(Aaaand now we have final colors! Enjoy!)

[EDIT 5-24: page flats now in, still needs final background and shading]

Ah, sweet relief! With Beyond the Western Deep: Volume I off to the printers, now we can get back to a more sane schedule. There were a few last-second hiccups getting the proof approved for printing (mostly related to page numbers and some tweaks to the font used for the text bubbles) but now everything is golden. In two weeks, Rachel should have her hands on a physical proof of the book that will let us know how the journey from RGB to CMYK colors worked out — there MAY EVEN be pictures!

If not, then definitely expect them two weeks AFTER the proof is approved, when I crack open the first box of books. Because of the rather extended length of time required for printing and shipping from the presses in China, I’ll be expediting 50 books to sell at Boston Comic Con. Any extras from the 50, I’ll look into putting them up as the first ones to sell on the online store (before the main shipment arrives for Baltimore Comic Con in early September).

120_thumbWIP

In this week’s page, Dakkan seems to have forgotten what Kenosh told him before they entered Deltrada: the Canid really don’t have what one might call a “sense of humor.” That naturally extends to facetiousness — as Dakkan is learning the hard way!

A fun side note about this page is the obvious hint at Lutren language — just as with human cultures, many names have deeper meanings rooted in the languages they emanated from. “Alex”, to use an immediately available real-world example, has roots in the Iliad (Paris is known as “Alexander” depending on the source) and the Greek word “Ἀλέξανδρος” (or “Alexandros”), roughly translating to “defender of men”. There’s also that Alexander the Great fellow, but we Alexes don’t like to brag.

Dakkan, Kenosh, and other notably “Lutren” names have the same history behind them. Unfortunately, Clovis is more than happy to note the discrepancies between the meaning and the Lutren before him.