TopHeavy

Early Bird Tier Update 2/11/25

For starters, I'm sorry for the lack of updates lately. I chose to devote my time to the comic instead of Patreon updates. I hoped that I'd have the entire thing finished and that I could surprise you with it. Alas, I did not meet my self-imposed deadline, so it's time for an update.

As I was double-checking the script (it sometimes needs adjustments based on changes in the art), I realized that it was written as though there would be a fourth part. I don't know if Part 4 will happen. I...

Early Bird Update - 1/30/25

Here's a HUGE update. I still have so much to do. I'm at that point where I'm going back and forth between pages to make adjustments. Some of these pages I've posted before, but they've gone through some iteration. I've still got about 8 pages to go through, then I need to add the dialogue, and after that, I have to make any final fixes I can. I'm not satisfied with most of these pages, but we have a deadline to meet. 

2025-01-30 18:40:15 +0000 UTC View Post

Zuri Character Suggestions

Hey there, apologies for the lack of updates. I missed my deadline and decided that the next update would be big, so I'm working on several pages at once. I am happy with where things are going. The next update should be in about 10 days.

In the meantime, I'd like your suggestions for characters to draw performing paizuri (or titty fucking, if you prefer). Times are about to get tough, and I have two feelings about that. First, I want to alleviate some of my audience's woes. Second, I w...

Early Bird Update - 1/17/25

I am changing the name of these updates because they were neither daily nor weekly. It also gives people an idea of what they're getting. This week, I've come to realize that I won't hit my deadline. It'll probably be sometime in February when this is finished. Oh well. I'm pretty happy with these pages. They probably need some cleanup work that I'll notice after I post them.

This is from last...

WIP Update 1/15/25

I'm calling these WIP updates now as I never seem to stick to a Daily schedule. Truth in advertising and all that. That said, I'm happy with this pass on these pages. I may make some adjustments later if I notice anything or if I need something to be consistent. The first page is from last week, but I had to fix the shadows and line work.

2025-01-15 15:57:48 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekly Update 1/9/25

I am back from vacation, and shaking off the rust. This is the next pass. This one is about touch-ups to the render. I add specular highlights, fix shadows, add ambient occlusion, a core shadow, and some post-processing in terms of lighting and texture. While the goal is for the art to be 100% finished, I may need to do some final touches to unify the pages, but I'll do that when I add text. For now, the art is 95% of the way there. Ideally, this would be quick and I'd be able to do 2 to 4 pa...

Daily Update 1/8/25

First couple of second passes. The goal here is to clean things up, fix lighting, add post processing, and keep the overall aesthetic consistent. Eventually, the goal is to do two to four a day. Right now, I've only managed one a day. Not Great. I still feel like something is off with these two pages. Their aesthetic is different from Chapter 4, and I liked where things were headed in Chapter 4. I'm trying to figure it out what I did differently for the sake of the rest of the thing. This i...

Daily Update 1/6/25

Christmas Vacation is over, and it's time to get back to work. I needed the break even though it was hard to follow through. The urge to "just do a little bit" kept cropping up. There's a lot more work that needs to be done to finish Toph Heavy Part 3 and my gas tank feels full enough to get us there. Today I offer the last two pages of the blending phase. Even in posting them, I see stuff that needs to be fixed, and starting tomorrow, we're moving on to the all-important clean-up phase. On...

Weekly Update 12/26/24

Hey everyone. Didn't get as much done as I wanted to thanks to the Holidays and what I did get done feels a little sloppy. Things are starting to feel... formulaic and paint-by-numbers. That gnaws at me. I spent too much time spinning my wheels thinking "why doesn't this look the way I want?" There are still two more pages to blend but I feel - no I know- I need a break. I am feeling a tad burnt out so I am taking the next week off to enjoy what's left of the holiday season and recharge my...

Weekly Update 12/19/24

Mostly happy with this batch. I even broke my rule to redraw a panel or two. I see a few rough spots besides those panels that need cleaning up, but that's actually a good thing. It's the errors I can't see that worry me. I think the last page in this batch was a little rushed because I didn't get much sleep and needed to keep my schedule. I'll clean it up on the next pass. Thank you once again for your support.

2024-12-19 23:00:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 12/18/24

I think I should stop calling these Daily Updates even though I am working on these daily. WIP updates maybe? There is still some clean up needed, but once again, I am very happy with the direction of these so far. Hopefully, you'll see huge differences (improvements) between the basic cel shading and the blended product. In one case I broke my rule again and redrew a couple of panels. Thank you for your continued support.

2024-12-18 21:36:37 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 12/14/24

I'm pleased with these pages so far. Generally speaking, the more recent the drawing, the easier it is to render. I'm looking forward to the clean-up/post-processing phase of these. Once again, I offer before-and-after.

2024-12-14 16:47:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekly Update 12/12/24

This week went pretty well for rendering. I've been excited to see how the glow would look. I missed a daily update or two because of some family stuff, so this week I'm including a couple of before and after images so you can see what changes in the blending process. (it's quite a lot sometimes)

2024-12-12 15:43:52 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 12/9/24

The blending continues and my edge control improves. As usual, I feel these need more clean-up, but we'll get to that in the next pass. Also, the glow in these pages is temporary and will need some refinement.

Before

After

Before

2024-12-09 19:43:47 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekly Update 12/6/24

Here are the blended pages for this week. I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. These pages are on the right track. I still need to do some clean up and post-processing, but that will be handled on the next pass.

