- Thursday, December 22nd, 2016

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays,

and a Good New Years to you as well -- we'll make 2017 a better one, for the world, ourselves, and me for Wykkrwomb.

Having missed out on a lot of Dungeons & Dragons in my younger-youth, it's suddenly now become a prime passion in my life. So much so, I've been spending entire days dedicated solely to learning how to build characters and perform game systems within 3.5 Edition, Pathfinder, and the newest: 5th Edition. So much so, that I'm preparing a short session/"campaign" (in The West Marches, non-linear vein) for my family (younger brother, mother, & father; all as players while I Dungeon Master) over the holidays.

For now -- for you guys, girls, and lovely folk between -- here's a well-wishing from me to you, and as a bonus check out this semi-fan, semi-promotional art I did for (unsolicited) Yen Press a year back.

- Friday, October 7th, 2016

Collecting Myself,

as one should (when not publishing and should-be-publishing), while I ink & finish the next Wykkrwomb page.

Reading really good books (in some cases, again) helps inspire me -- show me just how high up the storytelling mountain one can climb, while reading more mediocre books (irritates me -- so I have to do that in small doses -- but also...) inspires me as well -- forcing me to pause every so often (not a good thing [for it]) to question, and really take a period to inspect, just what the hell is so off about these mountain-base stories. Identifying the issues, I then brainstorm ways the author (where I her or him) could solve the issues.

Most of the time it actually does come down to not enough world building to establish in the reader's mind a place or organisation, and while dramatic set ups, object or people-wise, is always in place, set up for the emotional backing (the reasons, often in hints or suggestions, of why these different characters are compelled to act certain ways) giving the readers the sense that these are actual people doing things of their nature or nurture over being handed a plot-orb.

The most distressing thing about these stories are the encouraging quotes from higher-up-the-mountain writers on the backs (or inner sleeves) of these books. At least when George R. R. Martin praises a mediocre book in a quote, you know there's at least some semblance of striking, original takes on harsh subject matter hidden within. Sadly, the majority of these stories aren't given his textual blessings.

I've also been listening to Steven King read his own audio-book version of On Writing, and while it's still cool to take a non-consensual shit on him and his work due to a few bad film adaptations and the (confirmed) sense that the man doesn't believe in plotting things out first, he's still a master of making you believe, emphasize, and emotionally invest in his characters and their worlds. Steven is high-as-fuck on our metaphorical storytelling mountain. Trust me, kids.

It's an absolute joy to listen, and re-listen, to his self-described writer backstory, his writing theories, and his words of advice.

- Thursday, August 11th, 2016

I've been a bit depressed lately

by the cancellation of my most favourite show -- for a storyteller, who spends much of their waking life surrounded in stories, those rare few niche stories that really touch said storyteller's heart and head makes the cancelling of them a big deal -- and was this show ever niche.

betray you eventually

Enter Real Rollplay's (ItMeJP on Twitch) Swan Song. The title of this show is more appropriate now that my interest in what J. P. McDaniel is currently doing has plummeted. Swan Song (set in the Stars without Number ruleset) was more than a love letter to cowboy-inspired spacefaring sci-fi, it brought together a handful of exceptional rollplay storytelling hosts (Geoff Robinson, Marcus Graham, J. P. McDaniel & Steven Lumpkin, all with excellent chemistry in each other's company) under the spike drive-ing guidance of the greatest game master of the twenty-first century, fellow Canadian Adam Koebel. These people made me laugh, and ponder, and yell, and yes, cry.

Swan Song was suggested to me by my brother, Richard, and after we (him, re-) watched the first few episodes together, I was the proverbial hooked fish. In a rollplay show, where much of the story is dictated by random dice rolls, the stakes for who lives and who dies were high -- and when early on, Mr. Sicarian (Geoff Robinson) decided to single-handedly board an aggressing spaniard pirate vessel, take a hostage, and one-by-one rid the remaining enemy crew, it was hard for us not to sit on the edge of our seat with shine in our eyes and smiles on our faces.

Making Pizza and Making Friends

What made it great, also made it small. Swan Song episodes usually reached around a 4 hour mark, albeit with 3/5 minute breaks in-between hours, each hour was then separated into individual "parts" for Youtube after the original live airing on Twitch. Length is not usually that much of an issue, but when much of the first hour is solely dedicated to the host players and GM talking about their real lives, and how they felt about this new film, or that that new video game, it did one of two things:

It made it incredibly hard for new potential viewers to slog through this (what was essentially a friend-bonding session) the first few times they'd experience it, while it kept those who managed to do so always coming back even eager, not just for the show but for the hosts -- for it felt like a friend-bonding session for all of us who watched as well. This is the main secret to why we watch certain Youtubers or listen to certain Podcasters. They feel like our friends, in a time where separation due to country, job, or otherwise can often make it harder to visit with real friends.

