Just relieved that I don’t have to draw Haliya’s tattoos for a while. Tip to amateur artists (and me), don’t use complex designs in your characters, at least if they’re going to show up frequently.
Hibi-Hibi (flashback): Yes. We need something tough and waterproof for Bakunawa's "collar". Tammy: MERM--mmmf! Cruz: Since we're in here, is there anything that we can use for what Hibi needs?
Tammy: Like... rope? Maybe? Seems like the obvious choice. Keith: Oh! And maybe Haliya can lasso with it! Haliya: It will be hard to lasso something that big, but I'll do it.
Blue Bunny Haliyan: Rope? Yep, we do have some spools here.
Hibi-Hibi: I can use these, but it could be thicker...
So… those two sweaty girls from the previous page are taking a bath (thanks Haliya). I wonder if I should draw that hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
These strips are small but since there’s a story now there’s a lot of thinking involved. I’m still bad and slow at writing, but there’s really only one way to get better!
Now, Page 199 mentions that her worshipers banned fireworks to not distract from “the glory that is the Moon”. Continuing from that idea, they’ll need people to do said prohibiting, so… forest rangers!
Are these Haliyan forest rangers real or fake? They’re real and working with, not for, the local municipal government. Both groups will benefit from protecting the forest from fire/works, illegal logging, etc., and helping hikers/campers. As for each group benefitting, the municipal won’t have to manage the forest or staff, while the Haliyans can keep people away from their village with some legal backing. The municipal don’t know where their village is though, and they’re wise enough to not piss-off them of a group that hunts monsters and have a warrior goddess leading them.
Being unmasked is tantamount to being naked, if not plain uncomfortable to Haliyans, so these forest rangers wear masks enchanted to look invisible to others. I’m not even sure when they’ll appear again after this Episode, but I imagine most Haliyans that leave their village will wear invisible masks like these. The tawlis also help them out in the forest rangers by spooking people with some scawy wind, or else just blowing them away with stronger gusts.
Sorry still for the delays and silence. Had been feeling extremely overwhelmed with all the things going on, especially that uh, legal thing with my mom. That’s actually still not over. And part of that was worrying about COVID infection since I had to go out a couple of times, but it’s been two weeks and I seem to be fine, thankfully.
Anyway, feeling a lot better now… and it’s time to get back to work again!
My computer finally has Wi-Fi now and got some cheap mesh Wi-Fi routers. Just saying cause the internet will now be more stable for art streaming. Maybe I’ll talk too since I’ve also gotten a nice pair of headphones (I can’t really work well without some tunes). No promises that I’ve got anything interesting to say though haha. Because of you patrons, I finally get to buy something nice and useful, thank you!
Also, give me some time to mentally prepare myself to come back to Discord. It’s always kinda awkward coming back after a while. 😅
Hoo boy, it took 22 pages to get at this point. I hope that part wasn’t too boring for you all! At least we had some fun stuff like uhh wolfgirl Tammy, kid Cruz, Tammy Stripping take 2, and voice acting.
Got a new tier in my Patreon, the $55 AristoCat Tier. It’s basically just a discounted $50 commission for $45 (10% off) + Patreon benefits, but doing it through Patreon contributes to the new $300 Goal… a NSFW goal ;). Thanks to the patrons who increased their pledges, the goal is already at $238 this month, but maaaaybe someone wants to nudge it a little closer to $300? Who knows, we might even reach it, it’s still just a week since June started after all!
I’ll announce it and other things properly in a separate post later, and make a separate mention for the AristoCats on the area below and the patrons/ko-fi enablers page.
Hibi-Hibi: It will take a LOT of work to create an agimat for Bakunawa but... we have a plan! Tammy: OHH THANK YOUUU!!! Haliya: Everyone...
Haliya: ...I did not think it was possible to end our centuries-long conflict without one of our deaths. Even if it's just a chance, I am deeply indebted to you all my friends.
Tammy: You two were the ones who helped me! Hibi-Hibi: Don't thank me just yet, making the thing is the easiest part.
Keith: All I did was bring Myan- Cruz: I'm just the bait, the master ba-- Keith: -and shut this guy up. Myan: mew!~
Soundcloud mirror just in case. The file itself isn’t big, but I still have to think about my webhost’s limited space if I ever do more of this.
Originally, I had the bright idea that I can get away with a blank comic page, except the dialogue, to simulate that Keith and Cruz’s eyes (and yours) are closed. But that was too boring! So to make things a little more interesting, I thought this was a good opportunity to make an audio comic. I hope you have enough imagination to understand what’s happening! Else, just read the transcript below which I filled with additional info.
I’ve hired a couple of talented voice actors from Fiverr (referral link. Might earn me some money!) and this is the first time I’ve ever commissioned anything or used Fiverr at all so that’s more things that I’ve just learned. Having to think about what the Cat Nine characters sound like or how they talk (and how Myan is pronounced), discussing details with the voice actors, and editing and mixing the audio using Audacity were all fascinating as well. I was also planning to add some sound effects, but looking for free sound effects are even more of a hassle than free music. Please forgive me for that and my amateurish audio skills!
I don’t mind if this is just a one-time thing, but this was fun enough for me to maybe consider making more in the future.
And excuse me if I don’t feel like drawing an actual comic page since I paid out of pocket for the voice talents after all, although I’ll draw those scenes with Tammy checking herself later… but only manyaks would look at those riiiight? EDIT: Here it is!
I also had “Tammy” say her dialogue in page 216’s last panel and some adorable awoo since I had a couple of words left from her. Dunno what to do with these yet. Feel free to make something out of them yourself!
