davebarrack
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Grrl Power #1017 - Nants ingonyama!
🕑 Added 2022-01-24 11:00:06 +0000 UTCThanks so much for your support! For serious!
I'm not pleased with how this page turned out, because it's mostly backgrounds, and I'm disappointed with my results. Backgrounds take so much longer to draw than I ever allocate. The Alari ship is barely just past the draft stage. I needed to put another ten hours into making it look like a hive of activity and showing how it's expanding. Actually, right now it looks like a Level 1 structure in a RTS game, and someone just hit the button to upgrade it to Level 2.
And the Galytn city... well, it's pretty basic looking. I didn't want to make it look like Wakanda, Galytn isn't that far along, but I wanted to make it look like a city that's had a ton of new infrastructure put into it. Honestly I wouldn't have minded something closer to Gaia City from Appleseed, but really that's far too advanced as well. Still, a few buildings with curved metal roofs that collect or reflect the sun or buildings with rooftop gardens would have been nice. I just sat down to draw the city and started putting in some basic looking buildings, and that took so long I had to start moving on to other stuff.
Clip Studio Paint (and a lot of other drawing programs these days) has perspective rulers you can set up to keep your background from looking like it's been hit with an acid trip warp effect, but the limitation of those guides is that they don't have anyway to handle things like arches or 45 degree architecture, like rooftops or rafters or flying buttresses. What that means is you have to turn the rulers on and off about 2,000 times while drawing the average background.
There are ways to do perspective correct curves and angles, but it honestly requires a fuckton of intermediate measurements and is not a terribly fast process. It makes me appreciate artists that do amazing backgrounds. Not landscapes. Those are easy. Relatively speaking. There's still a ton of skill involved, just less fiddly measurements.
Update: My wife pointed out that chasing nyquil with a tumbler full of Goldschlager* might not be the best idea, so I ditched the booze plan but somehow wound up getting a pretty decent night’s sleep. I think all the previous insomnia caught up with me. Anyway, I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. I’m not 100%, but I think I’m over the hump. Took about 5 days to get there. Hopefully I’m on the mend and this isn’t just a temporary boost because I’m well rested, but we’ll see.
*Yeah, Goldschlager. I’m not a whiskey guy or scotch or whatever else, I like drinks that taste good. Actually, my favorite drink currently is Dr. McGillicuddy’s Apple Pie Liqueur, but Goldschlager has twice the booze which makes it better for getting knocked out.
So, I've got Covid. Not because I'm some dumbass anti-vaxxer, but just because we have a high-schooler in the house who managed to go a whole year without bringing anything back with him, but there's like 2,000 kids in the school, so it was basically inevitable. I got my shots, but never got around to the booster, and so far it's like a pretty mild case of the flu, although one point on my side is starting to get awfully sore from all the coughing. Except, I seem to be having some fairly weapons grade insomnia, and my energy and attention is suffering for it so. Sometime it takes me 5 days to draw 2 comic pages, this week it took seven. Haven't even started on the nudie pinup yet this month. Well, actually each time I sit down to do one, I spend half a day drawing and discarding ideas, so I probably have some half-finished pencils I can dredge up and polish. But I'll probably start a new one, hopefully keep it to a single character this time.
I'm so tired.
Melatonin fucks up my blood pressure and also I basically can't wake up until about noon the next day, so I'm going to try the time-proven method of drinking a bunch of booze. Wish me luck! Skål!
BTW, if you are a dumbass anti-vaxxer, DO NOT POST ABOUT IT HERE. I'll instead suggest that you go and Darwin yourself out of our gene pool, thereby reducing your drag factor on the rest of humanity.
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update: Getting Proofed!
Two chapters left to proof. I'm going to work on it after I post this page, but I'm so tired. We'll see how far I make it.
Comments
Eric Loken
Evil smurf's face in the last panel... eep.
Ian Brown
My primary care has advised against it based on the blood clot issues. My family and I have had a pretty rough go with those, so I just mostly stay home. Once they work that mess out, I'll get dosed. That said, I'm a big proponent of medicinal Ethanol, and I'd recommend trying 1:1 Goldschläger and Jägermeister (Black & Gold shot), especially as Jäger was used as medicine to begin with.
Kenneth Winkelman
That damn grin of hers..........ugh!
Adamas
try antihistamines, Some research is pointing to Long Covid being at least in part the body's Mast cells being triggered which means the body is reacting like it's exposed to an allergen.
Polysanity
now i want a vote incentive of Lorlara. "She wants **YOU** to defend the homeland!"
Timothy Mayfield
Hope you get well soon. I'm recovering from COVID. Had my first 2 shots and the third one scheduled for the 12th. I started showing symptoms on the 2nd. Now I'm Covid negative, but I haven't been able to return to work because of exhaustion and brain fog i.e "Long Covid". Hopefully will only last a week or two more, but I keep hearing stories about how it can last for months. Hoping you don't go through that (Apparently, only around 10% do have extended problems. I'm just lucky that way)
Otoger
Best wishes to get through Covid without any lasting problems
Otoger
but be carefull there is also a Coffein Choc named Ovomaltine XD at least in europe and they use the Marketing "with Ovomaltine you can't do it better but longer"
Dave Barrack
I can't imagine what it was like for people at the beginning of this thing. My symptoms were mild up until yesterday when it started getting pretty bad. If it had continued on that trend, today I would have been like "Must... finish proofing so I can... release... book before... death..."
