nahast

Happy New (Chinese) Year!

2012-01-23T00:28:00.000-06:00

January is usually a hard month, and this year it was particularly nasty, but now that it's about to end, I'm setting down to work. So, today starts the Year of the Dragon, and Nahast will start updating again on February 6th, on the Chinese Lantern Festival. Hope to see you then :)

Someone's Pissed Off

2011-09-20T22:53:00.000-05:00

Jakitza finally reacts, and that pisses Xisve'ki to no end. It's still this week! Things are picking up and I'm getting excited at the next pages; things are definitely going to get worse before they get any better, but they will certainly get more exciting and revealing. I wanted to talk about something this week, but I totally forgot... So I'll just talk about Conan. Last weekend I went to

Round 2!

2011-09-12T01:29:00.000-05:00

Niriko comes to the rescue, but things are not getting any better. It's that time of the year when the weather heavily impacts on my working rhythm. I missed last week's update due to a series of blackouts that kept me from working during the weekend, which is when I have the most time to work on the pages. Also, my monitor died. Well, not quite died, but began behaving badly, so I had to

About Time!

2011-08-29T06:14:00.001-05:00

When a shaman and his spirit guide become involved, things get (sur)real. I almost didn't make it! (the update, I mean). But here it is. When it got past midnight, I kind of entered a zen state and things started coming together at the last minute. I'm pretty satisfied how it turned out, especially Thunder. I'd been curious to see how he'd end up looking like with the new tricks I've learned

Lessons in Pain

2011-08-22T01:43:00.000-05:00

Xisve'ki is now playing dirty. And it's back! I can hardly offer any excuse or apology for the long, unannounced break; things got in the way of my not only working on the comic, but actually working on anything art-related at all. I won't bore you with the long details, but that stuff is past now, and the greater certainty I have in my life will be more conductive to working on the comic, and on

Uh-oh...

2011-05-23T13:12:00.000-05:00

Xis'veki has had enough of the Hawk Maiden's good start. There was a time when I was a very avid reader. With the advent of the net and with so many other hobbies, the time I allotted to reading decreased. In addition, books here are expensive, and sci-fi/fantasy literature not popular enough that there would be translations or import, so I was limited to what I got from Amazon, which took time,

Lines Crashing

2011-05-11T04:27:00.000-05:00

The flag team faces the enemy line, with mixed results. The busy seems to be receding at last. I just have a couple of pending projects that I can alternate with Nahast easily enough. Proof of this is that the next update will come on Friday! THIS Friday! As in, Friday the 13th... wait... would that be bad luck and spell doom and gloom over future updates... <.<

Reversal

2011-04-25T01:52:00.000-05:00

Jakitza's strategy finds a little snag: the other captain is no fool either (in addition to the sorcery, even). Time is doing funny things. I swear I had only let a week go by <.< Well, the good news is that I have two more pages already rendered in base colors, and my most recent experiment in coloring technique seems to be having effect. I do feel my hand is more confident for the coloring

Things Work Out

2011-04-06T01:54:00.000-05:00

The Hawk Maiden's strategy yields fruit, right under Xis'veki's nose.Lo and behold! An update! I've never been so busy and/or distracted. Maybe unmotivated, or art-blocked, or dead-tired from dayjob-busy, but hardly busy enough during my Nahast-times that my work on the update crawled to a near stop. But here it is, and I have four other pages already pencilled, and I'm trying a new shading

International Women's Day

2011-03-08T13:33:00.000-06:00

It always sneaks up on me, and this time I actually thought about doing something, but the avalanche of busy and other not-work-related issues (like a malfunctioning bathroom at my apartment...) kept me from putting hands to paper. Still, I want to make it clear that this whole chapter is dedicated to International Women's Day, and to the start of operations of UN Women. Despite the opposition

Ths is Not Chess

2011-03-04T01:15:00.000-06:00

No plan survives contact with the enemy. Gaizco Zarranz knows this. Yes, well. Uhm... Squirrel! *points!* Unlike a lot other cartoonists, I'm not very vocal, for good or bad things, or in this case completely bland things. I decided I wanted to try something, and that was to do Nahast entirely digitally, no pencils or ink involved. And thus I got stuck several times, not quite liking the result,