Thanks to my patrons as usual, the kittizens at Discord for the input about the voices, and last but not the least:
Actually finished Feb 2, but eh, I’ll count this as a January comic page…
Myan’s cat-sized collar grows/shrinks when she transforms, so it’s too small for normal humans (and wifwolves) to use. I guess you can try attempting to wear it that tight, if you’re kinky enough.
Also included in the WIP page is an alternate thumbnail for the 4th panel, with Haliya doing something to Tammy power up the collar.
Keith: How does it feel to be young again? Cruz: Short and bored. Hibi-Hibi: Wear this Tammy, it will make things a lot easier. Tammy: O-ok... {ggk!} Uhh this doesn't fit my neck, so-
Tammy: -there. What's next? Hibi-Hibi: Hold out your arm...
Hibi-Hibi: Bap! And done! Now you can use it, but Haliya still has to power it up. Tammy: That's quick! So, what's she going to do?
Haliya: With the moon's luminescence, we bless our agimats*. Usually, it will take at least a few nights to imbue them... if I'm not involved. *amulet/talisman
Haliya: So shield your eyes everyone, this will be bright.
Woah, it’s been super long since Myan returned to her original form! And by later, she meant cleaning each other.
Yes, Myan ara ara’d her big sister can use the collar’s powers as long as she’s touching it. And I didn’t think about it back then, but it also makes sense to me that her poofing isn’t instantaneous. Perhaps a safety feature added by Hibi?
Oh, and heyyy, Happy Lunar New Year. Haliya and the Haliyans (this sounds like a band haha) celebrate those too of course. Anyway, this of course means I get to stuff my face with tikoy again.
Reminder that cats are tsundere, Myan included, but dere (most of the time) with her dad. And excuse Tammy, she couldn’t help with Myan being adorable here! I bet most of you wouldn’t mind getting licked by an onee-san Tammy though. Oh that reminds me, I gotta depict her as an onee-san in the future like the other girls… somehow Myan was the first to be depicted like that.I wonder when I can stop the Filipino language notes, at least with the more common words I’ll be using? Well, I better keep them in just to be sure.
I’ve also started to time myself whenever I’m working to give me something to track and improve upon, and geez, it’s already been a decade! I gotta take this comicking thing a little more seriously. If I can finish a page in a single day for 10 hours at most (8 and below is ideal), that’d be great for everyone. We’ll see if posting these will help since I already do feel a bit motivated, and you guys can rightfully claim I’m slacking off, I’ll post the stats below the patron mentions starting from now on, or just somewhere below for bonus/fan art. Whenever you see the times for these stats, these are the things that I do in detail:
Writing and thumbs: Writing the dialogue and drawing the thumbnails for the page/art. Kinda hard to time myself here since I can do this while doing other stuff like during my walks.
Rereading some of the past pages so I don’t miss some important info. I’m writing by the seat of my pants, and I can’t remember every little thing after all!
Sometimes I already have an idea for the page’s title and alt text in this step.
I have to adjust the dialogue a lot to fit the comic’s limited space. Perhaps looking up synonyms for shorter or more fitting words.
Make some super loose drawings (here’s for the current page). Quick and easy to draw/adjust, or scrap entirely if I’m not happy with them.
Proofreading and more adjustments. I might even keep adjusting the dialogue until I actually finish the page. If I’m happy enough with the dialogue during this step, I proceed to…
Sketching: The actual drawing, and the most time-consuming part!
Included in this step is looking up references, and doing some quick character designs for new or background characters.
I finish drawing each panel left-to-right.
First panel is uploaded to Patreon for $1 patrons. After each panel finished, I upload the progress to the patron-exclusive channel for $3+ patrons in Discord. *wink wink*
Redrawing stuff if I have to. I try to minimize the amount that I have to redraw by really making sure in the thumbnail stage, but sometimes it can’t be avoided especially if I change the dialogue.
Lineart: Well, it’s basically just tracing the sketches.
I also draw in the dialogue here, like with “lick lick”.
Upload the lineart for patrons.
Flats: Coloring in the base colors. Not that hard and time-consuming in most cases.
I move my seat back in front of my computer, and to using my old Intuos4.
Since I can zoom-in and out easily with they keyboard now, I can do other stuff better like correcting or smoothing lineart since they’re more noticeable, and my drawing hand will be slower but more precise.
I kinda just magic wand/marquee (Auto select in Clip Studio), and just fill-in the colors. It’s not perfect though, so I have to zoom-in regularly to fill-in the missing spots.
My color palette only has the hair, skin, and eye colors, so I have a separate file containing colors for their clothes, or for other characters. Or, I open up past pages/art to pick the colors I’ve used.
I also figure out the color palettes for new characters, if any.
Upload the flats for patrons.
Final: I didn’t want the stats listed below to be too long, so they’ll all be under Final.
Coloring and detailing: Adding in the shadows and highlights.
Yep. Highlights, shadows, as well as other lighting.
I either use separate colors in the palette for the highlights and shadows, or just use the screen or multiply blending modes. I usually just screen/multiply now for faster coloring.
Detailing for stuff like Haliya’s tattoos, or water and wind effects.
Coming up with patterns or something abstract for panels with no drawn backgrounds.
Checking the art and writing for the final time.
Posting and scheduling
Export the .jpegs and .pngs of the now finished comic. Patrons get the HD and textless versions too.
Thinking up titles, copy-pasting the dialogue for the transcript, and writing the alt-text and these blurbs below the comic. Maybe think of some interesting polls.
Checking if my patrons are actually still RAWRs ($5) or KitTens ($10).
Previewing the comic’s webpage, checking to see if everything’s fine.
Post/schedule them here and in social media/other websites. I use Buffer for social media, and PostyBirb for deviantArt. My computer has to be turned on or asleep to use PostyBirb, so damn you dA for charging people to schedule posts!
Use the first panel for making a comic preview for Instagram since my comic’s format isn’t really a perfect fit over there.
