Song of the Eastern Sands: Page 34
Some folks were wondering last week what would happen if Asha actually managed to catch up with the Canid assassin! Well, here’s your answer! Turns out Asha CAN in fact take care of herself, even against a thick-skulled Canid.
CLONK!
Because of Volume 2’s later publication this summer (it’s actually slated to be released in limited quantities in late September/early October for conventions with a November release date in stores), Rachel and I are only doing a few shows this season.
However, we’ll have all new merchandise even without the new books, and any show where we don’t have Volume 2, we’ll be taking pre-order information down so we can possibly mail out convention specials even if you can’t get the book from us in-person.
Rachel and I will be attending Boston Comic Con August 12-14th and New York Comic Con on October 6-9. We won’t have Volume 2 ready for Boston, but we should definitely have it ready to go for New York!
I will also have a table at Hartford ComicConn September 24th and 25th. We’re not sure if the books will be ready by then, but I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Either way, for all three shows, we’ll have new prints, new bookmarks, and of course the t-shirts!
For guest art this week, I wanted to share this awesome piece that SaraaLuna did of a humanized Rook! Check this out:
I’ve seen humanized versions of a lot of our cast, and posted a bunch of them here before! I think they’ve all turned out excellently because to my eye, the characters still look visually intriguing even when they’re normal everyday ol’ humans! Here we have Rook, looking appropriately disinterested in whatever nonsense is happening around him. “Oh, you need me to go intimidate some crooks muscling in on our territory? Hrm. Fine, I guess.”
Thank you so much, Saraa! I love how he turned out! :)
And another little surprise for you! A couple weeks ago I shared a little image of a thing that I’m fiddling on. Well, I’ve continued fiddling, and now it’s got more stuff in it!
Obviously this is all temp stuff — the silly treasure chest, the stylistically inconsistent background art, a Mirren sprite by Veigue and a Finn sprite by Rachel! It’s madness! Nothing fits!
Well, that’s just because everything is placeholder. I wanted to try and build a little adventure game scene in Unity using Adventure Creator without needing any artist intervention and, well, this is what it looks like without an artist’s help :)
On the plus side, there’s a nifty little two-scene thing, an inventory puzzle, some test dialog, etc etc. The test was a success, and gives me something to build upon, at any rate. If anything new happens with it, I’ll let you know!
Head bonking. That seems to be a recurring thing with the Ermehn isnt it? Oh those silly little cat snakes.
If I never said so with this, but Saraa’s version of Rook is like my favorite humanized version of anything. I seriously hope we see you do more art in the near future!
On a final note, what sort of scenario are you fiddling with in here Alex. Is it some sort of 2D platform field map work ? Despite the lulzy out of place….everything… lol I can kinda see this whole screen (oh here comes my rpg ramblings) work out like a battle screen. Personally, if BWD game ever becomes a thing, I totally envision the project to be a graphical art style mix between character sprites being in well…hand drawn 2D and backgrounds, objects and effects be rendered in 3D.
A perfect example of what I mean is this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZnHnu8C6Hw&index=49&list=PL42F306272F96F381
Do not question the approved fighting techniques of the cat snakes, lest they allow their young warriors to practice on you.
“a head bonk for you, you, and…. You there! In the back! Yeah! One for you too!”
Actually, Veigue, the planned design is inspired by the old “Quest for Glory” adventure games that Sierra released between 1989-1998. You navigate an open world, solve puzzles, complete quests, and fight enemies — though right now I’m focusing more on the non-combat stuff thanks to Adventure Creator’s fairly robust toolset.
The plan is to try and replicate the comic style 1:1, but we’ll see how that goes. That would include 2D backgrounds and 2D character sprites. I threw together a little video showing the early prototype here: https://db.tt/gGmVQWkB
Basically the purpose of the demo was to teach myself the basics: getting characters in, getting dialog working, figuring out a good control scheme (it’s a little like Telltale’s scheme, with the left analog stick/WASD for moving the character and right analog stick/mouse to move a cursor that lets you interact with things in the world).
I’d be interested in anything set/ish during the War of the Western Deep era, but this demo in particular looks great! Where is the art for the Old Ruins from?
The timeline probably wouldn’t be the same as the original, at least as I’m planning it out — this would be meant to serve as a kind of introduction to the comic world, so the story would play into that.
The backgrounds for the cave and ruins are both pulled from Google Images (I just searched for variations on “cave background” and found them). They’re incredibly placeholder and will likely be replaced in the next iteration by crudely hand-drawn images done by me (but will be more accurate in terms of where things go).
