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RUN PG 8

Next (and final!) page of RUN will be out on Monday.

In other news, I’m planning on resuming the main storyline December 2nd, kicking off Volume Three right where we left off before.

Oren's Forge Volume Two: Incursion Wrap-Up, pt 2

I’d been kicking around this more in-depth “wrap-up” for Volume Two for a few months now. Since we reached the last epilogue page on the public posting side, I thought it might be worth throwing out there for anyone interested. It’s a bit all over the place, so apologies there, but perhaps added insight into my method might make sense of the madness.

What is this story about, for me?

I don’t want to police or dictate how anyone should approach this story, by any means. I think art is meant to be experienced and interpreted; some things pass through you and others stay with you.

I thought now, as Volume Two wraps up, it would be a good time to share my motivation and intention for the story for anyone interested in a deeper dive. The novel Watership Down by Richard Adams was among my original touchstones. Watership Down and Plague Dogs were both formative influences on me as a young reader (clearly). I credit them both with expanding my ability to empathize and see critically through other points of view. In interviews, Richard Adams was adamant his story about rabbits was not a metaphor or allegory— it was simply a story exploring non-human characters navigating their world on their terms.

In the same way, Oren’s Forge is not an allegory or a civilization speed-run. It’s an exploration of society and what that means in an anthro world.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think the world of Oren’s Forge would ever evolve beyond an Iron Age. I think animal society, on a global or regional scale, would eventually find an equilibrium between food resource and territory. Some species would die out, some would thrive, some might integrate with others, some might wither in isolation.

Rather than becoming a bustling metropolitan world, I think evolved animal society would fit more into a Star Trek-esque planet, where the cultural norms includes mass midday naps in communal stone plazas built to hold the sun’s warmth, games that simulate the hunt and ritualized courtships/ruts— you know, the things animals like to do.

In my experience, people have a tendency to view ancient history as more tightly compressed and linear than it is.

In American grade schools, most of us learn about Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece then Ancient Rome. It gives a false sense of a particular linear development of culture, a straight line of innovation leading from the past to the recognizable present. In reality, that view is extremely oversimplified.

Like biological evolution, societal evolution is not linear but rather constantly branching and reaching and exploring and exploiting. In human society, it produces so many unique and fascinating ideologies— many we will just never know the full extent of. For instance, a mind boggling amount of neolithic, Bronze-age, and pre-colonization culture has simply been lost to time or by design, leaving us with only the rough edges. (The city of Kweneng comes to mind.)

Let me ramble for a second (I promise, it will come back around.)

The process we call agriculture began slow. Real slow. For tens of thousands of years prior, nomadic people would move through areas and selectively gather then eat (and then poop out) wild grasses. This caused these wild grasses to cluster in the places that humans traveled through. Over many, many generations, the ease of having grass closer to their camps meant people were able to be more and more selective in the grasses they ate (and then pooped out.) This roughly 4,000 year long process shaped the wild grasses into various wheats, barely, rye, chickpeas, etc— crops that were then able to be cultivated, actively tended and further domesticated in the neolithic era.

Agriculture developed independently in at least 11 places around the globe— yet not every society developed it. Many remained nomadic hunter-gathers well into the modern age (40% of Mongolians are still nomadic today; the indigenous people of Tasmania were isolated and nomadic for 8,000 years, broken into nine nations comprised of various clans with dense interpersonal wars and relationships and rules, until Europeans arrived and decimated them.)

My point here is two fold: things like agriculture or aquaculture or animal domestication take generations, and second, society can flourish even without something as “critical” as agriculture. In fact, society can flourish without writing (Inca), without pottery, without pack animals, without ships, without steel, etc. Society evolves to fulfill the needs of the people within it and will continue to change until it reaches equilibrium with the environment (or it dies out/is abandoned). Back to the indigenous Tasmanians— they survived roughly unchanged for 8000 years because their population (and thus their needs) never exceeded what the nomadic life could sustain.

I also want to talk about the Moriori people really quick. They are a Polynesian people who were the first to settle what’s now called the Chatham Islands. We don’t know a lot about them beyond scraps of oral history because they were largely wiped in a genocide in the 1800s. However, what we do know, is the inhospitable nature of the Chatham Islands drove their culture toward one of complete pacifism. War was forbidden and disputes were handled through ritual combat. For centuries (longer than the US has been around), they lived in peace and total isolation, with their own language, customs and art. Whole generations were born, grew old and died, without knowing war. I’m not suggesting that’s some ideal we should strive toward, rather, I want to highlight it as a way society developed, thrived in its time, and is utterly alien to most modern societies.