Opening Gambit

2011-02-03T01:34:00.001-06:00

The Hawk Maidens enact Jakitza's tactics, and the soul combat between Derrexi and Tazarik begins in earnest. Another week, another page! I'm keeping an overheard map with all the positions for the girls and the guys, because it's going to be a grand melee very soon. About the malware issue, apparently it was a mistake and Palace in the Sky was wrongfully blacklisted, as the add the box runs

And So It Begins

2011-01-26T01:26:00.001-06:00

Derrexi enters soul combat with the shade of Master Tazarik and the Hawk Maidens engage the Onyx Edge students.Combat scenes are complex to plot, especially as I picture them fully animated in my mind and I have to choose specific snapshots of the action to put into a comic page. This happens as I sketch the thumbnails for the rest of the chapter, and it doesn't help that there are a lot of

It Begins with Confrontation

2011-01-16T23:52:00.000-06:00

Both teams and their leaders square off, and the starting gong is about to begin. Happy new year...! Heh... I am slow to adapt to changes, especially when they pile together. I always miscalculate the impact my parents' visiting has on my schedule, especially as they take over my room where I draw. However, that problem has been solved for any future visit, as I finally got myself a new desk

In the Dressing Room

2010-12-20T04:39:00.000-06:00

The girls are ready for the match, despite the tensions and doubts. Timely update! I wanted to work ahead on the following one, but I have a pressing deadline in a couple of days... my parents are visiting for the holidays, and well, there's the holidays, there WILL be an update next week, although it might come a couple of days late. I'm resisting the siren song of WoW Cataclysm. I

Mother and Daughter

2010-12-14T01:48:00.000-06:00

There are some revelations at the royal balcony. Ugh. I know I said I didn't plan a hiatus... well, plan was the operative word. It seems I caught a bug that's going on around and it got mixed up with another bug I was successfully fighting off and I ended up with laryngitis, unable to speak for several days and with an aggressive treatment of antibiotics and a corticosteroid. While I was

True Warriors Born, part 2

2010-11-29T04:15:00.000-06:00

The match is about to begin, and the players set their pieces. And thus it begins. It's the same chapter, of course, but the set-up took long enough to be its own sub-chapter (clear evidence I don't write Nahast with a print version in mind ^^;). From now on, it's all about the things mentioned before surfacing and blowing up in our dear heroines' faces. Plans come into fruition, characters are

Nahast RPG: The Warmage

2010-11-24T02:41:00.001-06:00

I had forgotten why I set the role-playing site as a blog: to avoid the need to write huge articles and instead post little tidbits as I thought of them/finished them. So, before I forgot, here is a shortish post detailing the warmage, the wizard option that Jakitza would take as a Pathfinder character! And while you are at it, check the much longer description of the Region of the Dead, the

Anticipated Graduation.

2010-11-22T04:57:00.000-06:00

Jakitza keeps climbing the ranks. And so Jakitza is the first of the Hawk Maidens to gain her first heroic level; wizard level 1! Of course, she'll be multiclassing with martial artist to have the Hawk Maiden training sink in. I could have finished this update sooner, but Blizzard did a very evil thing and opened Starcraft 2 to free play to Latin American gamers, just for the weekend. I almost,

Jealousy

2010-11-15T03:51:00.001-06:00

Derrexi asks Niriko about what she did.And explanation, part 2. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I intended this chapter to explore some of the flaws in the girl's personalities, with the foreknowledge that I was taking a bit of a risk. The idea is to show that it's not wrong to have weaknesses, the problem is when you let that weakness define you. Here, Niriko exposes that her

It's Happened Before

2010-11-08T00:40:00.000-06:00

Zintzi tries to explain Niriko's behavior to Behari.Explanation, part 1!Niriko may have had a loving father that she didn't know could kick serious bottoms, but she didn't have an easy time growing up. Zintzi has been with her since childhood, and witnessed the best and the worst that Niriko has to offer, and she can offer pretty bad. I've mentioned before that Niriko hides things behind her

