SS6 84 An agreement is reached
skyangel on June 16, 2018
Kim mentioned in her comment last page that she thinks I'm quite brave for putting so much of myself into my story and it reminded me of how I felt before posting the very first page.
I've always credited Patricia Grullion for being my inspiration because it was her comic ‘Friction’ here on the Duck that set me off from the very first. Her art and writing touched me so deeply that I felt an incredible urge to follow her same open approach to making comics. I wrote the basic script for the first chapter in one evening and then did the art for six pages but when it came to going live I felt extremely vulnerable and nervous about having been so open. I was pretty convinced the general reactionto my main character Sarah would be that she was just a self-pitying teenage whiner, so I helf off posting for almost a week before finally taking the plunge.
To my relief though so many readers across the world related to Sarah's thought and feelings that it was a huge lesson for me and in a strange way the old addage ‘Art imitates life, life imitates art’ is quite true because putting myself out ‘as art’ was testing the water and when I felt comfortable enough to go in deeper it reassured me that it was okay to keep sharing all my personal baggage.
In return it has made me stronger in real life too because I'm far more outspoken in my views now and honest about admitting my weaknesses and mistakes because Sarah has shown me that a lot of people will agree with my perspective on life and what fun it is being human rather than feeling like I have to pretend I'm something more impressive than I really am. You can't win them all, but knowing you can say something stupid and not curl up in a ball for having spoken is an important step to learn.
Next week… As DV quite rightly pointed out last week, Sarah's incurable quest for truth will inevitably cause her to discuss the strange events at Carlingford with Laura and that in turn will lead the story back to a very interesting conclusion. ;)
Have a nice week! :)
tommym at 9:46AM, July 7, 2018
Dear Sky Sounds like a good agreement. tommym
fredhedges at 9:42AM, June 18, 2018
Lucy, Sarah, and especially Laura are so even-tempered! I would be just furious at the way Ron and (Helen, is it? I forget) have messed with all their lives. Coming to an "understanding" of why he acted so badly, recognizing his inherent weaknesses and lack of character, does not let him off the hook for what happened and could very well have happened that night at the construction site. Grrrrr. And that's a lovely portrait of Laura in panel 3. You really have come a long way in being able to express the individuality of your characters in ways other than hair style, clothing, etc.
skyangel at 11:09AM, June 24, 2018
Fred: Although Laura's personality is clear in my mind I never really had a single strong view of how she might look. I was just guided by the feeling that the majority of my characters were a bit too pretty at times so I wanted to make Laura very unassuming and almost un-noticably plain in comparison which I think also makes Ron and Helens behaviour all the more disgraceful as she clearly poses a threat to no one.
KimLuster at 7:10AM, June 18, 2018
'nuther beautiful page! Some fantastic bird's-eye shots!! And Laura has totally won me over!! And Lucy has all the power haha!! Ya know... if Lucy doesn't work out for either one of them... ;) Just sayin'! :D
skyangel at 11:02AM, June 24, 2018
Kim: Haha Thanks :) I'll let Lucy know ;)
DarkVisor at 10:03PM, June 16, 2018
Panel three, what is that building half buried in the grass? o_O
DarkVisor at 9:33AM, June 25, 2018
Doesn't look like a boat, looks like maybe a small shack with two sets of double windows and a quad window and maybe a dark doorway, on Laura's left, not behind Sarah
skyangel at 10:58AM, June 24, 2018
DV: It's a wrecked boat. In real life some people abandoned there boats which were probably beyond repair and as the land belongs to nobody in particular I imagine nobody cares.
skyangel at 10:55AM, June 24, 2018
Nic and Ben: Yea, in all honesty it did feel a bit of a dull page to do because what follows is far more intriguing but this also felt like a necessary page nonetheless.
moizmad at 2:12PM, June 16, 2018
Gorgeous scenes sky, but how about some action? Maybe an alien spaceship lands, or a big gun battle, explosions, car chases... sort of like American movies?
skyangel at 10:53AM, June 24, 2018
Mo: Haha I think you might have picked the wrong comic to follow!
Infected Blood at 12:38PM, June 16, 2018
Beautiful conversation! They're taking the best approach: open up and deal with your feelings like an adult (as Laura pointed out). Let's see what Lucy says, now... To me, the beauty of webcomics is that people can take more risks than on regular paper comics. That includes openly putting a lot of yourself into your own comic, which can be therapeutic for the author, but it could be fatal to your readership, if your storytelling is not so good. More power to you, because you write really well and in a very relatable way, so I highly doubt your characters come across as whiny (unless you want them to). To be completely honest with you, there is only one character I personally loathe and find very unrealistic, because it feels very forced to me (maybe it has nothing to do with your life or it could be you're passionate about this character, so you overdid it - again, this is just personal opinion). Still, I can easily ignore this character, because the rest of the comic is so good :)
skyangel at 10:52AM, June 24, 2018
Infected: This comment intrigued me enormously because both me and Becky are wondering who that is now!!! I promise I won't bite you if you reveal which one it is and you can do it privately if you fear a backlash!
fallopiancrusader at 6:20AM, June 16, 2018
Wow, those backgrounds are amazing!
skyangel at 10:49AM, June 24, 2018
Fallopian: Thanks. Not as breathtaking as yours but I does me best :)
BearinOz at 6:19AM, June 16, 2018
"Author comment I see , lurk until page goes up, I shall"....I thought, seeing that one to Fred B-) waiting...waiting...Bingo ! Eventually B-) As Arici says, all grown up and civilised - if only we had politicians like that !
skyangel at 10:48AM, June 24, 2018
Bear: It's a lovely thought! I actually felt a bit cringey having the girls so agreeable in the last panel but they are both pretty nice people who reason things out so I felt it was fitting enough this time round ;)
arici at 5:19AM, June 16, 2018
They ARE grown up, aren't they... I can't get the timeline straight, but Sarah is what, like in her mid-twenties?
skyangel at 10:44AM, June 24, 2018
Arici: Hi, yea since Sarah left college the timeline has been a bit vague for sure as I've skipped birthdays and Christmas a few times but at this point in time about 23-25 would be about right I think.