In that same note, back to Mesopotamia— for nearly a millennia the government had regular debt cancellation*, so average citizens did not owe the state indefinitely. It’s a system of government with underpinnings of modern life, similar yet… alien. (It would be like if every 12 years, every citizen could declare a no-fault bankruptcy and all your debt would just reset to zero. That system lasted for generations. Maybe crony capitalism isn’t the end-all best-we-can-do. Neat!)

(*adding to clarify that 'debt' to the state was paid back in physical labor. It would be interesting to try and design a modern system with reoccurring monetary debt forgiveness, ihmo.)

So! In an anthro world, with multiple species dependent one another in a food chain, the new ways society and culture and ideologies develop is a really fascinating thought experiment for me, and that was the impetus for this story. The Stone Hollow might be a beacon of light that “solves” some part of animal civilization; however, it might simply fail because it cannot meet the needs of its people. It might be subsumed by a better alternative; it might also be wiped off the map by competing ideology. Time will tell!

Anyway, thanks again for being on this journey with me. I appreciate you all as readers and I hope you enjoy where we go next!

RUN PG 7

Next page will be out on Monday!

Page Delayed

Hey guys!

I'm sorry to say the next page will be delayed. I got a booster and flu shot last week and they knocked me off my feet longer than I expected. Every great while after I get a shot, I get a spate of optical migraines. They make it really difficult to draw or look at screens for a few days.

I could normally make up for lost time but this weekend was out due to pre-existing family plans. Anyhow, I hate making excuses and missing deadlines but I just couldn't get it finished this week, so I'm sorry for that. 

RUN PG 6

Next page will be out on Monday!

RUN PG 5 WIPs

I really liked this one panel so I pulled it apart to show how it came together.

Also, here's a mid-stage for the last panel on the page. It's not much to look at, just blocking out background elements and such.

Visual Timeline

Between the main storyline, Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf and now Run, I figured there’s enough going on I should put together a visual time line of events.

RUN PG 5

Next page will be out on Monday!

RUN PG 4

Everything is going great for this bison, I don’t know what you’re all worried about. ;]

Next page will be out on Monday!

RUN PG 3

You may noticed I reworked the grey-mother’s design a bit. She’s going to show up in the main storyline and I wanted her to stand out from other bison more.

Next page will be out on Monday!

RUN PG 2

Next page in the short comic RUN and new page out next Monday!

RUN PG 1

The first page of the short/mini comic, Run

I had meant to get it up yesterday and going forward, new pages will be on Monday!

It’ll be fairly short comic and after wards, I’ll begin posting the first pages of Volume Three, which picks up right where we left off.

This bison story has been rattling around my brain almost as long I’ve been working on Oren’s Forge. It’ll be nice to finally commit it to ‘paper,’ plus it has the added bonus of letting me make some background bison/grass assets for use in Volume Three.

Unsurprising fact for you, I find drawing grass over and over gets tedious and very time consuming. Eagle-eyed observers can probably find repeated ferns in the first volume— I have a sheet of fern stems that I cut up, shuffled, tweaked and reused to save on time (and sanity because I really hate drawing ferns.) For Volume Two, I reused some grass snippets/clumps in a few places but never had an official ‘grass sheet’ to nab stuff from. Having the excuse to put one together will make my life a whole lot easier headed into Volume Three (spoilers, there will be grass.)

Vol 2 Artwork

Heya, everyone!

Again, I’m sorry for being a little MIA right now. I’ve been dealing with offline/irl generic adult problems that while time consuming, also offer the benefit of being boring. I’ve been feeling a bit under the gun the last couple of weeks but things should settle back down into a normal rhythm in the coming days.

For the printed version of Oren’s Forge Vol 2, The pre-press process took longer than I expected (this is the period of going back and forth with the printer and a digital proof.)

I am both a perfectionist where I can be, as well as a person prone to making numerous small mistakes. However, a handful of revisions later, everything is now off and in the printer's hands. My focus is fully back to Volume Three and the short interim comic (woo!).

I have a smattering of new work I wanted to share with you guys from the printed book (and a map for the One-Eyed Wolf.)

First, I needed a spot illustration for the back cover and settled on Rask this time around (Vol 1 had Seral and Scree on the back).

