Haliya: It is done. And now its energy can also be restored by shining moonlight upon it. It might soon develop special properties too since tonight's moon is special.
Hibi-Hibi: Try it out Tammy, let's see if it works! (I hope we don't regret giving them a now powerful agimat, but they seem trustwo-)
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:Â 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.
Aw man, this should’ve been done like, a decade ago, sorry! Oh, and a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and Decade! I promised some Christmas artwork in Discord, so expect that soon. Thank IndiSkye for that since I was inspired when they made some Cat Nine Christmas fanart! Check out their pixiv and kenzato(nsfw) here!
In the comic, there originally was supposed to be some comment by Hibi that only Myan can use her collar since it would be foolish to let just anyone use magical items. To me, that’s just asking for it to be stolen and abused!
I don’t have the exact numbers for their power levels, but:
Hibi is magically powerful, but not as much as a goddess.
Haliya and Bakunawa are about equal. When they fought, both of them has a 50% chance of winning or not.
Kan-laon, the god mentioned in page 208, is a lot powerful than both Haliya and Bakunawa combined.
And I hope you guys understand Myan’s reluctance:
It’s a symbol that she has family now.
Her dad gave it to her, it has her name in it, so it’s hers.
It’s literally the only thing she owns.
They told her at some point (especially Hibi I imagine) to not remove her collar, since it’s a magical item.
Myan might’ve that people, even some close friends, don’t return the stuff they borrowed.
Tammy: Do we really need it? Hibi-Hibi: Not at all. It's just convenient since it already has everything we'll need.
Hibi-Hibi: If I alter Myan's collar, Tammy can use it and turn back into a human. But the magic I've poured in it isn't strong enough... yet. Tammy: I'm back baby!
Hibi-Hibi: Our power combined should be enough change your form, but not break the curse. Haliya: Bakunawa and I are equal in power!
Hibi-Hibi: I can make a new agimat for you, but only after this situation with the Bakunawa is over because it will take time.
Cruz: So if we can remove the curse, then there's no need for a magical trinket in the first place? Hibi-Hibi: Indeed.
Keith: Want me to talk to her? Tammy: Nah!
Tammy: It's important to her. I don't want to force her to lend it to me. Tammy: Buuut if she does lend it, I promise to take good care of it and I'll be super grateful! Tammy: So grateful that I'll give her favorite treat. Meow Chow was it?
I’ve been worrying that Myan’s not that useful in this Episode… but I figured that’s okay and for her to not be the center this time since the past few Eps did focus her. A downside of making up the story as I go! Upside is I wasn’t expecting at all that someone else might use her collar this early or in the current Episode so even I surprise myself. Uh sorry, I dunno if that counts as a spoiler, but I think some of you’ve that read or watched manga/anime would’ve considered that a possibility.
Haliya and her cult, yeah, realistically they should be more buffer, but I don’t really want them too beefy (like most ladies would prefer IRL), aside from not having enough practice drawing them yet.
Pet love counts, fight me! Maybe Tammy wants to be a pet?
Sorry for the short “hiatus” since I wanted to put a dent on the bonus/fan art, I still have 13 to do including this December. No worries, I’m back to a (more or less) weekly schedule again, though I’ll start posting the comics on Tuesdays instead of Saturdays instead.
Haliya: I'm sorry! I just miss my little brother so much! Cruz: It's fine.
Haliya: How about a hug to say I'm sorry? Cruz: Now what do we do with Bakunawa's serpent form?
Haliya: Oh, um... she's a shapeshifter, but she's cursed to stay like that. Keith: Then let's try breaking her curse! Hibi-Hibi: If I recall, we can...
[Ask the curser to remove the curse] Haliya: I've tried. Kan-laon's not gonna budge on that. Tammy: Isn't that a volcano? Hibi-Hibi: The volcano is named after the supreme god in this part of the land. Actually, we're near said volcano!
[Cause or wait for the curser to die. Or force them to remove it] Haliya: He's more powerful than me, and I don't like this method. Cruz: Aren't you a goddess of war? Haliya: Warrior goddess. I fight if I have to, not revel in warfare.
[Overpower the curse] Keith: Bakunawa is still cursed until now so... she can't? Haliya: Yes, and even if the two of us somehow work together, it's likely still too powerful.
[Use a spell, ritual, or item to break it] Myan: Can't you make one Hibi? Hibi-Hibi: I'm not as strong as a god, and I doubt something conveniently potent like that exists. Even if there's one, we don't have the time to search for it.
[Fulfill the conditions of the curse, if there's any] Haliya: Ah, she has to "stop coveting the moon". The curse is her punishment for attempting to eat the moon after all. Cruz: Oh, so she's grounded. Keith: Good luck trying to convince a big angry snake...
[Wait out the curse's duration] Haliya: It's for eternity... Tammy: Woof.
Keith: Well, this is looking hopeless... Tammy: Don't say that!
