Page 49
This is one of those moments where I’m sure, if logic prevailed, Bumble would try to have Tock committed.
Page 49 preview
There’s very little chance Page 49 will be up on time tomorrow, due to other claims on my time (as usual). The pencil work is done, though, and the ink work is just started, so I expect to have it up by Wednesday instead.
For your patience, though, here’s a preview of the first panel : )
Page 48
Fun fact: I keep the original copies of each page in an Itoya portfolio, and as of this page, I’ve finally filled one up 
Sketch – Newlyweds
Confession time: The reason page 46 was a week late was because all my creative time that week went to a different project.
That project was something with which to propose marriage to my girlfriend of 9 years.
I had also drawn this to post as the filler piece that week (instead of the sketch I ended up posting), but life intervened and I ended up having to push my plans back.
But I’ve now asked her, and she said yes <3 So here this is finally too.
(If you don’t remember from before, these are Tock’s parents.)
Further work on this sketch. I hope to get this made into stickers (to sell and/or as part of a Kickstarter campaign, I’m still brainstorming on that front).
Sketch – Eleanore and Tock’s Mother
My creative energies and time these past couple of weeks had to go to other things, so Page 46 will be up next Monday instead.
Instead, here’s something happening “off-screen”:
Tock’s mother, as seen before here, questioning Tock’s friend Eleanore, as seen here, after she finds her gone.
Sketchy notes – pages 36 to 45
Here’s something for those of you interested in how the story gets written.
The meeting of characters that we’ve seen in the last few pages was originally supposed to take place in a tavern. Tock and Bumble were going to land The Bucket without any problems, walk into the Orc settlement they’d chosen without too much hassle, and find a much more settled people than it turns out my Orcs are going to be like. Entering a combination tavern/general store (…yeah, I know), Bumble was going to head off to barter the goods they brought with them while Tock gathered information. So she would have been alone when the events of Page 45 took place. Well, except for the other Orcs in the establishment too.
Then this happened in my sketchbook, and that idea got thrown out the window:
(Yes, that’s how my handwriting actually looks. And certain names have been smudged around a bit, to avoid minor spoilers.)
Usually pages get planned out a bit more organized-like than this, but apparently the creative process had a different idea for this part of the story. At least on the most basic planning level.
Page 45
Remember all those times I said exciting things were coming and I promised all the delays and hiatuses would be worth it?
This is the moment all that officially starts.
(Or in other words, if its not obvious what’s happening here, I’m not doing my job right.)
Page 44
Hot off the presses, but still officially the last page of 2012
Have a great, and safe, New Year’s!
(Note: You also might notice that the Orc’s hair is a bit different now. I found the white linework in it, as originally seen in page 42, waaaaaaaaaaay too distracting. So that page will be updated later this week as well.)
Holiday update plans
Tomorrow was supposed to be a page day, but the holidays have intervened, and I’ll be out of town before I can get the next page done. So above is a consolation Tock pin-up with some seasonal flair. Page 44 will be up on Monday December 31st, making Page 45 the first page of the new year (which works perfect, btw).
Thanks to all of you for following this story of mine. I appreciate every one of you
And below, if you like spoilers, is a little preview of the very next panel.
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I hope you all have a great, and safe, rest of the holiday season!
Page 42
And here it finally is.
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Also, I made the file a bit bigger than usual, in order to make Bumble’s speech bubble legible. In case it isn’t though, he’s saying “Oh, all my rusted gearsprings.”
And as long as this size shows up okay, I’ll be keeping them this large from now on.
Update: Page 42 will be up tomorrow
As usual, life has intervened with my comic plans, so page 42 will be up tomorrow instead of today.
In the meantime, here’s a preview:
Notes/design for the trap Tock’s in
Obviously it was tweaked a bit during the process of drawing the last page, but this is what I had in mind.
Also, fun fact: originally the trap was going to grab both Tock and Bumble, but I couldn’t figure out how to make that work well enough. As it is, it works better for the story, anyway.
(You’ll see what I mean in about 3 pages.)
Sketch – The House of White
More of one of the characters from this earlier bonus piece, with two other characters from her own story.
Again, what’s going on here will connect to Tock’s story eventually too, so I hope you keep them in mind.
Page 39
Aaaaaaaand we’re back to the argument they were in the middle of when the bird attacked, basically.
A little something while we wait
Hi everyone!
Since this hiatus is taking a bit longer than I’d hoped, I put up a poll on my deviantART page recently, asking if anyone would be interested in seeing something special as a bonus until the next page is done. Most everyone voted yes (thank you!), so here that is.
NOTE: the following image contains very slight spoilers, for the setup of the world itself (not the overarching plot).
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I did this illustration a while back in order to get out of an art slump, and held off on posting it then in interest of showing it to you waaaaaay later, but you are all amazing for hanging in there and waiting so long for new pages, so here it is now!
These women are versions of specific characters from two popular fairy tales (well, one more popular than the other, but I don’t want to give too much away). That’s all I can say for now, except to mention that they will be referenced later in Tock’s story.
Thank you all again for your patience. I hope to be back to regular updates within a month.
