybe all women just look good to me? Or I don’t know, maybe I just know these two from the comic, so that’s why they look good? I just think the art is wonderful, but I’d date either one of them in a heartbeat. They’re just my type I guess, …
What are you talking about? They are gorgeous. Not every female character needs to look like a Barbie (and even Mattel gets this as they’ve release beautiful Barbies with different body types).
It’s messed up when realistic is considered unattractive. Guest comic Amanda looks like an actual person i would run into in real life.
most people ARE unatractive lol, myself included
It’s all opinion. I don’t find most people that are featured in magazines or actresses all that attractive. I frequently think of Skeletor when I see them. Being able to see ribs through skin isn’t attractive.
Also recognize what we see is the result of hours of makeup sessions before hand and, these days, some Photoshop. Much of what is called attractive is unattainable, even for the people that are called attractuve, without a large staff. Just Google a celebrity you think is attractive and add “without makeup” after the name.
@ Laughing Target: ha-ha, Skeltor, yes! But I’m old, I remember Twiggy, as a fashion sensation. It was an awful time for high school girls’ self-images. Only barely marginally bett today, but still better.
I’d date Amanda within a second and enjoy Selkie’s company without a thought.
I dunno… Her lips are a tad big for my tastes, but I’d say Anna nailed the big beautiful redhead look for Amanda. As for Selkie, I’m getting a sort of punk rock vibe from her. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but I wouldn’t call her ugly. Perhaps your tastes haven’t refined yet?
It’s too bad your tastes, nor anyone’s, aren’t relevant to their looks huh? Women don’t require ‘attractiveness approval’ in order to exist. Shocking, I know.
Like… these are future versions of EIGHT YEAR OLDS. What are you DOING appraising their attractiveness. What kind of creepy shit
First off, they are images of adults. Whether or not they’re ‘future versions’ of someone is irrelevant. As they are in the images being referred to, they are adults in both body and mind.
Second, I don’t recall saying anyone needed my approval to exist, attractiveness or otherwise.
Hmmm, thought I had you requiring approval to post comments. WELP. Fixing that shit right quick.
but they are ugly though…
…to better fit in with humans, you should be saying, “They biped marvelously! And the air-breathing depiction is much authentic!”
Adult-Selkie’s got the “not human” thing going nicely, and adult-Amanda’s got the skipped-a-generation figure of her mom’s mom, looks like. (These things happen; my spouse is tall like his uncle, though both his parents were short.) Neither one is ugly. They’re just not drawn like airbrushed centerfolds. (GOOD!)
I was going to comment on how they look perfectly fine, but then I saw this, and decided I was too amused to care what someone thinks.
And then you commented anyway to show him how much you don’t care. Lol.
Middle of the night and bored, I was gonna comment one way or the other. The comment was inevitable.
I don’t find them ugly at all. Just the opposite.
1. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
2. As others have pointed out, not everyone, in fact few people, grow up to be paragons of idealized beauty (a standard which changes depending on culture and time anyway).
3. Their appearance, outside of adhering to species traits and established personal traits, is really not even relevant to the story the guest comic artist was portraying.
That fan art is amazing 0o0
I did a google on Anna’s name looking for more art by her. That was a mistake.
What do you mean? Was there anything NSFW?
I’m checking on duckduckgo, and while there are five bazillion hits on the name plus “artist,” I found a couple of adorable illustrations from 3-4 years back that look like earlier versions of the same style. Nothing NSFW, and I had safe-search turned off entirely.
If there’s a DeviantArt or Tumblr with her stuff, it’s probably not under her own name, though; I didn’t find either of that. Alas!
All I found was 80 instances of one person’s arrest in Oregon. Never found the artist link? And I’m using Duck-go. Maybe I need two spaces.
Well I’ve never been arrested, nor have I been to Oregon, so that’s probably not me.
My Tumblr username is fernacular, if people are this interested <:)
Yay, more art to look at! ^_^
(O.M.G. THIS IS COOL ART HERE. (and then i selfishly hope you fall into some of my favorite fandoms because fan art squee no it’s selfish not gonna say what they are *facepalm*))
Search-Engine Fu! Narrow with “art” (well, that didn’t work so well, considering there were people named Art) or “artist.” I didn’t see any of the arrests!
(My name is just about as common, at least for Pinterest or Twitter. There are like five zillion of me. Gotta add “author”…)
OMG that comic is seriously amazeballs. Hnnngghhh I wish I was that good. And Amanda chubby is an interesting thing!
and amanda;’s face in that second to last panel is gold :p
Dad laying down the law, no if or buts, fun will be had.