I'm considering setting up private streams on picarto for the WIP section. I used to stream art a lot, but haven't in the past couple of years because my local ISP had a very unstable upload. Recently my connection feels much more stable, so it may be worth a try again....

Daily Update 12/4/24

Today was a pretty good day. The art of these two pages turned out pretty close to how I intended, which is pretty much the best you can hope for as an artist.

Once again, I offer a before and after.

...

Daily Update 12/3/24

I spent the weekend taking a break for health reasons, so I don't have as big an update as I'd like. These two pages need more clean-up, but we'll get that on the next pass. I always find it difficult to do "internal cameras" because you have to fudge it a little. But what way do you fudge it? Do you try to be super medical, or do you try to capture the "feeling" of it? I try to do a mixture of both.

Once again, I offer a before/after of the blending.

Before

2024-12-03 15:18:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Build-a-Comic Poll 4

Winner of poll 1 - Fantasy

Winner of poll 2 - Dark Elf

Winner of poll 3 - She's an Empress/Queen

Poll 4 - What "class" is she?

This poll is about her abilities and will affect how she deals with situations as an Empress/Queen. She had these abilities before she gained her throne, and were instrumental in gaining it in the first place.

For this one, I had a ton of options and spent a little while whittling them down to what we have here. I have solid images i...

Weekly Update 11/29/24

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. I have some stuff to talk about, but I want to start with the blended pages from this week. I got much more done than I thought, and I'm pretty happy with everything at this stage. Hopefully, I can stick the landing. 

 2024-11-29 10:22:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 11/26/24

I'm sorry I was away yesterday. I spent a few hours in the hospital. I'll talk more about it in the weekly update, and I still need to talk to my doctor, but the test results I got are terrifying and will probably mean drastic lifestyle changes on my part. That means I can't work as much as I would like. Don't worry; we're still on schedule for Toph Heavy.

Anyway, here's today's page.

Before

2024-11-26 22:39:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Build-a-Comic Round 3

Winner of poll 1 - Fantasy

Winner of poll 2 - Dark Elf

Poll 3 - What's her job?

It's important to note that this is different from class. Poll 4 will be about class. So like if the winner of poll 3 is... Queen/Empress then in Poll 4 you'll be able to vote on whether or not she's a wizard queen, warrior queen, necromancer queen, etc.

You will have a week, and multiple vote options.

Daily Update 11/24/24

Sorry for updates not being so daily. I've been too busy to post these past couple of days, but I have been keeping with the schedule. I don't have before and after for these though. I look forward to finalizing these on the next pass.

2024-11-25 01:29:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 11/22/24

I wasn't able to get a second page done today. I was still dealing with the snowstorm. Luckily, this page went pretty easy. Sometimes I really have to work to get the blending to work. Other times I don't. It boils down to the quality of the drawing and the shapes I've drawn for the light. If I do those first two steps right, things fall into place. This was one of those pages.

Once again, I offer a before and after.

2024-11-23 01:43:25 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekly Update 11/21/24

Technically it hasn't been a week since my last update, but the update was late last time so we only got what I've done since saturday/sunday. This week I started rendering a page a day. These pages aren't complete but if I can keep up this pace, I'll have enough time to complete them by my deadline.

The important thing to understand here is that these renders are not complete. There will be at least one more clean up pass sometime in January.

2024-11-22 05:28:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 11/20/24

Part 3 - Chapter 5 - Page 6 blending

I'm pretty happy with this one. The post-processing lighting effects aren't there, but I see the vision. I think I need to refine some structure here and there. I also think that I may increase the contrast between light and shadow to make Azula more of an imposing figure. Once again, I offer a before and after.

Before

After 2024-11-21 01:14:32 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 11/19/24

Part 3 - Chapter 5 - Page 5 blending

I'm really happy with these feet. I'm not a foot fetishist, so I don't have a natural inclination to the anatomical structure of feet, and feet can be quite difficult. Some professional comic artists avoid them altogether. But guys like Liefeldian Abomination draw them so well that it's something I know I need to get better at.

This page was pretty simple as I only had to render one panel and then copy it two other times. Despite that simplic...

Daily Update 11/18/24

Part 3 - Chapter 5 - Page 4 Blended

 This page has relatively simple shapes, so the blending should have been easy and I should have been able to finish two pages today. Unfortunately, we had our first big snowfall here, and I spent half the day shoveling. I'm happy with where this is at the moment. I know I'm going to have to add some extra shadow detail in subsequent steps, but I want to wait. Going too far could make things look too air-brushy and sloppy.

Once again, here'...

Daily Update 11/17/24

Part 3 - Chapter 5 - Page 3 Blended

I'm pretty happy with this, but I may make some adjustments when I revisit it in a month or so. Here's a before-and-after.

Weekly Update 11/16/24 - Cel Shading Complete

Alright, so I "finished" the cel-shading step. I worked at a very fast pace and just did broad strokes. That means that shading is a bit sloppy. That's fine because the whole point was to light the scenes. I need to refine edges, adjust values, and fix some hues. I am aware that I accidentally made some character's hair look brown because of a tint. That will definitely change. Just gotta trust the process. Tomorrow I move on to blending and I will fix some of these problems. Blending is go...

Build-a-Comic- Round 2

The winner for setting is Fantasy. Which means our next selection is race. This isn't every race, obviously, but I'm making an executive decision as to what I'm willing to draw.

Once again, this will last for about a week.