Now that we've established some of Blaine's own hunters are from the Families, I figure it's time we actually get to know more about them. Between here and ReVamped, we should start to see a little more of what they can do now that the cat's out of the bag about the distinction between someone who hunts monsters and a Hunter like John Marlowe and the Ixian Families. If you found yourself wondering why Blaine puts up with shenanigans from the cousins, it's because Mort is a “legacy kid” as Grandma calls them. Getting someone from the Families is a big deal for Blaine, as mentioned they're there to make sure Blaine doesn't screw things up, but also because some of them just don't jell with what the Family wants, either. The Family has expectations. Obligations. They also don't pay you for super-heroism because it's a calling, a responsibility, to risk your life hunting bloodthirsty creatures.
Mort's cousin Glen has been his closest (only) friend since they were children, and of course Blaine is happy to have someone who can shoot a gun at monsters on the team even if he lacks supernatural abilities. Also, recruiting people to hunt monsters is a lot harder than you'd think, having someone willingly keeping themselves awake to the horrible things that go on in Kellwood when most people will gladly embrace the forgetfulness spell after their first encounter with a dead body torn to shreds by rat beasts is a valuable asset that Blaine can ill-afford to lose. Mort doesn't really have a passive ability to detect magic creatures, hence why Tony was able to move about in Blaine's body without him immediately recognizing something was up other than his weird eyebrows and shifty behavior. All creatures leave an essence signature, sort of like a lingering scent, on places and people they've interacted with. It sort of clings about like an aroma. Some Hunters can detect this, others cannot. Mort certainly could tell there was something there recently, but Blaine is hunting monsters every night and has an entire menagerie in the basement of the B.O.O. so Blaine is positively aromatic with supernatural essence almost constantly. He also called them up because he'd just encountered something in his room. There's a reason the cousins had to do some research before concluding the man was indeed, possessed by something! If Mort had “read” Blaine, he would've only been able to tell that a whole bunch of monsters had interacted with him recently but not that he was being body-jacked. The system works as intended. You don't want to mistake a mortal being for a monster, and kill an innocent person while the unscathed demon mwhahaha's out of the bullet-ridden corpse to go possess someone else!
Anyway, Mort could tell by looking at Charby and Mannick that they weren't canine and human because the glamour does not affect him, but what really got his attention was something that DOES ping loudly on the essence radar– the Ixian acorn Charby was carrying with him. He might've expected to see another Hunter, and obviously it wasn't! Ixians can tell who has the essence aura of Ixia and who doesn't, and to what level they contain it. (BTW, just found out that's Ixian is a word in Dune and I'm kicking myself for not reading Dune so I could've come up with another name! Oh well.) They also can recognize another essence quite easily– that of Ixzerit.
Mortimer also knew that Charby and Mannick weren't Dragons because he's “smelled” Dragons before. A Dragon can pass for a human pretty easy with the glamour and also their ability to physically shape-shift (though some are lazy and depend on the glamour for hiding things like tails and scales in a mostly humanoid form). And it would be odd for a Dragon to come out to what is basically the backwoods to enter Kellwood when they do all their business on the East side of town. It'd be like going to your back door to your house, cutting through the back yard and around the block and then through the front window to get to the couch where you watch TV. But with the added thrill of a neighbor's dog that might attack you, because to the West, the human city is a (relative) spitting distance from Onekamari territory!
I love, love, LOVE the dappled lighting effect from the sun through the canopy here, you did a BRILLIANT job (literally, ha!) rendering it, and it adds so much to the "texture" of the scene. Outside of realism, I think it also complements the emotional turmoil of Hex as he tries to navigate a situation he just simple hasn't been in before.
The lore dump is also fascinating! I love all the worldbuilding you put into this comic, like you can FEEL how much love is caked into every panel. And despite the impressively (chaotically) huge cast, you still manage to give them distinct signature looks and personalities. DAMN, AMY. Nicely done!
