Beyond the Western Deep

Jerome and I are big ol’ softies when it comes to Cain and Yurk’s bromance, so having The Abyssal Dunes end (well–almost end, as this is the penultimate page) with a genuinely sweet bro moment was one of our primary story goals. Other items on the list included “parkour,” “goofy comedy,” and of course “accidentally destroying part of an abandoned civilization while fleeing from an army of sandskimmers.”

I really do wish we were spending more time with these characters out on the dunes, as I absolutely love the way Jerome portrays sand sticking to their fur. That’s some next-gen level detail right there!

A quick Kickstarter update: with a majority of our BackerKit surveys completed, we’re pulling the trigger on order numbers right now. There was a brief hiccup with our printer due to a miscommunication regarding the dimensions of our book’s spine, but that seems to be all rectified! I also learned that even though the Volume 2 Limited Edition cover is mostly black, that isn’t a “one color” cover! Actually, it could be, but one color black (or “1C”) isn’t nearly as deep a black as four color, CMYK black (aka “4C”). These are things you think I’d know after going through this process with Volume One, but apparently I needed two Kickstarters to retain the knowledge!

Also, check it out: a mock-up of our brand new Western Deep V2 enamel pin collection, produced to help the pin manufacturer properly place the pins:

These two look like they’re up to no good–which is perfect, because they aren’t!

For guest art this week, I wanted to share this wonderful piece of Quinlan by Carolyn Paplham:

I love this look for him, Carolyn! The angular shapes and black-and-white rendering remind me a lot of classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles artwork, and our favorite tamian scout-turned-captain looks pretty happy here. Amused, even! There’s just a hint of snark there, too. Did he just watch Crim trip and fall in a mud puddle? Is he feeling a little schadenfreude?

That’s what I’m thinking, at any rate. Thank you so much for the wonderful piece, Carolyn!

Lastly, before I sign off for now, I wanted to thank all of our readers and backers who supported Beyond the Western Deep during the Ringo Award nominations. They just closed today, so now we’ll have to wait to see if Western Deep was able to make the grade.

Have yourselves a wonderful weekend!