Here’s how it integrates on the actual back cover:

WIPs:

—

I also needed a spot illustration for the back pages before the end sheets and decided on Swift and family.

Next, here’s the new title page featuring Swift, as well as from the first Volume with Rask.

Lastly, I ended up needing to fill a page for the Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf mini comic. I opted to make a map because, well, I love making maps.

Vol 2 New Pages Update #3

First— sorry for being quiet! The last week and a half has been filled with nonstop time consuming and uninteresting hassles (for instance, a few nights ago someone hit my parked car so I’ve been dealing with the insurance agency, trying to find a decent body shop, etc.) I am behind on a bunch of things but hope to get back up to speed here soon.

Here is the final new page I am adding to the printed version of Volume Two. This is the bookend to the previous new page I added. As I mentioned last time, I have to add things in pairs to preserve intentional double-page spreads and layout, etc.

I figured I’d take the opportunity with this new page to round out a few questions some readers had about Rask’s diet. Martens are omnivorous, which is why I chose the species as the ‘middleman protagonist’ between predators and prey. I never really said much about Rask eating berries or nuts because in my mind, I thought it would be clear that a condensed group of mice, squirrels and rabbits would have picked the area pretty clean of wild edibles. A lot of readers on the public side of it seemed to miss that connection so that’s on me for leaving it so ambiguous as to be seen as oversight.

In my defense, I try to keep the comic as lean as I can— largely, because I get afraid of unnecessary bloat or stalls, especially when people have to read a page a week. I pick and choose the details I think are most salient to the story and I didn’t feel like running down the list of all the things Rask could eat but can’t find was very compelling. I try to ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ when I can but I think Rask’s line will help people connect the food scarcity dots and serves the narrative overall. Plus, Sprig is due some remembrance and it makes a good callback to his part in the fake bear sign.

All in all, a net positive in my opinion.

Vol 2 New Pages Update #2

Here’s another short scene I’m adding into the printed version of Volume Two. This one comes fairly early on in the book. I realized I left it kind of obtuse that the smoke the wolves can smell comes from Oren’s forge. I wanted it to be a bit easier to connect the dots by showing Oren, you know, forging. Also, impurities in the metal will be something I come back to in the future/Volume Three, so it doesn’t hurt to mention it earlier.

When I lay out pages, I focus on double-page spreads with a print edition in mind. I like to have cliffhangers on the right hand side in an effort to keep people turning pages, and then spoilers/big plot moments/reveals usually land on the left. When I add pages like this, I need to do in an equal and opposite way so it doesn’t screw up every double page spread further down stream, as it were. So, sometime next month I’ll post the last additional page I added to Volume Two, which comes during Rask, Egg and Lichen’s field trip!

Vol 2 New Pages Update #1

As I mentioned in the last post, I’m adding a couple pages to Volume Two for the print version. In re-reading while I did the print layout, I felt there were a couple things I could make more clear or embellish upon. (I will eventually slot all the new pages into the appropriate posts here on Patreon and we’ll all have to live with some funky page numbering in a couple sections.)

This first change was actually because on the original page of 301, when Seral says ‘Maybe Swift was right about this forest,’ it echoes what Hemlock says a few pages later about Sprig being right about the trees/hunters never look up. I know one reader had left a comment appreciating the symmetry of it— but it was unintentional on my part (the scenes were written at separate times). As I read through the whole scene in one go, I felt the two lines came together awkwardly. I kept Hemlock’s dialogue unchanged because hers added some insight into her planning, a grudging respect for Sprig, so on.

But then I was met with ‘okay, what does Seral say.’ It made me revisit his motivations: that he didn’t believe Swift had any idea of what to do to ensure the packs survival. His line has been changed to…

I realized, ‘wait, did anyone ever tell Seral that Swift said she saw prey in the woods?’ Maybe it could in theory happen off screen, but with the weight on the line now, I needed to show it and put Seral’s state of mind into focus for readers. He thinks he’s doing the right thing because he knows Swift is stubborn and in some ways, soft.

(Also, I never thought I'd be drawing Keen again-- one more for the road!)

Here’s how these new pages fit in:

I'm honestly glad I had an excuse to retouch on the reason Seral and Scree are so convinced the forest is bear-ridden/throw back to the first volume. I also thought Singer might want a little follow up to just "those are bad woods." If someone told me "We don't go to THAT Denny's" I'd probably ask why.

(There are deer skulls all over that forest for a reason, btw. One day we'll get there!)