Love the guest comic too, they’re acting like proper sisters, and I just noticed that Selkie is wearing her bow as a necklace, nice little detail, looks awesome Anna.
It makes my heart hurt that he would refer to her as his “bio-daughter” right in front of her. “My daughter, Amanda” would have been fine.
You’d think someone raised in a family of adoptees would know better.
“You know Selkie, the girl I loved so much that I CHOSE her to be my child. Well, this is Amanda, my “biological” kid, so I kinda have to put up with her.”
Or
“You know Selkie, that blue freak I saved from a life of degradation by taking her out of that orphange (because I’m such a damn fine fellow). Well, this is AMANDA, my BIOLOGICAL child, my own flesh and blood, the fruit of my loins, my REAL daughter.”
The term is insulting to both of them.
“I’d like to bring Amanda, my other daughter.”
It seems to me that context is the critical factor in how either one of those interpretations comes in to play. I mean, is the phrase “bio daughter” inherently bad, or does it only become bad when used to separate a “good” kid from a “bad” kid?
If Todd refers to Amanda as “my bio daughter”, does he also call Selkie “my adopted daughter”? To me it seems really simple. She’s either his daughter or she isn’t. No clarifier needed.
Honestly, it’s the sort of term that Amanda can use to go “I’M THE REAL ONE!” and Selkie can use to go “I’S THE CHOSENS ONES.”
…Todd probably didn’t realize any of the implications either way. I mean, none of them were bio-kids, so it’s not like his parents had to worry about that hurdle of terminology. For him, it’s probably just a reminder that he has another daughter, so Avery isn’t going “Wait, what, who?”
(And since he wasn’t the one who re-claimed Amanda, and no one knew about Amanda when Selkie was adopted, he might not have gotten The Talk About Terminology… ever. Or if he did, it went in one ear and out the other as irrelevant.)
To be fair, I come from an unusual position of being raised by people not blood related to me, yet not technically adopted, in the legal sense. I have no problem explaining if someone asks, but I’m not going into all the details right now.
Suffice to say, the term bio has been thrown around several times in my life, usually by me discussing my bio mother, though. My parents never really used it, instead trying to just call her my mom until I told them my mom is the woman that raised me, this woman just gave birth to me. But at least she finally tried to be a part of my life, so I’m not going to punish her for past mistakes. Life’s too short, and I’ve lost too many people to keep doing that.
My bio father however usually goes by “That rat bastard that got lucky I was too drunk to stab him.”
Trust me, it fits.
What I’m trying to say in my typical long winded comment, however, is that it’s just like Dave says, context usually means everything. But it all depends on how Amanda and Selkie see it, because the most important context in a situation like this would be theirs.
And I think Dave did it intentionally with that in mind. Look at Amanda’s expression in that panel. Tod means well, but we’ve seen just how dense he is with how he communicates. There isn’t much delicacy or finesse in him.
Maybe, but I think Amanda’s reaction can be explained by, “Oh no, now I am going to have to have dinner with even more of these scary not-humans.”
Her attitude towards Selkie and now sarnothi in general is a parable for racism: at the outset, she was deep into scapegoating Selkie for her own troubles — troubles that weren’t actually Selkie’s fault at all, but she needed someone to blame. Now she’s been forced into contact, forced to behave politely… but her emotions really haven’t changed much yet.
How is referring to Amanda as his bio-daughter any different from referring to Selkie as his adopted daughter? It’s not a qualifier. It’s a description.
It’s also a handy shorthand way of saying “Hey, I have a biological child, too, whom you might not have known about. She’s part of the family too, so she’s semi aware of the whole Sarnoth thing.”
That’s how I took it. Applying anything but descriptiveness to it could actually go both ways, as we have seen even in THIS comic.
“I’m not adopted, this is my REAL mom” -Amanda
“We DID choose our family, just sayin'” -Mari
“YOU aren’t daughter, one hundred freaking percent” -Todd
Shit, autocorrect futzed the quote, badly- s/aren’t/are my/
There is also the issue of being a different species. As Todd’s bio daughter, Amanda is a different species from a lot of the other people at the dinner and Avery and his wife may want to change their cooking up a bit to accommodate her.
My initial reaction to his use of bio-daughter, particularly in front of both kids definitely was apprehensive and a bit alarmed. It definitely strikes me as all kinds of problematic, HOWEVER, i will cede to anyone with experience with relationships involving adopted kids vs. biological kids in what kind of terminology might be common and/or appropriate. For now though, yeah seems a bit off to me.