I second Shield’s comment. I’m a huge sucker for “prequel/world building” type of stories especially with a world like this, which is ones of the many reasons why I adore Final Fantasy XII”s world (*spoileralert* it’s a prequel to FFTactics)
Anyway, good luck on the side project!
Okayyy… Uh, all the text on this page is the same color as the background for me. Is that supposed to happen?
Is it still messed up on your end? I just updated a bunch of elements, could be borked :-\
Fantastic work, Asha!
How do you like the Glasgow kiss, puppydog?
Also fantastic work, Saaraluna. That human Rook looks like a real tough guy who loves stripy trousers and doesn’t care who knows it. Is that vitiligo on his skin?
Whoops, forgot to reply since I haven’t had internet for a bit and I’m dead in the comments lol. Thanks Trees! And yeah, that’s some vitilgo; I was trying to mimic his mask, but it came out not quite like expected. Ah well.
Since I just came back from the dead I might as well ask what everyone’s been up to. Great page, Jerome.
Welcome back. I had a delicious haggis and potato pie the other week, thanks for asking.
Now all we need to do is figure out where Jakub went.
He hasn’t been commenting here since December, but his DeviantArt page is getting regular updates, so he’s still around.
Jakub’s doing fine, but I think he’s waiting for the main conflict/storyline to pick up again before he returns to commenting. He’ll be back. Glad to hear that Trees had a satisfying desert last week. I’m eating burnt rice in the rain forest right now so good on you.
Apologies to readers who came in last night and saw a huge mess of white and nonsense X) I’d updated a lot of the site’s core elements last night and neglected to check how it appeared in all web browsers. Turns out a lot of things got broken in the update to the new ComicPress version, but Phil (the theme creator) was able to get me back on track.
If you notice anything else funky just let me know!
Asha sure knows how to fight like a true Naruto! :)
Good job, Asha. The Canid will now be distracted for the next couple of seconds so you can do whatever else it is that you’re planning.
You do have a plan, right?
Asha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE0UrDWZGAk
Me: DAMMIT ASHA!
Regardless, I think the resident lockpicker will be able to take care of herself. After all, this is supposed to be a lighter story than BWD, so we should come out of things without one of our main cast being brutally murdered.
Right?
First, Hardin, now Asha… History repeats itself if you don’t learn from it.
Also, awesome art of Rook as a human, Saraa!
Everything’s fine on my end, Alex! Good luck on that thing you’re fiddling with :D I hope it turns out great!
Now they’re both gonna have a headache!
Asha used Headbutt! It’s super effective!
I want that headbutt as my Desktop background!!
This comic’s art is breathtaking
The headbonk is perfect I love this page, the poses and the layout are fantastic!
Now how’s Asha gonna drag that bulky canid back? I assume the Sand Spiders will have some questions for them.
Asha’s lucky he didn’t expect her to physically leap on him and head butt her- a thrown knife to the chest would not have gone well for her at all :V I love the double light source in that first panel.
I guess it’s understandable that interrogation isn’t a priority considering how dangerous these assassins are. They seem experienced and well-trained, so it doesn’t look like they’ll find out more about the why until chapter three.
Even then, I doubt the Sunsgrovians will just let the Sand Spiders walk off with the loot. It’s going to be impossible to hide what they were doing too- sacks of loot aside, there’s amber drops all over the floor of the courtyard.
YEss volume two and new merch! Good luck at the cons. And that unity project looks intriguing, I hope you have fun with it.
Is headbutting in battle an Erhmein thing? XD
Quick question though–what happened to Asha’s facial tattoos?
Whoops! Nice catch :) Thanks, Mustang!
It might have been due to deadlines and stuff, but panel 1 and 2 seem both a bit too generous on the solid lineart side than the third one which looks more polished up. Is this just me making this up and I’m just going crazy?
Hey Almonds. It is! I didn’t have enough time to finish them off before saturday, so I’ll deal with them once the entirety of SOTES is finished :)
Yowch, that headbutt looks like it hurt for both of them.
You know, if you look at it in a different context, the last pannel looks like they are just sharing a touching but dramatic moment…
Well, not really. I think if this were an rpg she would have rolled a natural 20 for BODYSLAM OF EPICNESS.
I wonder what her mom would say if she finds out her daughter risked her life to hunt down an assassin by herself
Excellent form and technique. It is always best when attempting to disorient or injure an opponent to strike a thicker piece of bone against a thinner piece…she’s still going to feel that in the morning, though.
Engage full malky! Oooft!