It's dark in my home

This is part of why the cancellation of Swan Song has hit me so hard -- harder than, say, if Game of Thrones, or House of Cards ended up cancelled. The voices and faces that made me feel less alone have been taken away from me.

And a lot of other creative people, too. Swan Song had a multiversal selection of inspiring music and drawn art composed and rendered by the fan base, including multiple video shorts highlighting poignant series moments. JP made constant use of these, especially the music, during the show breaks. All in all, it made the show feel more than the sum of its parts, for a lot of us, it felt like a place we lived and breathed, even if only in our daydreams.

But With all these crazy thoughts

So why was it cancelled? JP is kind of an idiot (he is human, like all the rest of us). Often he uses low viewership numbers as a scapegoat to cancel his shows, when the truer, honest answer is he's a bit bored with them (as variety streamers are prone to being; no judgement, just honesty) and with other complications (such as the loss of Steven Lumpkin due to strained scheduling and time-spent justification not being enough anymore for him -- though, if JP had been maintained a patreon for Swan Song, and then had the charity (rather, clarity) to spend those resources to pay all his hosts, I imagine Steven wouldn't have felt so wasteful with his Swan Song time).

These thoughts, I promise you

I really, really miss this show. Dark Souls 3 & No Man's Sky fill the void to an extent, but the pretend friendship element just isn't there, and furthermore I can't work on Wykkrwomb while playing either of the mentioned video games like I could with Swan Song playing in the background.

If you do work on something, though, and you'd like to give this great show a watch,

Please do.

- Thursday, July 21st, 2016

Wykkrwomb will only update with one (1) page on this month's final Wednesday (please check out the beautiful new rendition of the 5th colonial era overworld map too though - which updated mid-month - if you haven't already!), despite prior schedule and claims, due to the cure for the author's medical condition being Dark Souls III.

Furthermore, because of the release of No Man's Sky (which I hope you'll all join me on the PS4 to play) in early August, we might see another 2/3 pages for that month as well! Oh no! It's fine; We all need breaks at some point.

- Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

Hey you! Thank you for taking an interest in this little Wykkrwomb webcomic thing.

I'm happy to report that I'm still on schedule for the May update, with two new pages ready and waiting on the completion of 2/3 more for when they all go live on Wednesday, the 25th.

I thought I might take the respite I have now to give you another slight glimpse into the creation process, so here we go!

To keep the characters on model, while still moving slowly forward in anatomical/cartooning beauty, I try to reference the previous pictures I've drawn of the characters-in-question that I'm most fond of, while rechecking others, as well, to make sure I don't drag out the design too far (changes should be so subtle, they fly over the reader's head to allow the smooth reading experience to continue).

I've just started to circle things I figure I may forget to ink/include due to only inking one of two of them, before purposefully leaping over to a different element - in order to try to convince my brain to keep working ("because that part, or that part, isn't finished yet") even after I do finish one of the full elements. In other words, in the above image I inked some of the sound effects (sfx) but left others un-inked, while I move onto, say, rendering the flames on Lollengrē's poncho, so that I have some unfinished business later down the inking-road that I'll then feel more compelled to complete, as opposed to taking a break, and having that break just extend until the end of my day. This is one of the tricks I try to employ in order to work harder, despite working (mostly) for myself (and you!).

Some people have asked me this before, but the reason some of the lines I draw with are of varying colours is to make it easier for me to draw overtop of previous lines, usually to help differentiate objects, or elements, from one another (like the frames from Lollē's shoulders/poncho). In the end, they're all switched to black "ink" or made opaque for black "ink" lines to be drawn overtop.

Now, normally general iconography representing fire looks puffy on the bottom and wiggly on the top.

But I wanted to figure out how to draw flames closer to their actual shapes, while still staying simplistic enough to render within reasonable time-frame, so I decided to finally again crack open my Elemental Magic books!

Yep indeed, cartoonists have been lying to you all along, cartooning is magic.

In other news, to prepare for my mother's graduation ceremony (receiving her Masters of Divinity), I went and got a haircut. Insanity!

Like many-a-wizard, I hide my incredible intelligence behind a dopey façade.

Though I am an atheist, I support her choice to become a United Church minister. My mother is a very gentle soul, and there is a lot of pain in the world that a minister can help diminish, whether or not the things she believes in are empirically recognized. You fought with many, many sleepless nights to write essays and prepare sermons - rejoice in your victory, maman - congratulations!

Thanks again for reading and supporting! We don't advertise through Google, or etc, so word-of-mouth is really the only way we actually gain new readers - even just sharing a link to our site with a friend helps Wykkrwomb out!

Later guys!

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