Feeling a little Ill from the Fumes?
Aedre’s Firefly Graphic Novel updates every Wednesday at NOON eastern time.
If you’re a new reader click here to start closer to the beginning of the story… You also might like this well-written precis of the story by Todd McElmurry at the WebComic Alliance’s pick-of-the-week: Aedre’s Firefly.
~~~
#LFWC this week is
Planes of Eldlor by the amazing team of Robbie and Sarrah Wilkinson. Here is a link to their delightful “About” page, where you will find an awesome little comic about how a UK-er and an Arizonian got together and embarked on this epic tale of rifts, Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Clerics, Paladins, Mages, and most spectacularly, Dragons! Gorgeous, graceful, powerful keepers of the balance;that ancient terrible and wise race –Dragons!
Having a good deal of Welsh blood in me (along with all the other races that eventually invaded Britain and were absorbed there), I have an enormous soft spot for Dragonkind. I have a few of my own paintings of Dragons that have survived the many household moves, but Rob and Sarrah have created some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure which one of them creates the totally gorgeous sculptures of the dragons that they share with us from time to time, but you can see in each one, that the Dragons of Eldlor are creatures of dignity and wisdom and are respected as such. There’s nothing cutesy about them. They are simply a majestic and ancient race. I haven’t yet visited their store. I’m kind of scared to! Dragons! Did I mention how much I love Dragons? No? Well let me tell you… Heh!
Creation Process
I’m well into laying out panels and sketching them from the scripting I’ve been doing with the help of my new corkboard setup. Now, I take down a 3×5 card and work up a bunch of strips in pencil to go with it. When I’m done I pin it back up and take down the next one. Having a chapter almost entirely scripted ahead is so freeing and relaxing!
And now I’ve started doing an assembly-line method of workflow. I’ll be penciling the rest of Chapter VII completely, before scanning and inking them. This too helps me to keep in touch with the flow of the story. I never thought I would be doing this and feeling so excited about it!
Other News
Had another great weekend! Kayaking and camera hunting. In case you didn’t know I’ve gotten used to using the camera in my iPod Touch to take quick photos for reference. Out in the kayak, I take specially good care while using it, dreading the thought of losing it in the lake. Got some pretty nice shots on Saturday. Unfortunately, as I hauled my body out of the kayak after our trip, the iPod slipped out of my pocket. I forgot how shallow the pockets were in that particular pair of pants and I still don’t yet have the technique down for getting out of the kayak graceful. Also I tend to get fretful about it. Mal snatched it up almost immediately and shook it out, but it did get wet. So we spent most of Sunday looking at new cameras, while my iPod sat in a plastic bag filled with rice. Yep rice. A trick I learned from reading comics online! The rice thing I learned from Dawn Griffin’s Zorphbert & Fred about a couple of aliens who came to earth to study the life-forms here and disguised themselves as dogs. The rice is supposed to suck up any moisture left in the device. Too bad I don’t know how long to leave it in there. :`}
So I decided after both Mal and I did a ton of research, and even drove to Ithaca to the Best Buy to look at cameras (only to find they don’t sell Panasonics there!), and then came back home and ordered from Amazon. I guess it will arrive on Wednesday. I had some money saved up and Mal is helping me out with the rest of the costs (strap! UV lens, extra battery and a 32 gig memory card). Thanks Mal! I hate spending money, even if some of it is someone else’s money. But I’m pretty excited, too. It’s been a long time since I had a decent camera. My old Sony DSC-707 had an awesome zoom on it, but it’s bulky and only 5 megapixels, and the memory cards only hold 128MB each, which by today’s standards is pretty low. I’m keeping it for awhile in case I need it for long shots, though I may sell it someday.
I’ll let you know next week if the new camera, a Panasonic DMC-G3, is as good as I hope it will be. Maybe by the time you read this, I’ll have it in my hands and shooting away with it. (I hope!) :`D
As always guys, thanks for reading Aedre’s Firefly and for your encouraging comments!
Nice perspective shot in the first panel.
Thank you, Michael.
Aedre looks ready to leave the outhouse. And is that a city in the background? Hmmm, shift in the action coming up? Or perhaps just showing us that we are still connected to the “real” world…
And, hey, I have no competing reviews today, focusing on writing TOCL. :)
The answer to you musings is: Yes, Andy.
I think you’ve already reviewed this one. Not sure though. I’m happy to hear you’re concentrating on your writing. :`D
And yes, it is the tiny town of Maple in the background. One of these days I should get that map uploaded.
LOL. Looks like Aedre spent a little too long in the outhouse. Hey! Don’t forget the TP.
Like Michael said, really nice perspective shot in the first panel. Very cool. And I had almost forgotten how close we were to the town. This little gorge seems so far away from the hustle and bustle of “civilization”.
It seems now that the decision to stay or run must be imminent. What will she do? This reader eagerly awaits the next installment!
O Observant One! You noticed she left the TP behind. Is this a clue I wonder? ;`)
I do love to shift the perspective around so as to keep things visually interesting. Thanks, Mal! <3
The only relieving feeling better than going in an outhouse, is the pleasure in coming back out of one. I know that fresh air feels fantastic. :)
You boys are really going to miss the outhouse when we finally move on, aren’t you, George? ;`)
I wonder how far she’ll have to get from it before she hits an air pocket. Depends on the way the wind’s blowing I suppose.
I did that with my iphone after dropping it in the water but you can’t try to turn it on until after the rice bath. Something I wish I would have known before.
I think it’s natural to try and turn it on to see how damaged it is. That saying I only turned it on long enough to power it off completely, so I do hope it’s ok.
I guess I’ll leave it a couple more days, but I’m really missing all my little reminder alarms.
I don’t understand why the iPad doesn’t have the same clock.
Aedre’s face would be my reaction…but then again, I’d drop trou behind the nearest tree and avoid the outhouse altogether. The only thing that I dont like, is how the tree’s point and laugh while I do me business! [blinks]
In that case I expect you might want to avoid eating any more of those wild mushrooms… ;`D
Finally out of the outhouse! Lovely drawing, Jande!
Thank you, Mark. Very kind of you. :`)
From the look on her face I would say that it was a life changing experience. I too believe that leaving the toilet paper behind was significant. For those who have been following for awhile you have to know that there is a town nearby…Aedre walked to the shack.
Enjoy the new camera. You sound a lot like me. I really don’t make many impulse purchases. I really think before I buy something and I still have a world of junk that I never use.
Pretty life changing, Bo. ;`)
Thanks for keeping people straight about where Aedre is. Yep she walked there after sneaking out of school, and the gorge looked like the perfect way to get home without anyone seeing her.
The camera is awesome, thanks! Except when it inexplicably refused to take the picture and leaves me totally perplexed as to why the shutter won’t release. *sigh*
But my iPod is working again! Yay! More about that in tomorrow’s update…
The worldly junk keeps piling up here too. We have a general rule that before anything new that has to be looked after/maintained comes into the house, something has to be taken away (recycled/given away/sold, etc) I have trouble letting go of things long after they cease to be useful. But Mal is much better at just getting rid of stuff.