Why did I design such a crazy chimney? XD

I need to put in all of the background for this piece since the Monstress' phantasmal form will be translucent. 

Its starting to come along though. 

Not sure about that left hand just yet though.

​How does it feel to you so far??

yesterday/morning's progress. Am trying to get my sleep schedule back onto day shift again. For the umpteenth time. 

I adjusted the position of her legs and arms a bit, and made the ghostly tendrils a bit more dynamic as well as added in some of the smaller sub ghost offshoots. The Ssudo Clones she can produce from her body.

It feels like it's just about ready to start inking.

What will be challenging is that given the translucent nature of the Monstress I'll have to ink the entirety of the background before drawing her in so I can be sure to get the points where shes piercing through the walls to work out correctly.

How do you feel about the piece overall?

​This is the moment before she ends up cracking the ceiling allowing some of the moonlight into the space. Which is out of sync from the lunar cycle of the outside world.

This is one of several sketches I made for the novella almost over half a year ago that I'm only just now getting back to. 

I reached a point where I opted to pump out several sketches to get a better sense of where I needed to guide the writing along.

​As with all of the works I sketched out half a year back this one wasn't without its fatal flaws. 

Orphans leg is stretched across the perspective to such a degree as to be ridiculously long or having just been ripped off

I removed the chair from the corner to make Orphan cloak more pronounced and the center of focus. I'll probably play with its over all shape a lot more before its all said and done. 

As for what the monstress is? It's the phantasmal form of the creature inhabiting the the Doomed Cabin. In her own little pocket dimension, an echo chamber where only see reigns supreme. That is until Vampire intrudes into her domain. 

She might have overlooked the other 3 but she quickly develops an intense hatred for Vampire and tries to manipulate the other members of the team against her.

She fails to trap Prisoner, Standard, and Vampire in a spacial loop, so she goes after Orphan sensing her true nature. To push her into turning so that maybe she can deal with the others while she is still mostly in an incorporeal state.

Shes quickly developing into one of my more unique creature designs.

New Version!

Old Version

I started up by touching up the pic Arising Doom, where I had missed a detail on vampires gloves that just bugged me a lot. XD I designed her gloves so that the finger tips are red and I just plum forgot to add the element back when I did that piece originally. I also touched up the shading a tad here and there. Such small changes that I suspect most people wont recognize that anything had changed.

Were as with Precarious Maneuvers I cam to the realization that her front teeth were way out of perspective, and a bit too uniform where the back teeth were concerned. So I went in and completely redrew them to get them more in the proper perspective, adjusted the roof of her mouth and darkened her neck fur to match how her design has evolved since I originally drew this piece. I also touched up the shading throughout her body and darkened it so it wasn't quite as shiny.

I'm guessing, though, that most people wont be able to spot the differences between the too. Ah well if only my own OCD is left assuaged then it will still have been worth the time I put in.

Copper Tier Patrons and above can have Early Access to all the Novella pages for as little as 2$. Don't forget too though if you only want to do a 1 time donation I'll still gladly give you a single months access up to the level u match pledge wise. ^ _^

Shadow layers are worked in, am now trying to figure out the mid tones for the light source.

Its especially difficult with orphan because given her black fur she isn't very reflective.

Despite my stylistic approach to working out her fur shes not really fur less around her lower body.

Its just a more short body fur where the length naturally is longer where it would naturally be on a human. 

And because of that I will usually not render her with an intense body sheen, like I might with a more human or reptile type creature.

It's something I've been continuously adapting and evolving as things move forward. I tend to shy away from doing the more shaggier style u might see from an artist like Wereworld. I think mainly because I've always been chasing that more anime styled aesthetic. But my work continues to evolve with every drawing. I would like to experiment with some werewolves later too who transform via alternative means, like having the order all off perhaps starting with the muzzle, or skin rippage.

I designed the world so as not to completely cut off the potential of any 1 major creature concept from being out of the question. I love unique monsters and want them all to have a place to play. ^  o^

Been continuously tweaking the main figures, Standards head position just didn't feel right yet. Starting to work in the damaged board from where the wall is caving in from the force of her being slammed against it.

Driving me nuts how long this has been taking me. For what should have been a relatively simple page to put together. can feel my skills growing though. and that;s what will be key in the end.

