Chapter 2: Page 2
If you look at the map of the kingdoms in the “The World” section of the site, you’ll notice that while the Tamian people may be renowned for their mastery over the forests of their realm, the Western Deep stretches well past their own borders into Aisling to the north and Navran to the east (where the Western Deep becomes the “Eastern Deep”).
The borders between the kingdoms, before the Treaty of Cenolau at least, were entirely based on natural features. After the signing, some of the borders were shifted around to appease dignitaries who wanted to maintain farmland or trade routes, but the border between Sunsgrove and Aisling was still split by the North Verodun River (which feeds to the massive Lake Verodun between Sunsgrove and Navran, and empties out of the South Verodun River into the seas).
While it seems fairly straightforward where the border is looking down at a map, in practice it’s a bit more difficult. The North Verodun River has many tributaries and creeks that mark slow points between larger stretches of water, making it much trickier to know when exactly you’ve passed from one kingdom to the other. Kenosh, having traveled this way many times, knows that the best way to know for sure is to watch for the thinning trees. When you’re out of the deep woods, you can be absolutely positive you’ve gone from Sunsgrove to Aisling. Of course, for our trio of heroes, their problems extend far beyond knowing which kingdom they’re in!
Normal pages will resume next Saturday, and we’ll continue with the weekly Saturday pages from that point onward. Welcome to Chapter 2, everyone!
Ha, I love the middle panel! Kenosh is most definitely not amused, but it’s nice to see Dakkan and Quinlan getting some fun in. …Kenosh is in a perpetual state of “not amused”, actually.
But at any rate, they are nearing the Canid, and I’m half expecting an ambush or the like before they manage to clear things up. Whether that happens or not, we’ll see!
Otters are always having fun, why not now?
Huh, I only now noticed that they don’t wear shoes but some kind of foot wraps instead. Makes sense, though.
For some reason, I’ve always thought animal characters look weird with closed-toe shoes, so I try to design around that. X)
Seeing they have their own thick pawpads that are built-in shoes, unlike people, shoes seem a bit redundant. :P
I do like the comic relief added within the 2nd panel :3
And also the tones; like the warmth of Quinlan’s fur on Panel 2 : )
… Donno why I comment this… but hey, it’s good to notice details like this ^^
I read that expression as “silently disapproving and judging your every move.”
“I’ve never be a grandfather if he keeps trying to stomp a worm hole into another universe through mud puddles.”
I feel as if your comment should connect to Surfer Dude Hardin we had going on at one point in the last chapter.
“Dude, if I didn’t want to slaughter you for siding with my enemies, we could, like, catch some sweet waves together. Y’know what I’m saying, man?”
A problem I often encounter when commenting on a work I truly admire is that, after awhile, I tend to run out of adjectives and superlatives to properly describe it. I think that on the last page, I used up several words like “stunning”, “amazing”, “beautiful”, etc. So I don’t have as many proper words for this page as I should’ve, at least if I want to avoid becoming repetetive. As such, I should try to sum up my impressions of this page as best as I can:
This might very well be the most beautiful page in the entire comic so far.
It is simply such a stunning visual display in every way: the colours, the scenery, the setting, the emotions, the lighting… Everything just works absolutely perfectly. From our three heroes merrily making their way down the forest at the top, to Dakkan gingerly splashing Quin with water in the middle while Kenosh gives his “not amused”-look (great job on making their hindpaws visible through the water) to the thinning woods at the bottom and Ken calling a halt in the warm evening light… it’s just such a perfect page. I hope Alex doesn’t get tired of me praising Rachel all the time (don’t worry, your writing is still awesome) but she really is an amazing artist, and I can think of no better testament to that than this page. Truly, TRULY awesome work, Rachel, truly amazing…
They need to hire a GIS person. :)
This is an excellent page. You can tell a lot of work was put into the lighting and shading of the panels.