Personally I think “My daughter Amanda”, or “my other (without emphasis on other) daughter Amanda” would be much better, but again, I admit this could be a thing that I just am not aware of.
…if he were introducing them to a new person, like, a guest visiting his house, yes, ‘my two daughters’ are the only things that are required.
But here, ‘bio-daugher’ is just a fact of information AND IT’S NEUTRAL. The girls don’t need shielding from the basic facts of their situation. It’s just info. If Todd ever tries to deny reality of the difference in their status, or ‘shield’ them from it, THAT would be crappy, because again: it’s a neutral difference. It’s like hair color. “My red-headed daugther and my brown-haired daughter”. “HOW DARE YOU SAY THERE IS ANY DIFFERENCE IN THEIR HAIR COLORS THEY ARE BOTH MY DAUGHTERS” <= this would just imply some kind of weird inequality judgement applied based on hair color? It's just so unnecessary. And I think the 'bio daughter' 'adopted daughter' dichotomy should be treated the same. "My sarnothi daughter and my non sarnothi daughter" is all it means here, and it doesn't need any more baggage attached to it.
Yeah, the girls ALREADY might have some baggage attached to it, but Todd is doing the right thing by trying to decouple it, here.
Sorry if incoherent, im in a hurry and my fingers are frozen whoops gotta run
Okay, now that I have time to type properly
Todd needed to get across the following information about Amanda:
– she is not sarnothi, nor in the loop about them
– but she is aware of much of the situation, and cannot be extracted from it, because she’s family
– this has not come up before, because Todd is not her guardian and she does not live with him
‘bio-daughter’ folds this into one word neatly in a way that ‘my other daughter’ cannot
‘my other daughter’ is a reasonable thing to say when the other person has not been working with your family extensively and in detail and is not expected to know everything about your household
in this case, Todd needed to clarify Amanda’s relationship with him /and Selkie/, and her status within the household (‘guest, but family’)
it would indeed be unnecessary and harmful to give this relatively intimate information to a stranger – say, a new neighbour coming in to say ‘hi’ and seeing two girls
but when this IS relevant, dancing around the word ‘bio-daughter’ would only add unnecessary tension
I hope this was more clear
Except its not neutral. Agent Smith is already aware of Amanda’s existence and her relationship to Todd. Referring to her as his “bio-daughter” when “other daughter” would have been sufficient places a weird connotation around it that could easily be perceived (as many of us have) as coming across as dismissive/exclusionary/segregative.
From his responses its clear that that was not Dave’s intention, and I really didn’t think it was to begin with, it’d be out of character for both him AND Todd to act that way. But that doesn’t change that its pretty easy for it to be interpreted that way by others and may not be a very accurate or authentic portrayal of that kind of relationship (something which Todd, being an adoptee might be expected to have a fair amount of familiarity with).
Good comic. Like how it was handled. And it’s lucky Avery was so accommodating. I feel like there’s going to be some real fireworks at dinner.
The fan art is awesome. But is it just me, or does Amanda look kinda… Amazonian? Like she plays professional rugby or something. (Don’t ask why I picked “rugby”, I don’t know, I’m not British.)
Hi! I’m the lady who made the fanart.
First of all thanks for the complement! Second, I wasn’t trying to make Amanda look amazonian so much as stocky and a lil chubby. I was basing the pictures on my own relationship with my sister (we did not get on at all as children but now that we’re adults we’re much better friends) so I decided to base Amanda’s body on my sister’s as well (skinny little thing as a child, much more solid all grown up).
Side note: I didn’t make Selkie look like me, I’m even stockier then my sister, but I figured Sel would have a swimmer’s figure.
Fun little tidbit for you: how you drew her is actually more or less how I envision an adult Amanda.
Yay! 😀
Dave, what about Selkie?
She does look a lot like a sketch of Adult Selkie doing karaoke that Dave posted here some time ago.
Well that would explain it. I guess I thought “Amazon” rather than “stocky” because she doesn’t seem particularly broad in the shoulder but, at least on her calves, she seems well muscled. Could just be my perspective though.
I would call that German heritage. My grandmother had a similar figure and she was German.
I was thinking she was taking after Todd’s side of the family. Todd’s not chubby, but he’s got a big frame. Amanda has similar structure (Check out her jaw shape) and apparently looks just like a female version of Todd as a child. It’s a totally plausible figure for her, and very well done.
Also, I totally want to steal Amanda’s dress.
I theorize that because she’s not as restricted in food choices as Selkie and the positive influences of Mari that Amanda as an adult becomes a chef. Speaking as an amateur cook, you tend to sample your own wares and it tends to show after a while.