I have two more pages I'm adding to earlier spots in the book and I'll post those in early August!

One-Eyed Wolf Artwork And…

First off, just wanted to say I’ve got a surprise for you guys next Monday— more pages! 

It was also a surprise myself, but as I was laying out the book I felt there were a couple things I wanted to shore up. Ultimately, I’m adding a short scene and extending two others for a total of four new pages. I’ll talk about why I decided to add them when I post them, and include the proceeding page so you know where they fit in, etc.

Also, I decided to make the One-Eyed Wolf cover a wrap-around cover, so here’s that!

Lastly, I figured I might as well share some of the ancillary art for printed version of Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf, namely the title page and some wolves for the end papers (which is the last page/backside of the cover.)

OOEW New Cover and WIPs

A fair amount of you probably know, but the KickStarter wrapped up yesterday and it was successful enough that I can do a mini-comic run of Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf!

It needed a real cover of course, and I had a really great time working on this one!

Here’s a GIF with screenshots of each ‘stage’ in order while I worked.

^ Here's the initial sketch/inks.

^ First, I put down the characters' flat colors and masked out the grass on a separate layer. Then I started figuring out the colors of the sky and then the grassy hill/middle ground.

^ Working from the back forward, I finished the sky and moved on to Oren's shadows/highlights. The highlighted grass (in orange) is on a new layer to make it easier to work on individual blades that might be getting hit by some light over the ridge. The final step here was coloring the lineart on Oren and the grass.

^ Moving on to the foreground, young Gristle first gets shadows, then highlights, with the final stage being coloring his lineart and adjusting the overall contrast/levels to add a bit more punch.

Oren's Forge PG 323 (Epilogue/Vol 2 End)

Some of you were getting close, wondering if the wolves had begun domesticating bison but… perhaps you just had it backwards.

I think domestication is a super fascinating (and still not a very well understood) phenomenon in nature. Some animals can, some simply can’t be domesticated (if every animal could be domesticated, fancy people would be riding zebras as much as we ride horses.)

I especially love the (very) fringe anthropological theory that our long-ago pre-sapien ancestors self-domesticated.

In an anthro world, I really wanted to play with the idea of wolves self-domesticating. And so with that--finally--we have unlocked the blue-eye achievement for characters. (Blue eyes do not occur in the wild outside of infancy, but frequently pop up in animals with domestication syndrome.)

So there you have it! The Zenith was right, world is indeed changing, and wolves can (must?) change with it.

--

Upcoming Schedule

July - Honestly, it’ll be pretty quiet here in July. I’m going to be spending most of my time finishing the prep to send Volume Two and Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf to the printer. I really appreciate if you want to stick around, of course, no worries if not! I hope to see you back for when the comic resumes!

August - I’ll start posting the new short side comic. This is one I’ve had in the back of my mind since I started work on the very first pages of Oren’s Forge. It’ll shed some light on a character I don’t think anyone’s given a second thought to. However, maybe now in the back of your mind, you’re wondering… Why was there a lone injured bison running around for Swift’s pack to take down, all the way back on page 5?

Part 3 will pick up sometime after that short comic (which should be about 6-8 pages.) If you don’t feel like hanging around here until then, I will definitely post about it on all my socials, etc, when we get going again.

Thank you guys again! Outside of a few side projects here and there, this Patreon is how I’m able to buy groceries, pay bills and have the space to write and work on this story. I feel like a broken record sometimes, thanking you guys, but you’ll have to put up with it. Without your patronage, Oren’s Forge would have died on the vine. I’m grateful it was allowed to flourish, to be read, enjoyed and even printed, which is a precious kind of literary survival. So thank you! Until the next!

Oren's Forge PG 322 (Epilogue)

Last epilogue page out next Monday (plus some final thoughts and future plans/schedule)!

[Click Here to Start Volume Two: Incursion from the beginning!]

Oren's Forge PG 321 (Epilogue)

New epilogue page out next Monday!

[Click Here to Start Volume Two: Incursion from the beginning!]

Answers to your Questions!

You had questions, I have answers! (finally— sorry it took so long, it’s been a weird couple of weeks between squirrel-related power outages, the KickStarter taking longer to prep than I anticipated, and gnarly weather here.)

Loïc Van Doorn Asks:

My question would be: what's your writing process like? More specifically, how far in advance do you plan major plot points or where the story is going generally. I've read a few webcomics, but nothing comes close to your storytelling. Almost every page is a cliffhanger by itself and to top it all off the whole storyline is just amazing. 