Shades of the Dead

2010-11-02T04:49:00.000-06:00

Jakitza is wishing she was not into the adult's confidence, as they reveal the truth behind the match.It's the Day of the Dead! And on this most nifty of traditional Mexican holidays, it's also Nahast's 8th birthday!You might notice a few different things today :). Yes, this week's update was delayed as I was working on the new design. However, the move was not complete. Some links will take you

Thus Spoke Jakitza

2010-10-25T03:35:00.001-05:00

Jakitza outlines her strategy for the match.Aaaah. I needed that week off. Not only is my room and study more comfortable to work in, I got the ideas and motivation I needed to decide on all the elements of the site's redesign. If things go well, the new site will be up by Nahast's 8th anniversary.Yes, it is that time of the year where I will add another full year to working on Nahast. Given past

Lost week

2010-10-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

Blagh... I thought I could finish this week's update, but no... not really. I've put pencil to cardboard and I just wasn't satisfied with the results. Looking back, I spotted a general feeling of dissatisfaction all around, and identified one of my infrequent, but still recurrent slumps. It began with the artblock of a couple week's past, and it's been growing until this point where I could point

SitRep

2010-10-14T03:22:00.000-05:00

Jakitza is treated like an adult.Before I have to dodge fruit... the explanation for Niriko's behavior is coming as originally scheduled! I tried to switch the order of the scenes but it just didn't flow right (part of the artblock I mentioned at the shoutboard); having the explanation closing the scenes previous the match worked better, and the scene that's just starting leads much more

Crowned a Pawn

2010-10-04T03:33:00.001-05:00

The other team needs a captain too, but for a different reason.The explanation is coming, I swear! This page is one of my narrative techniques, which is to insert a short scene to separate two larger scenes. But it's not filler, certainly. It's another piece of the puzzle about Xis'veki's plan and what the girls are up against, and maybe a key to their victory.The last few weeks have been a

Pulling Rank

2010-09-30T02:20:00.000-05:00

Jakitza takes charge and admits no nonsense.And 'tis a bonus update! One thing I've been congratulating myself lately is giving the girls both uniform and standard-issue armor... it makes the coloring a lot faster (which is making me dread the next chapter a little... but I get waaaay ahead of myself :) ). Jakitza can almost see the root of the problem, but she lacks information. The rest of the

The Delicate Sound of Thunder

2010-09-27T05:02:00.000-05:00

Jakitza breaks up the fight. Now with extra spellcasting.This momentary lapse of Niriko's judgement has allowed me to use an old narrative trick called foreshadowing, or, in this case, the Chekhov's Gun principle. Well, I've actually planted several such guns all along these pages, the reason why it's taking so long to get to the actual CTF match. Since I want to avoid the Harlem Globetrotter's

Coming to Blows

2010-09-20T20:07:00.000-05:00

Niriko messed with the bull, and now she's getting the horns.I promise this is the worst of it.Like I said in the shoutbox, I really wish I had more time to work on Nahast so I could update more often, and get to some resolutions sooner. This page is showing a really ugly side of Niriko, and I did think a lot not only about what's at its roots, but also if it should be there at all. I also want

Trust Issues

2010-09-13T04:52:00.000-05:00

Niriko confronts Behari. Jakitza tries to put some sense on the table.There are a couple of points in this chapter I was most eager to get to. This is one of them; or, more like the prologue of said point. I don't want to blurb about the reasons I had in writing events as they are unfolding, since it ties to one of the themes I gave the entire chapter. It's certainly

Gross Misunderstanding

2010-09-06T03:06:00.000-05:00

Niriko arrives just in time to get the wrong idea.I'm out of buffer again, but it served it's purpose nicely by keeping Nahast updating weekly despite the nasty RL surprises.Last week's dialogue was written and rewritten several times only so that it could be misinterpreted by someone hearing the wrong things. Now, as to why would Niriko jump to that insane conclusion... That'll become clearer

There was hope

2010-09-01T02:58:00.000-05:00

Behari let's out how she felt.Ah, life... thou keepest me busy... The freelance thing extended longer than I had expected, and add together a new client with a huge project at the workload, and my sister getting sick... Anyway, it's here, still in the same week it was supposed to go up.I liked drawing this. Of course, I love drawing Behari and her emotional range, but unlike other moments, this