Phewa things have changed so much for this piece so many times. 

But it finally feels like its reaching its final form. 

A lot more background to have to ink now, I'll have to give another look at the perspective on that couch.

I really digging how its going, how about you??

If you really love what you see consider helping to support the project by becoming a patron via paypal. ^  o^

Hoboy. So after discussing matters with my brother and Wereworld I realized that a small change could get the perspective to feel much more dynamic, and that a much bigger change could really push for a bigger moment of anticipation.

Thus despite how disapointed I will be to have in a sense wasted my time over the last 3 days I'll bite the bullet and put in the work to vastly improve this piece. Really it wasn't a waste of time because I wouldn't have gotten to this much stronger design otherwise. Its all part of the process. ^ _^

I'll really only have to redo her arm and legs. I'll have to do more work with the background now though but it will be worth the effort. This feels like it will be so much more epic a piece now, I'm really excited!

I even realized there are some major ways I could improve some of the previously completed pieces that will really bring them all in line design wise and help to strengthen the core of these 2 characters struggle.

Tell me what you think about it all I really want to know, and please don't forget to consider perhaps leaving a donation or at least helping to spread the word! ^ _^

Man this piece has been resisting me really bad. I don't want to abandon the work I've put into it but it just wasn't working as I intended it to.

What I wanted was to have a piece where both characters seemed to have the upper hand in their struggle before the new challenger arrived.

So I'll try adjusting the layout to make it look more like Orphan is about to pounce on Standard and see how I can get that working.

I might try reusing the other side i had inked with Standard too just in a piece that focuses more on her than struggling against Orphans arm.

Tell me what u think of the changes so far. :0

Is a challenge trying to pin down what I want to do with the phantom in the background. 
Normally I would have it glowing quite brightly but I don't want it to overpower the main figure, that and I want to avoid making it feel like shes staring at it directly. 
Its more a visual representation of her staring out into the void as she descends the ancient staircase. 

Got the flats all laid down, and have started working in the primary shadows.
Given the style of lantern the lighting on this piece has to be handled carefully. 
I want the phantom in the back to be nearly imperceptible just enough so to cause a creepy sense of unease. 

I really like the direction things are moving in though, still still be a lot of pushing and pulling to go but its off to a good start.

I started roughing in some shadows last yesterday as I was winding down for the night and came to the realization that the placement of the leftmost knee is way off. I'll have to get that adjusted before moving forward. 

Since so much of this page is supposed to be in darkness I'm suspecting that the colors should be fairly quick to knock out.

The cast shadows however I can already tell are going to be quite the challenge to figure out, since her lantern will be the primary light source. 

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Story wise at some point she ends up dropping her lantern after a massive gust of wind forces her to hunker down to avoid being knocked off the stairs, its then that they realize the paranormal nature of this particular space when shortly after her lantern ends up cracking her upside the head when it lands on her from above. 

It's an encounter that would have more than likely had led to their deaths had they not been accompanied by an Necromancer Elite. 

At some point Standard starts to question why things have gotten so much harder to endure since they let Vampire Join up with them. 

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Also of note is that this is one of the rare times that Standard isn't accompanied by her banner. She left it with Orphan due to it not being a practical weapon to use in right quarters. She isn't unarmed though. Her over sized plate bracers each hold 3 Dirks sheathed on the underside. 2 each of Silver, Steel, and pioneer era Ceramic. Each having varying levels of effectiveness against the myriad of monsters that inhabit their world. 

Her main body is just about done now, just a couple more adjustments here or there I'll add in as I notice them.

Tomorrow the Wall and Stairs should be the last of the inks.

I think with Phantom I'm debating if I should ink it the way I draw some other ghosts in the novella so far or if I should just make it more painterly and blending into the background. Will have to wait and see how things play out.

Will be back tomorrow with more for sure though.  ^ _^

The hardest parts are complete for the now inking wise. :D

Last nights progress on the new novella page. 

This piece takes place during a scene were the adults of the party have gone off to check for any potential dangerous inhabitants and or useful supplies.

They discover a secret door in a wretched kitchen leading to a rusty set of stairs leading down into a black abyss. The space is many times larger than the cabin above, and theres a sense that their being watched by... something.

​