Answer: Thanks for the compliments!

Splitting hairs, I think Oren’s Forge is more accurately comparable to other graphic novels than most webcomics. ‘True’ webcomics have the benefit of being less narratively formal in a way, and more adaptive to the creator’s immediate storytelling desires, since they are usually done in bursts without a fixed end point.

Short answer: I have it mostly scripted before I even start on the art. (I hate scrapping finished art work because I needed to change something in the story, nothing feels quite so demoralizing to me.)

My writing process is probably most comparable to screenplay writing. The first thing I figure out is the ending (or, specifically, the emotional thesis/what I want an audience to feel at the end.) Then I work out major plot points and break those down into individual scenes. Very first draft, I start backwards, working characters from the end to the beginning, then reading it from beginning to end to see if it flows logically. (For the artists out there, it’s like working on a sketch then flipping it, I guess.)

Initially for scenes, I will just write a quick summary of what needs to happen to bridge one scene to the next. (ie ‘Swift runs into the woods where she finds Egg/Lichen, who steer her toward the trap.’) This helps me to get a good idea of pacing and can highlight any major logical flaws. (This will be the point I realize, ‘why would So-and-So do this when they can just do this?’ then course correct.)

When the story has been mapped out, that’s when I start to write dialogue for individual scenes (and I tend to start with the ones either I’m most excited about or the most pivotal). I use a lot of placeholder dialogue if I’m in the flow, so first drafts have a lot of characters being extremely anachronistic or blunt. I’ll do a second/third pass to tidying it up, and by this point, I feel safe in the overall story to start to work on actual art/page layout.

The final dialogue I tend to edit on the fly when I’m laying out the speech bubbles (which is one reason I end up with so many last minute typos, hah.) This is little changes, either adding or removing an idiom, that sort of thing. (Or I’ll read it out loud and realize ‘this is insane, no one would say this’ and change it entirely if I can.)

And I do try to make every page a cliffhanger— after all, why not!

—

Gale Tazzin Asks:

One question I had about the volume as a whole: Sedge had a lot of appearances in Volume 1 but was entirely absent here...?

Answer: Sedge as in the chubby gray vole/ground squirrel, right? He went with Hemlock, he’s up on the ridge on PG225-226, and has a couple lines with Hemlock on 229. He’s also around the fire when Oren is making the plan on 239. (I imagine his ability to become unmemorable is how he’s evaded predators for so long. ;) )

—

JohnnyTikitavi Asks:

Are you going to release the April Fools comic into the wild because it is too amazing and hilarious not too :)

Answer: For now, that’s some special physic damage reserved exclusively for Patreons!

I may officially put it out in the wild sometime, maybe after the public comic posts have finished. We’ll see!

—

Gurkin Asks:

I would like to know - what is the price of weather?

Answer: Steep, my friend!

—

Krzysztof K Asks:

1- Could you tell us more about Lichen and the mountain where he saw the dark silhouettes he told Rask and Egg about on page 216, or would it constitute a spoiler? Based on what he said, are there any magical elements in this world?

Answer: Lichen’s back story will come up in the main story at some point, so I’m going to hold off an answering that one. As for magic— no, there are no supernatural elements in the world (aside from, well, talking animals I guess.)

2- Does Oren see Egg in the same way as Rask (you once wrote a comment that Oren doesn't see Rask as an equal person. This comment was probably on DeviantArt, Rask himself said that he doesn't want to be a weapon) so is Egg just a tool for him ? I understand that Egg likes to dig in the dirt. Does Oren see nothing more in her?

Answer: I don’t want to speak too directly about Oren’s world views in relation other species, since those are definitely coming up in the next chapter. However, I do think it’s worth noting that Oren has major prejudices and blind spots (he’s pretty maniacal/down on the other hares in Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf, for instance.) Though at first he seems like a cool ‘affable uncle,’ Rask will start to see his flaws.

3- Will we also see other seasons in your comic, e.g. autumn or winter, and what will the characters do then?

Answer: Yup, should I have the fortitude to get all the way there, I do have an autumn/winter plot line. It would be after this next chapter, though.

—

Looweezah Asks:

Just how old is Oren? They keep reminding of his advanced age, but he still looks in his prime, unlike other older characters like Gristle and Quanaq...