Unfulfilled Promise

2010-08-23T01:38:00.000-05:00

How Behari met her visitor, and why she hates him.Working ahead on the next few pages has paid off... because I just got an emergency call to work on something else... <.< BUT! This means that despite the unexpected amount of busy, Nahast won't be delayed again; it will just not be updated twice this week, but the next.This has been one of the weirdest months in my professional life :PDrawing

Repay in Kind

2010-08-16T02:58:00.000-05:00

Behari's acquaintance starts revealing his motives.Update at last. Summer has gone as I feared: full of work. I've had to work weekends a couple of times, which sucks, and my freelancing deadline loomed. At least I was able to keep this interruption from becoming a full month.This week I delivered my assignment for Green Ronin; seven character stats and writeups for the Heroes & Villains Vol.2,

Suspicious

2010-07-21T03:05:00.000-05:00

Behari's "friend" sheds some light on what may lie behind the challenge.Dun, dun, duuuun... This is the meta-plot purpose for this little subplot... To give another perspective to the whole challenge plan.As usual, I ran out of space in the page to add all the text I would've liked to add without it being too expository. Still, there's a few bits that were left out, like how this guy mentions

Bonus update! - Unforgiving

2010-07-15T21:52:00.000-05:00

Behari is justifiably unwelcoming to her visitor, and apparently he had more than one reason to pay a visit.Made it! A bonus update at last! I've been keeping the tally, tho', and the donation jar is close for a second bonus update... ack.This is one of the scenes that I have in my mind clearly and look for ways around a specific action, in this case being Behari in the last panel. One of the fun

Armored Hearts

2010-07-13T01:47:00.000-05:00

Derrexi motivates the girls and they start preparing for their big battle, but Behari has a surprise knocking on the fort's gates.Progress! Well, this page could have gone up yesterday, but I decided to risk the delay and work on two pages at once. Next page is already penciled, inked and scanned, and if things go well, it should be up this very same week so I can finally make up for the bonus

Capture the Flag

2010-07-08T04:30:00.000-05:00

Derrexi explains in brief what the girls will be facing.And here it is. Crazy week... just when you think you can have some time, life says, nuh-huh! Still! Nahast lives up to the "somewhat weekly" update rate, and despite taking a bit of extra time, there is still one page per week.Yeah, nice excuse. <.

Promotion

2010-06-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

Derrexi tells the girl what is at stake, and makes the first officer appointment.Back to the girls! I'm finding it a lot faster to work on the coloring when everything is working properly (including myself <.<). This is giving me time to devote to all the other stuff I do on the side without hurting the schedule of either project too much. This week, bar any surprise malfunction, I'll try to

Nothing Changes

2010-06-23T03:19:00.000-05:00

Yanti gives a quick summary of what he found out, but Xisve'ki is confident that it won't matter.Well, one migraine aside, this page is the last I had before the re-writing of Behari's subplot came about, which means... this little scene is done, and up next is precisely that subplot.I could write more, but my migraine has not completely left and I really should go to bed now.

Holy vs. Unholy

2010-06-14T03:15:00.001-05:00

Yanti is not alone and Xis'veki's shadows face the power of true sunlight.Well, I'm back using Blogger as Nahast's News section. As glimpsed at my annoyed tweets and shoutboard, SpiderForest's host decided to stop supporting php4, which is what made our updating system work smoothly. Returning to Blogger is something I had already decided some time ago as I planned a site redesign... which is not

This blog has moved

2010-03-22T01:07:00.001-06:00

This blog is now located at http://nahast-news.blogspot.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://nahast-news.blogspot.com/rss.xml.

Fantasy without elves?

