Ch 23 Page 01
dragonsong12 on March 17, 2014
The non-compliment that is “different” was actually what he wanted to hear in this case. And hey! A third different look for Nareth in as many chapters (and all three versions have been in the last two updates) am I confusing everyone yet? :)
So, I guess first thing's first…I'm not happy with this page. I don't know why I had such a block with it, but I just couldn't get something I liked out of it. This is actually the 7th version of this page, at which point I went with it because it was the best I'd done, and this comic has deadlines to adhere to, but it's not really how I wanted to introduce this new design. I'll acknowledge that the new look is part of the problem - it makes him look younger, which is kind of weird - but it's not the entire answer, since I like it just fine on following pages. It's more the overall drawing that isn't working, but the haircut isn't helping - I did such a bad job of designing these characters in the first place that their hair is all that separates them, so changing his hair practically makes him a new character. My apologies to you guys. That is a problem I am working to fix going forward.
That said, I hope the design doesn't throw anyone too much. This was actually planned from the beginning for story reasons, so it's not something I'd decided to do on a whim. It WAS good timing, though. I was really getting tired of drawing the old version - the villain didn't care about his appearance much, so it got sloppier and sloppier, but I thought it was getting away from me a bit at the end. As I said, I know it makes him look younger, but I don't really mind that too much. Well, it is what it is…
Thanks for reading! See you next week!
dragonsong12 at 8:34AM, March 21, 2014
They really are. Women in particular, I think I need to do some extra work on. But I've been trying some new things and hopefully my future character designs will be improved. Doesn't help much with the characters we already have, unfortunately, but better late than never, haha! -- I'm glad it still came across, though, and I do think it looks better in a lot of the following pages. When something doesn't work, just strive to do better! -- But what do you mean? Of course Agneris will let them leave! ...in a carefully controlled unit traveling with armed security and himself by their side just to make sure everything goes exactly how Agneris wants it. ;)
Mina_Lunga at 8:01PM, March 20, 2014
Character design tends to change over time, anyway, since drawing styles shift. The double-layer of hair is pretty distinctive, though I can see why you would be worried (the faces of the humans do tend to be very similar in this style, even with the women). And I don't think the elves are going to let them all just "leave" ...