LORELAI!!! I want you to know how happy it makes me to see you! I'm sorry it took me a while to respond, my internet computer died! XD Thank you so much, your kind words have lifted me out of the funk a bit. The response on this page was pretty quiet and it's sort of dispirited me, engagement on the pages have just been diminishing overall for a while. Your comment is like an adrenaline shot for my motivation though so I'm working hard on the next one ^_^ Glad you liked the lore too! You're reminding me that there's still a lot that needs to be said! Thank you again <3
I'm certainly enjoying breaking out of the previous format, and making as many panels as I want again. :) Ahaha yeah I was working on a project and finished it off, just dragging my feet on completing the big part (actually posting it!)
Thanks for all the info and, of course, for the really gorgeous page. When looking at it I first thought there was something off with some of the colouring, BUT THERE ISN'T! This is exactly what the shade in a leafed canopy should look like, it's just that most artists don't have that eye (or patience) for such details, so my brain didn't expect it and needed a second for it to click into place. To my discredit it's something I should have noticed right away, at that. It's just the very thing everyone who has ever tried to shoot photos in the woods on a sunny day knows all too well as an astonishingly difficult lighting situation. In this case, it's one of these little details that make your artwork even more outstanding than it already is. I can only guess at the effort you had to put into this to get it just right, probably suspecting that hardly anyone will actually notice and appreciate it, so I wanted you to know that at least someone does.
Ah gosh thank you! This is immensely helpful feedback, I tried some new techniques (made new brushes for it too!) so I'm delighted you took notice of that! I finally put some photos I took to good use for reference and color sampling! :D Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Either my photos come up washed out or too dark. I wanted darker shadows even in this, but any darker and details start getting lost!
Xade at 9:54PM, May 31, 2021
yay two pages instead of one, or did I miss one for a bit. I'm sop glad to see you update and I adore all the effects you put here
MagickLorelai at 2:48AM, April 25, 2021
I love, love, LOVE the dappled lighting effect from the sun through the canopy here, you did a BRILLIANT job (literally, ha!) rendering it, and it adds so much to the "texture" of the scene. Outside of realism, I think it also complements the emotional turmoil of Hex as he tries to navigate a situation he just simple hasn't been in before. The lore dump is also fascinating! I love all the worldbuilding you put into this comic, like you can FEEL how much love is caked into every panel. And despite the impressively (chaotically) huge cast, you still manage to give them distinct signature looks and personalities. DAMN, AMY. Nicely done!
Amelius at 10:54AM, May 4, 2021
LORELAI!!! I want you to know how happy it makes me to see you! I'm sorry it took me a while to respond, my internet computer died! XD Thank you so much, your kind words have lifted me out of the funk a bit. The response on this page was pretty quiet and it's sort of dispirited me, engagement on the pages have just been diminishing overall for a while. Your comment is like an adrenaline shot for my motivation though so I'm working hard on the next one ^_^ Glad you liked the lore too! You're reminding me that there's still a lot that needs to be said! Thank you again <3
Xade at 5:14PM, April 11, 2021
great page, loved the multi-page update. it made up for the lack of Radio silence from you :)
Amelius at 12:23PM, April 14, 2021
I'm certainly enjoying breaking out of the previous format, and making as many panels as I want again. :) Ahaha yeah I was working on a project and finished it off, just dragging my feet on completing the big part (actually posting it!)
PaulEberhardt at 7:12AM, April 9, 2021
Thanks for all the info and, of course, for the really gorgeous page. When looking at it I first thought there was something off with some of the colouring, BUT THERE ISN'T! This is exactly what the shade in a leafed canopy should look like, it's just that most artists don't have that eye (or patience) for such details, so my brain didn't expect it and needed a second for it to click into place. To my discredit it's something I should have noticed right away, at that. It's just the very thing everyone who has ever tried to shoot photos in the woods on a sunny day knows all too well as an astonishingly difficult lighting situation. In this case, it's one of these little details that make your artwork even more outstanding than it already is. I can only guess at the effort you had to put into this to get it just right, probably suspecting that hardly anyone will actually notice and appreciate it, so I wanted you to know that at least someone does.
Amelius at 3:25PM, April 10, 2021
Ah gosh thank you! This is immensely helpful feedback, I tried some new techniques (made new brushes for it too!) so I'm delighted you took notice of that! I finally put some photos I took to good use for reference and color sampling! :D Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Either my photos come up washed out or too dark. I wanted darker shadows even in this, but any darker and details start getting lost!