Comic 775 -- Not Much of a Decision

 Back on Gail's side of the story...

I don't know if those are really the "three ingredients of stealth." Maybe there are others? Maybe the others are so secret they can't be spoken of? That seems very stealthy to me.

So I've taken my first steps down the path of using some new artistic tools. I have now fulfilled a long-held dream of owning a really good drawing tablet--got a relatively new iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil 2. And I'm getting used to the Procreate software on that platform.

My previous process went like this:

1. Pencil on Bristol paper.

2. Ink with a brush.

3. Scan to clean up, color, letter, and finish in Photoshop.

This time around, I did step 2 on the iPad with Procreate rather than in Photoshop. I'm not unhappy with the results, and I think once I get the hang of it, I'll see a certain savings in time.

Procreate is a cool piece of software, but in order to get the full use of it, I'm going to have to overcome about 25 years of habits built using Photoshop. So I'm not sure how much of the coloring process I'll eventually be able to do on the tablet. We shall see, we shall see.

Oh, and hey, look! 2020 is almost over. Man, this year just whizzed by. Like a steamroller. Through molten glass. Being piloted by a sloth. An evil-tempered sloth who hates us.

Hope you are all well and safe, and wishing you better times in '21.

Comic 774 -- The New Objective

 The conclusion of the Xibalba adventure...

Sharon's rescued another Traveler, but things are starting to change for her. Finding a way back home used to be her top priority. But now...? 

I really enjoyed making this episode! Mayan mythology doesn't get explored too often in modern entertainment, so I'm glad I could add my own spin on depicting this rich and fantastic territory of lore. Hope you all had fun, too.

Next up, we're going back to our world, which we might now call the World of Time, as Gail and her friends try to rescue the other Pilkvist twin...

Comic 773 -- They Come Storming Back

It's a about momentum...

And weather conditions. It's also about weather conditions.

Everybody hanging in there? Hope so. We're almost through this year. Not that we have any guarantees for 2021, but damn... this has been a rough one.

Comic 772 -- With Help from Tin Pan Alley

 Sharon makes her play...

It's a flashy move, but will it really be effective? 

Tune in next time!

Comic 771: Search Your Feelings

 In the face of very probable death, Sharon can at least console herself with classic movie quotes...

Her references go largely unappreciated in the Exile Realm, alas, so mostly she's just entertaining herself here.

So just to be clear, when Awilix and other folks in the Exile Realm are referring to "Brouchard," they're probably thinking of Bertrand Brouchard, who is Bella's twin brother. We have not met him in person, but we've seen his fingerprints on a lot of evidence on this side of reality... along with those of Saxony's twin sister, Jinevra.

The fact that I have to clarify that in this blog means I've bungled it a bit in the comic itself... but there we are. The webcomic format is pretty much set up in such a way that everything you read is a first draft, which leads to some stuff that authors--or at least this author--would have liked to smooth out if given a second pass.

Comic 770 -- Not Easy to Outsmart a God

Oops.

(Hmm. Blogger has changed its interface. I have a bit more control over the image size now. That's nice...)

Sharon now has run headfirst into a principle that the great Douglas Adams articulated in The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul: "You're a clever (wo)man... but you make the same mistake a lot of clever people do of thinking everyone else is stupid."

Hope everyone is hanging in there...

-GRT

Comic 769 -- Superstar Seven Macaw

I mean, were we expecting a team of all rookies to have an easy time of it?

Seven Macaw is just so darned fun to draw.

Strange times. You would think that being stuck at home a lot would make it easier to do more writing and drawing, but that hasn't been the case so much for me. I'm in the fortunate position to still have my job going full speed... in fact, seems like I'm busier than ever.

All this is to suggest that next month's strip may be a little on the short side, compared to what I like to do. We'll see how it goes.


I do try to move the story along to a fair degree with each installment. My publication pace requires readers to wait a month between strips, so I don't feel like I've got the right to linger over small moments like a more frequently-updating comic might be able to do.

Take care, everyone...

Comic 768 -- A Fast One

Who's on the team? Who's on the bench? Who, in fact, is on first?

Next time: game on.

Stay safe, everyone...

Comic 767 -- Rules of the Game

If you wanna play the game, you gotta learn the rules...

It was an interesting exercise to come up with rules for a game that is a) partially described in historical records, and b) useful for the story.

Hopefully, this game would actually work as described. If not... well, let me know, and I'll look up whatever coping mechanism J.K. Rowling uses when somebody reminds her that Quidditch isn't really playable.

Comic 766 -- Awilix

Jeez! That took longer than I'd hoped...

Next up: the rules of the ball game.

In Progress...

Hi everyone,

The next strip is in progress, but I'm going to be a few days late. It's been... well, you know.

I have no brilliant insights to offer or anything. I think we're all doing the best we can right now.

Hang in there, everyone, and stay safe... 

Grayson

Comic 765 -- From the World of Time

The Princess of Aptos meets the King of the Underworld...

Here we have a bit of lore about Thunderstruck that has been a long time coming. We'll go into some more detail next strip, but an explanation of the "World of Time" aspect of the story is something I've been looking forward to for a while.

I've also been looking forward to drawing these gods.

Comic 764 -- The Place of Fear

Sharon's off to another mythical landscape...

Just be glad we still haven't developed a way to send smells over the internet. Yuck.

Some of you guessed where this was going when Bella mentioned the ball game in the last strip. Personally, I remember learning about the whole idea of the sacred ball game years ago, and being fascinated by the concept.

Like many elements of myth, the sacred ball game has many different variations in different cultures and time periods... the tradition may be more than 3000 years old, so that's a lot of time for people to come up with their own versions. As usual, the Thunderstruck version of the game, the city, the gods, etc. isn't meant to be definitive in any way, but rather is inspired by a mythological idea.

But I didn't make up the river of pus. I swear.

Comic 763 -- The Pilkvist Twins

Next step of the quest...

Hi everyone! It's 2020! Can't say I was a super fan of 2019, but maybe better luck this turn around the ol' sun, yes? We can all hope.