Back for another update!
Lots have happened these last days. Lots of bad stuff, some good stuff. Life continues to be what it is.
Speaking for the good stuff, the new PC is amazing. Spent some time migrating, installing and doing all sorts of stuff. That was fun.
This will also be my last update for a while, since I'm leaving tomorrow for vacations (a week's worth). That's one of the good things. Will be nice to disconnect and enjoy touring around. I'm taking my sketchbook with me, though to be honest I probably will just focus on enjoying the trip.
Term 4
Ran out of edits to do on this anatomy study for now, so I guess I'm done with it for now. Much happier on how it turned out than the Gray Fullbuster one, even if I still feel it could be improved upon (especially on folds).
Tried to practice some of @Pattu_w's tips, also trying to get some practice with the laso-fill technique. Trying to use the airbrush more than the smudge. Still need more excercices but I think it helped a lot.
Also added some more lineart as I felt it added a bit more texture to it.
Feedback is always welcome of course! I'll be taking some of the lessons learned and try to improve and work on them further on the next piece.
All in all, I got to learn more about rendering and anatomy in general, and even if I don't plan on working with no lineart too much, it's an interesting experience that helps get a better feel for how lineart works.
Still got work to do on Nami, I'll probably get to it until I get back from vacations.
Manga
For today's update there's a whole bit of context to add.
Sari, one of the main characters here has had a rocky relationship with the main character Seki from the very beginning, seemingly only because he's a guy.
Though things have improved a bit over time, she's still pretty weary of him
From her end, there's only a few people Sari really trusts. Her father, her mother, and her best friend, Iris.
After hearing Assassins where after the people she cares for, she became quite distraught.
Needless to say, a lot has happened, and Seki was able to save them from the hooded assassins. Which finally brings us back to the latest update and the last 2 pages.
Couple of points to these last pages:
1) Sari opening up more to Seki and showing a bit of her softer side to him is the real meaning behind this chapter's title "broken masks", since her "mask" has cracked away if even just a bit. That's why it was orignally intended to be part of the same chapter as last one, and also why the cover features her in part, though being a two part also worked to keep the focus for each.
2) I had to reasearch a bit on what a broken humerus looks like from the outside. That wasn't fun. I hope the chapter doesn't get flagged in webtoon for gore or something. It had to be clear he's messed up from the fight to make Sari realize what he went through.
3) A couple of effects on these pages to try to keep the foucs on some parts. Some dark gradients add over some characters such as Seki's hand to make it a bit more distinquishible from Sari's, another gradient over Sari to highlight the tears, some glow around Sari to make it feel like there's a bit of a shadow effect, Seki being blurred out in the last frame to keep the focus on Sari and so on.
4) Despites my notes here about masks and their relationship, I'm trying to keep the actual dialogue light in an attempt to do a bit more of "show don't tell" for the reader.
Only two more pages before the chapter itself is done. It was supposed to be a short chapter, but it's been such a busy month it's been tough to finish it. I'll wrap it up after vacations.
That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by! We'll put the grind on standby for a bit. Hope everyone gets some vacations as well!