2008-06-02T02:11:00.000-05:00

Well, no. :) A lot of menial stuff came over the week that kept me away from the computer, including storms and blackouts and urgent house chores, but here it is, finally... the first look at what amounts to "classic" elves in Nahast: the Maehvindra.Also, a peek at a couple of members of the Nahastian exotic-but-still-normal fauna: the Zephyr Stag, which the elves tame to use as mounts, and the

Of dates, deadlines and futures

2008-04-15T09:23:00.001-05:00

Well! That was one long dry period. First of all, I want to thank everyone for your patience. Many a night a sat typing after returning from work, looking at the laid out and half-sketched page that you see today, wanting to work on it, but with a pressing, then overdue deadline staring at me accusingly.Well, the dinosaur is out of my studio, Damocles' sword is back in its scabbard and ((include

On delays and workings and stuff

2007-12-08T11:55:00.000-06:00

I haven't been updating the comic, true, and I could have updated the rants section, but whenever I remember I should, I'm at work and I don't remember my password... however, I remembered it now, so I'll give a situation update and address a few issues, from work (I'm working on a Saturday :P).The comic update is advancing slowly. This new job I have is intellectually demanding and I arrived in

Happy Birthday (to me?)!

2007-11-02T00:44:00.000-06:00

Five years ago, on the year of 2002, I finished ten colored pages and uploaded them to my Keenspace account, which had been active for several months as I tested the code and designed my site.Five years ago, Derrexi Tzelan arrived at the South gate of Beldatz and got into a whole heap of trouble.Five years ago I was drawing Nahast on sheets of paper, inking with markers. I drew each frame

This is Halloween! (sung to Nightmare Before Christmas)

2007-10-31T11:55:00.000-06:00

I usually would do something special for Halloween except for a couple of things:a) I have a job! Or sorta... I'm in a training/trial period at a translation agency and thus my times for doing Nahast-related stuff are limited.b) I don't celebrate Halloween. No, really... as fun a holiday as it is, I much prefer my national, traditional holiday of Day of the Dead, which comes on November 2nd.c)

Hard one!

2007-10-25T20:16:00.000-05:00

I would have liked to get this update done earlier; in fact, the base colors where done by monday, but a lot of things have been coming on that delayed things. I've been editing my mother's autobiography, doing some art for a corporate presentation for my sister's employers, trying to find emergency funds sources to finance a possible trip to Germany to visit AngelChyld... phew.I kept getting

Two Hundred!

2007-10-18T15:47:00.001-05:00

With the beginning of Chapter VIII, Nahast reaches it's 200 pages! Not only that, but in a couple of weeks, Nahast will have its 5th birthday too. I'll post the obligatory reminiscent post that day, especially as I have a surprise lined up.So, about this page... the dragonfish legend is something that popped in my mind as I was thinking for a good way to start this chapter. It does have a reason

Secret's out!

2007-10-01T04:34:00.000-05:00

Some of you already suspected it, to a couple of you I actually confirmed it but here it is, finally, the official revelation of Eclipse's true identity.I struggled a bit on how to write her monologue, how to show how truly messed up she is without actually laying it ALL out (I do have to keep some plot points for later on, no? :) ). Eclipse/Tzie are not really two persons co-existing in one body

It's alive!

2007-09-23T03:26:00.000-05:00

After a harrowing week, the computer is alive and working.My first scare when bringing it back from the shop was that the monitor just wouldn't turn on. I opened it to check the new videocard was correctly installed and nothing. After pulling my hair for half an hour, I realized that the keyboard and mouse sockets were backwards than from my old motherboard. Switching them was the secret to a)

Will draw for spares

2007-09-14T17:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I just got final word on my computer. The motherboard and processor are unsalvageable, and there are no longer any motherboards in production that would take both my RAM and my video card. I'm going to need around US$320 to get my computer back in order (US$230 as a minimum).While I can afford it, it seriously impacts my savings so, as the title says, I'm going to start a comissions program

Computer problems

2007-09-14T12:43:00.000-05:00

Well, seems that my faithful computer, which I named Jiang Hu (cookie points to whomever gets it ;) ), has given its last battle as of today.It's been serving me for a good five years of heavy use, during which I used it for work and entertainment through most of the days. It weathered five storm seasons, three of which were in my old address, which always had a lousy insulation (some of you will

Hard updates

2007-09-10T05:01:00.000-05:00

Soooo... one idea for putting things on the blog was talking about the "making off" the pages... so, for this one...It was hard. And not because of techniques... those were easy. I'm reaching a comfortable middle between a couple of coloring techniques I've been trying over the last several months. The problem was more of an artist's block thingie... I stared at the page on my monitor and... I

Cursed site!