Woodrobin
The COVID vaccine does not promise 100% protection from infection (nor does the flu vaccine nor any other vaccine as far as I know). What it does is essentially give your immune system an ID sheet for the COVID virus (in the form of messenger RNA) and put it on a war footing. As a metaphor, consider Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Instead of planes on the ground and a mass of ships docked in harbor, imagine instead they are pre-warned, every available AA gun has a poster with detailed IDs for enemy and friendly planes, and every plane available is in the air and patrolling for bombers. The fleet has scrambled out of the harbor fully on alert, with hundreds of AA guns of various calibers pointed skyward. Does a ship or two still take a bomb? Maybe, it's certainly not impossible. The Japanese sent a lot of torpedo and dive bombers. A few might get through and inflict some hits. But the Arizona doesn't end up a memorial in the harbor, the Pacific Fleet doesn't get knocked back to bare bones, and whether the Japanese strike force even makes it back to Japan is in question. A breakthrough infection is what happens when, effectively, a couple of planes make it through the AA barrage and the fighter cover. It is very much better than your immune system getting caught on the equivalent of shore leave, and your system losing major assets (lung damage, liver damage, possibly death) as a result.
Doug Northcote
Gotta give her credit the "Evil Smurf!" Alari lady who's name I couldnt remember, dang does she get some job satisfaction working for Deus. Credit to her or him or both, but nice to see someone who just loves their work/job. Also, get well soon Dave!
Jeremy
Thanks for sharing your story about COVID and breakthrough infections. The boosters are critical, but even the vase probably shaved a lot of misery off of your course. Hope you heal quickly and well!
Realmz256
Recovering from Covid myself. Take some time off to fully recover.
Mantarok1205
I'm not anti-vaxx, but I am skeptical about the Covid vaccine. 2 shots and you still caught it? I'll pass. Having said that, you probably have a deficiency of vitamin D... because most people have a deficiency during the winter months. Take some extra vitamins and get well soon!
Dan Curtis
love Anvil's sunhat
Thed Preston
Who is Ray Cosmos?
Matthew Lambert
That explains why I was confused about what I was looking at
Dave Barrack
Because... Uh... Hmm. She's going to change into them later?
Greg Morrow
(That being said, I have to wonder why Sydney (is she E-2 or E-3 now) is in fatigues and Kenya is in civvies.)
Greg Morrow
Hey, if you need to skip a week to heal, or two, that's OK. There are a thousand pages in the archive, we can all re-read while waiting for the next installment.
Nimrod009
Get. Some. Rest. Take a week off, take as much time as you need to feel well again.
Want? No. Think he deserves? Yes!
Enigma42
Aye take a break Dave we understand
Enigma42
Thank you as always but you if want to take a break go ahead people need recharge days. All those who want Dave to take a break say aye.
Stephen Gilberg
She reminds me of Ray Cosmos.
Stephen Gilberg
It says "tourees." He really was tired.
Daniel Schinhofen
Dealing with it myself Dave. I know the feeling from the writer side of trying to get shit done.
Richard Bennett
Sorry to hear It got you. Next to unavoidable with kids or frequent public contact. Please rest as much as you can, it's really taken a toll on some of my friends so don't be beating yourself up on top of being ill.
Andrew Denton
"... fired from her first job for radicalizing the tourists." For, or against?
Teach Minchew
Same as the others. Take time for yourself. Trying to “power through” just makes being sick last longer.
John Aldridge
Rest if you can and feel better soon.
Eric Karnowski
Just here to echo the "take care of yourself, it's more important than us getting a new page or two" sentiment.
Brad Kirkwood
take care of yourself..........also I fully expect maxima to choke Lorlara out at some point just out of annoyance
Thisguy
Generally speaking, for most illnesses you recover faster if you take it easy and rest rather than "pushing through"
Thisguy
Dude, take a week off. Look after yourself, get better, come back fit. Don't be like so many other great webcomic artists who work until their bodies break.
Magraal
There's some studies about trying to 'push through' covid resulting in it sticking around taking a lot longer to get over, resulting in what people are calling "long covid" - try to make sure you get enough rest one way or another so it doesn't fuck with your body for months instead of days/weeks.
Passion Flower extract. That can help with sleep. The liquid is more effective than the pills. Be warned, it tastes VILE. I would mix it with chocolate milk (specifically Ovaltine, because it's mostly caffeine free).
blackshadow111
As someone who is very Dumb, I'm offended at being compared to an Anti-vaxxer.
Graeme Thorburn
Ditto
Dave, man...take a frickin' break! Seriously, stressing yourself out over finishing Grrl Power pages will downregulate your immune reaction, and that's not helpful if it has to deal with a COVID-19 infection. Seriously, I can wait a week or two for the next page! Grab a good book, hit the sheets and let nature run its course. 🙏 Please, I worry more about your health than the next page being on time. 😅
Graeme Thorburn
C'mon Sydney, She's an evil Dark Elf. Too tall to be a Smurf.
Narall
Lorlara's face on that last panel will haunt my dreams. Well done.
Whoriar
Skål tilbake
Michael Obert
So much Oy on this page, lol.