Oh, point! Todd’s genetics might include that. Plus Amanda’s mother seems, IIRC, on the stockier side? So double-reasonable for that build! (And she probably has a punching bag in one room that doubles as exercise and temper-management.)
I like this future-Amanda. 🙂
Your art is fantastic, Anna. You NAILED their personalities (and what the will believably become) perfectly.
The fanart is fantastic! I love it!! Sometimes it is sad to look at art and be surprised by how realistic it is, because realism is so little portrayed, but also it can be good for artists who are awesome at portraying realism because they always seem so fresh and new! I am gonna go stare at your art more and study your lines! What program do you use?
IT’S AMAZING!! <3
I love the fan art! They both are how I would envision them as adults.
Your art is fantastic Anna, thanks so much for sharing it with us! I particularly love Selkies facial expressions, and Amanda in the last panel is perfect!
I’m really interested in seeing how Amanda will react to meeting more Sarnothi. I can’t help but wonder how much she will end up learning about them, since she’s not SUPPOSED to know anything, but I think at this point, her finding out will be inevitable.
That fan-comic was freakin hilarious! XD Not completely sure how old they are supposed to be. Early 30’s maybe?
That fanart is so gonna be canon XD
I like how Adult!Selkie still has her bow hanging around her neck. :3
Can’t wait to see Amanda meet Benny. Actually, this whole thing should be interesting…does she still use the F–h word?
Anna’s talent is wasted as a guest artist. Please tell me she has her own strip.
“bio daughter” is a bit obtuse here. I’d say “my daughter Amanda” or “selkie’s sister Amanda”
“Bio” is what I usually hear used by people who actually adopted or are adopted, it’s only “real” they tend to take issue with.
Hi, I am adopted. Occasionally, my adoptive siblings are referred to by our parents as their biological children, when it’s needed. There is no stigma attached to it, it’s just information that’s sometimes necessary.
I’m more surprised that Agent Brown didn’t already know about Amanda. But then, Amanda was going through Andy, and he had no way of knowing he should be watching the ex, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.
He’s called agent brown. He’s from the Govrnment, he knows everything about Todd and his family. He’s from the government. Almost everything about you is public information. Try googling yourself, truly freaky to see everything about oneself all laid out like that.
I’m probably doing domething wrong (or right) because googling myself gets me nothing relevant.
He’s talking to someone who already knows about Selkie and her being adopted. “Bio-daughter” = “non-sarnothi close family member of the same generation”, and necessary info he
Hooray for character building! Also, the guest comic makes, Amanda and Selkie look so cool!
I’m enjoying how Anna drew them. Also it’s just cute how they act in comic. XD They’re just total geeks in hers.
And I dunno if taking Amanda with them is going to be wise. It might be really embarrassing and cringe worthy. DX I don’t think it’d be worth the ‘lesson’ he’s trying to give her.
I’m hoping for one of two options:
1: Amanda and Benny will actually get along in sullen “our parents suck, making us do this” solidarity.
2: Amanda and Selkie will bond over being dissed by the older boy, and grudgingly acknowledge that only THEY get to diss and snark at each other.
With a side-order of hoping that Selkie doesn’t terrorize Benny’s mom (…checks tags…), Carrie. Selkie could probably use a variety of Sarnothi in her life to temper her ambitions to turn into Smaug. >_>
Option 3: Benny EATS Amanda! Ironically proving Amanda’s fear, but removing her from the comic forever!
But what if eating raw brat makes Benny sick?
That’s some gooooood fan art! Amanda is a well adjusted adult, Selkie lost the ”S’. And they’re still messing with each other! Love it!!
Great comic strip and fan art too.7
Great comic line and fan art.
Outstanding fan art! Well done! 🙂
Also love Todd’s implied “You WILL go. You WILL have fun.”
That was one awesome fancomic! Have two years passed in-universe by the way? Real question here, not just being snarky. I have trouble tracking comic time. They were 8 when we started, right?
Hey, anybody else notice Selkie’s “thumbs up” in the last panel? Priceless.
I’m really enjoying the fan art comic here – the personalities of the characters really show through. And I love, love, LOVE adult Selkie’s markings.
The fanart is amazing and my favorite thing is Selkie’s expressiveness – both face and body language, like that’s… absolutely fantastic and adorable <3
(I also love everything about Amanda, but I just CANNOT KEEP MY EYES OFF SELKIE'S FANTASTIC ACTRESSING)
OMG The fanart is gorgeous!!! This is now headcannon for how they will look. Also, I would 100% love to read a comic about their adult adventures <3