2007-07-16T13:18:00.001-05:00

Damn it.... just when I finally have a good series of update ready to go, Keenspace/ComicGen decides to be cute. Anyhow, the update is stored on my own server just in case. Today's update can be found here:http://nahast.coyotzin.net/imgs/20070716.jpgIf the site is still like this, I'll post the next one on Thursday like this again.

Four and counting

2006-11-02T18:49:00.000-06:00

It shouldn't be surprising this update didn't go up since morning... after all, it's become tradition that I update in the evenings, and why defy tradition on this glorious Day of the Dead, in which Nahast is exactly four years old?It's not a coincidence that the comic's anniversary coincides with the Day of the Dead. It's not symbollic either, it's just my favorite holiday of the year.In any

Kitsunemori!

2006-08-30T16:38:00.000-05:00

As you may have guessed, the banner at the top of the page is for a book I wrote and partially illustrated. "Kitsunemori" is a complete campaign setting similar to mythic Japan for the d20 rules, where the foxy kitsune are the stars of the show!As a launch offer, I'm opening a contest of sort that will run at the same time as the fund drive for additional updates per week. For every 10 emails I

Light at the end?

2006-05-08T17:20:00.000-05:00

Hey... still trapped in the land of no access. However, I'm more or less settled in now, with only a few magazines to unpack, rack and put up and a few boxes to put away. Cable company finally showed up and installed the signal for one TV, with the other due tomorrow when they come back with thinner cables. I talked with my neighbor and I may have access around this week, but still not sure

Moves and shakes Part Deux

2006-04-17T15:37:00.000-05:00

Gaaaaah! Well, according to my mom, the most difficult time in a year, where you will find a lot of obstacles, is the few weeks before your birthday. Well, as Gus pointed out, my b-day is just passed and already I can see the improvement. The chores and errands I had to do today related to the move went surprisingly smoothly, whereas they were fraught with delays the last couple of weeks.Words on

Moves and shakes

2006-04-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

As you may see, there's no update today. I have the storyboard all done but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make the page by tomorrow even, as the packing and moving to my new apartment is picking up in speed. I'm also in the wait of trasnferring my landline to my new home, which will mean I will have no net access for a while until the company installs it.I'm going to try to make the update this

Trying new things

2005-10-31T13:28:00.000-06:00

I have a huge problem with blogs: I never remember to post on them. I think I have to force myself to develop a habit so that this thing stops having comments from a month before the current date.Anyway, you might be able to notice that in today's update I'm trying a couple of new things. There's a flower pattern in Derrexi's hakama that I created using Photoshop, based off a pattern I actually

Nahast... wha...?

2005-09-05T03:45:00.000-05:00

SO, an explanation of what's up with today's update: I suddenly had a lot of things to do around these days and wasn't able to make the update. In place, I give you some concept art for Nahast: Moonrise, a spinoff that -might- see publication in the anime magazine I coordinate.As you can guess, the story revolves around the three Moonshade ninja girls you see depicted here ;)If I'm able to finish

Aheh.... ^_^;;

2005-06-23T04:58:00.000-05:00

Insert excuse... work got a bit more complicated, there were lengthy blackouts and my GF logged in... coloring is on its way so... thursday evening, promise!Now... I've taken a few of the suggestions and combined some of the concepts. I undersexed the practice top into a short-sleeved shirt (Behari just fills it very well...) and now the jacket goes over it. Not pictured here but contemplated are

The unupadte!

2005-06-20T21:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry for this non-update, things have come together in my life (good things for once! :D) My mother is in town to visit, and I'm starting on my new job, but worry not! The REAL update will be up on tuesday night or wednseday sometime :)

Stuff

2005-04-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

Okay... here's the long story.First of all, sorry for skipping out on updating for so long without an apparent reason or explanation. Before I start sounding like the Typical Angsty Artist, I want to say that my funk was in no way related to Nahast or my abilities as an artist, but to a collection of life situations.Now, while fighting off the funk, rain season started, and in this season, power

Emergency update

2005-02-16T21:35:00.000-06:00

OK... the response to the last rant surprised me in the good way so I hurried to get this week's page inked (coloring would take too long). As you can see, I do most of the backgrounds entirely in the computer.Also, checking the forums I did discover Ping Teo's (aka Phalanx) amazing fanart:

On delays

2005-02-15T14:40:00.000-06:00

These days, my time has been devoured by three things: World of Warcraft, The Artificial Hero's Handbook (which I wrote and illustrated, so go buy it! :) ) and writing the novel for Wizards of the Coast open call for a new fiction line.That and the utter lack of feedback, which is kind of discouraging. No word in the tagboard nor in the forum with a single exception by email. I know I have a

Roll initiative!

