Haliya: I'm glad it has eased her burden somewhat, but what can we do with just this?
Hibi-Hibi: It might seem like a failure, but perhaps we can make an agimat like Myan's for Bakunawa.
Hibi-Hibi: Similar to Tammy's case, we might not need to overpower Bakunawa's curse.
Hibi-Hibi: But maybe we can transform her just enough into a more... manageable form. It will be easier to persuade her to ask for forgiveness from the god that cursed her, or fulfill the curse's conditions. Even if we never win her over at least she'll be safely contained... to do what you have to do.
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:
I hope we all make it through this pandemic, so take care of yourselves everyone! I’m just gonna keep doing what I’m doing: make stuff at a snail-like pace.
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: 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?