2005-02-07T03:41:00.000-06:00

...and cue the heroic music! :) Battle is joined in earnest and all the protagonists are in the same scene for the first time! Yay! It only took, what... two years? :) Anyway, someone on Websnark once commented that it would be nice to have some d20 interpretation of what is going on in the comic, so... here it is! Last page, the demonspawn is out of actions when Niriko arrives on the scene,

Little changes

2005-01-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

You may, or may not notice, but on this page I changed the way I ink the pages. Instead of my trusty Sakura markers, I switched to using a brush and a bottle of china ink. This is not the first time I use a brush to ink, but it has been a long time since I last did it. Three things became clear with this: 1) I definitely achieve a better control of line width; 2) I need practice to actually

New Year Stuff

2005-01-04T05:15:00.000-06:00

Today's update is the first of 2005! And so I bring you some musings about Nahast's and my own future. First, while I wasn't able to draw (the drawing paper I took to my folks' place got wet), I did finish 8 pages worth of storyboards, which is the big stumbling block when I have to do a new page; this means that I already know what the next two months of pages will look like :) One of the

Holidays

2004-12-17T16:00:00.000-06:00

Gaaah... I meant to have an update this week, but work stuff got added to the hassle of preparing for the holidays. I'm leaving town today to spend the Christmas week with my parents, where Internet is spotty and there is no scanner. I'm taking my art stuff with me so I can work on oages during my vacations, so I will return the week of New Year's Eve with double updaty goodness. Merry

And the winner is...

2004-11-17T12:57:00.000-06:00

We have a winner for the contest, taking the lead in the last couple of days, and it's... Thank you all for participating and voting!

Almost there

2004-11-15T23:07:00.000-06:00

Just one more page and it will be the end of chapter 2; the page is sketched already and I can't wait to see the reactions :) Lifewise, work has picked up; the bad thing about freelancing is that money can take a while to come even if I'm swamped with work, as is the case of my last project which has an uncertain publication date, and the current one, which doesn't pay until delivery at the end

Busy-ness

2004-10-25T22:25:00.000-05:00

I'm really excited about all my projects :) Regrettably, expect Nahast to run late-ish like it has been, but I'm trying to make sure that the comic goes up on monday as promised, even if it's late on Monday... Speaking about the comic... did you think that was all of the fight? That an ancestral sorcerer would limit himself to a measly potion of bull's strength? I couldn't waste this wonderful

Work!

2004-10-20T01:53:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I updated this part, right? :) Well, I thought that being a freelancer would give me more chances to relax, and more time to enjoy myself and work on the comic. Well, it was true the first couple of months as you can see that, while I was late a few times, I never missed a week. Well, now I'm finding myself with a lot of work :) Such is the nature of freelancerdom; a

Snark!

2004-09-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

No, this is not a misspelled Thundercats reference, it's just that Nahast has been snarked! Websnark is run by a friend of mine from the RPG field, and offers pretty good commentary on webcomics. I've discovered a few new additions to my bookmarks from his review, so check it out! :)

Many, many things

2004-09-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

Pfeh... I tend to forget that I have this blog on the site now... anyhoo, there are many things to report. First of all, for all of you D&D players, there's a very real and substantial update on the d20 role-playing section; the spirits. What spirits are and how they work in Nahast, and also how you can go about making your own spirits for your games. That's not all for the Dreamlands, of course

Conspiracy!

2004-09-13T19:30:00.000-05:00

Just when I finally left the comic in the server for the automatic upload to kick in... it doesn't work and I have to push the manual update today. It seems Keenspace was stuck in its update queue and missed a few. If you're observant, you will note a tonal change in the shadows in the characters, and that's beacuse I'm using a different shading technique that appears to work well and even save

Results

2004-09-05T21:32:00.000-05:00

Well... Bristol is definitely rougher than Firenze, but being able to draw the whole page in a single sheet is definitely helping my composition; I'll try more daring layouts in the future :). I worked on letter-size Firenze sheets, which forced me to draw on both sides of the sheet (even if I could just as easily have used a different sheet...). I also scanned the whole page at once rather than

Trying new things

2004-09-01T12:17:00.000-05:00

Normally, I write a script for the comic. I'm a writer, so I sit down and write what I have in mind for the story, letting the characters take me where they would logically go given a direction. However, given that the current scene is primarily visual, I started making the storyboards first; I still have the idea of what's going on and what's going to happen firmly in my head, but this time I'm

Hmmm...

2004-08-31T12:20:00.000-05:00

I don't have much to say about this page, really... things are not looking good for Derrexi right now but, as all heroes and heroines go, we all know she's going to come out of it, maybe a little banged up, but otherwise in one piece. That is... if things keep on as they are now and nothing surprising happens, right? ;) Speaking of heroines, you will note I joined a new dropdown; Keen Heroines.

The Hawk Maidens

2004-08-27T19:15:00.000-05:00

As a comment on the blog indicated, it's hardly fair to have people guessing where the Hawk Maidens will cameo if they don't know who they are... there are ample clues for three of them in the gallery section, but here's the full listing: Jakitza Behari Erukien Niriko Zintzi Zhi'liang Gisako

New voting gift

2004-08-27T18:46:00.000-05:00

To renew your enthusiasm for voting, I've uploaded a new exclusive illustration: Available as usual in the voting page.

Action!

2004-08-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

It took me a while to finish this page; more than I expected, but I'm quite proud of the results; I can safely say that this is one of the best-looking pages I've done. I'm also considering making a rather large illustration/poster with all the characters in chibi form and wonder... should I sell the file like Angels 2200 did with the "Fantasy Angels" illustration? Make prints for auction/

Contest!

2004-08-23T02:56:00.000-05:00

So... what's this page about? It's my entry for the Miss/Mr./Thing Keenspace contest being organized in the KeenSpace forums. Voting will open in September, and I will be posting the address so anyone can vote for her. this page is only the "talent" and question part of the contest, but you can see Derrexi in swimsuit and formal dress. The proper comic update will be up on Tuesday or later on

Late update

2004-08-18T02:07:00.000-05:00

I'm still coming in late, aren't I? :P At least I'm not skipping weeks anymore ^__^;; This page begins the long-announced action sequence. No convoluted plots (not many at least), no intrigue... just two people whacking at each other, except that... there is that potion that Xisve'ki gave to the mercenary... And for another surprise... there's a special goodie for those who vote for Nahast in

Ugh

2004-08-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

For some reason, this week's page is coming out very slowly, but it will be up today, promise!

Store?

2004-08-11T05:12:00.000-05:00

Being without a steady income (or at least a way smaller steady income) makes one think about the possibilities for making money. You will note that I now have a PayPal button, although I defintely don't expect a miracle like what happened to Mulholland with Something Positive, but one can always dream, eh? :) In any case, I do plan a bigger drive with Nahast; I want to learn to make PDFs so I

Eeeevil people!

2004-08-10T03:12:00.000-05:00

So... what is that rotting and decaying snake? Read the World section for the answer., but let's say that Diru Azpikeri is a very small fish compared to this ancient wizard. However, Xisve'ki needs the little fish for the time being for his own reasons. The plot thickens ;)

Angry Niriko

2004-08-05T18:07:00.000-05:00

Heh... Do you think I should change the update time to thursdays? I was lucky to get a magazine short article assigned out of the blue, coupled with the site redesign... well, I didn't have that much time to work on monday's update. That and I discovered that my disk crash took with it my script for the following 6 or 7 pages... so I had to think again... well, enough excuses; next item on my

New Stuff!!

2004-08-02T03:11:00.000-05:00

Well; I'm running late on the update, but my excuse is that I was working on the site redesign. Colors are clearer, superfluous sections have been axed while new ones have been added that had been accumulating. I tried a few new things with HTML, although not many; simply a few things to make updating a little easier. You will note that the rants section has been updated as well; it is now