Answer: Okay, bare with me a sec. A dog, I think, experiences all the same phases of life humans do (infancy, youth, physical prime, elderly, geriatric etc) despite a shorter life span. ‘Age’ is relative to the living— no matter the species, time is something we experience in relation to our own life cycle.

Anyway, that’s why I’m hesitant to put exact ages on these guys, because they all probably have subtly different metabolisms.

But, on a standard clock, if Oren was human, he’d probably be in his middle/late fifties— which for prey (certainly a hare, who are usually solitary and probably get picked off by their 40s) that’s on the older side. Gristle is in his mid 70s, Quanaq maybe mid/early sixties.

—

Microgrampup Asks:

How did Hemlock find the Hollow? 

Answer: Hemlock met Oren not long after he returned north from the Conclave (where he learned to smelt copper.) Oren encountered Sibyl around the same time, and the three of them were the impetus behind the Hollow.

—

Pantera Asks:

1-  Are we ever going to see Tracker and Nettle in the story?

Answer: Never say never! I don’t know anything for sure, except that I’m not done with them.

2- Is Ramble a season younger than Swift or just a runt of the litter since he is called "little" Ramble? Also how did he got his name in-universe?

Answer: He’s a few seasons younger, and Swift and Tracker were twins/litter mates. In this world wolves typically have twins, rarely triplets, and only average two or three ‘litters’ over their life. That likely has to do with food supply/nutrition, so the fact that Ramble was a single might be a good indicator that the pack was starting to face some hardships/food scarcity. He probably got his name in an obvious way— he wandered off a lot as a pup.

3- I’ve noticed that Oren looked very upset in the end of volume 2 when Rask announced his decision...?

Answer: Oren and Rask had some words prior to that scene, which I plan on presenting as a flashback to lead readers back in for the beginning of the next chapter. It’ll shed more light on the current state of affairs between them, and what’s going on with Oren (though, the cracks in his ‘wise old uncle’ persona are starting to show, I hope.)

4- Was Seral’s father’s injury similar to Red’s (e.g. was he still alive but crippled in some way) and could be saved if someone did to him what Swift did for her mate? And speaking of Seral—I liked that he was so conflicted. He was not just a minor baddie that was okay with murdering half of his family, he just happened to be a follower type stuck between a rock and a hard place. I wonder if he just missed a clue when Scree wanted to make him to leave with her or he ignored them because he couldn’t imagine living without a pack. And one more thing: is there a piece of a backstory behind Seral’s missing ear tip? ;)

Answer: I do not know how Seral’s dad died. There’s a lot I don’t like to set in stone because it may be the missing ingredient for a plot point or character motivation down the line.

As for Seral missing clues— I had a different (or maybe, second) epilogue originally in mind. I still might include it somehow, perhaps in a chapter 3 prologue or something, but I don’t think it constitutes any spoilers to just tell you now. I wanted to do a scene with Scree finding Seral’s body and talking to it, flashing back to just before they entered the woods together in Volume 1 (and then ran into Rask, etc.) The flashback would show Scree trying to convince Seral to leave with her and Seral refusing because he felt his duty was to protect Swift. (He’s also a coward and very afraid of the world, though he’s too proud to admit it and buries that feeling in aggression and split decisions. RIP Seral.)

For his ear— it was probably a young Swift or Tracker that gnawed it off in a play fight or something. Wolves be wolfin’ sometimes.

5- Have you decided what is the gender of the pups? ;) I remember that you wrote somewhere in a reply to a comment on dA that at this point it is not important, but it has been a while back.

Answer: Officially, no, not yet— I supposed for evolutionary purposes it makes sense if both are either female or one male/one female. I’ll probably err on the side of one and one, though.

6- Also, this more a general comment than a question, but I want to say that I really appreciate that you decided to not kill off Red in volume 2—it was really refreshing as there is that overused trope of killing off a partner/wife/husband/best friend to give the main hero a motivation.

Answer: I think (especially in the public comments section, oof) people have a hard time reconciling a disabled characters’ ‘use’ in an apocalyptic/harsh environment. It really bothered me when someone somewhere on a public page claimed Swift was a bad leader because she kept Red around, as though a persons only value is in the physical labor they can provide. Not only is that just a sincere lack of imagination, that ideology feels really naïve and divorced from the reality of hardship, so I want challenge it.

I’m not going to say Red’s fully sheathed in plot armor now (I can certainly wound him through proxy) but I want him to have a chance to shine as a key player, despite his physical disability.

—

Lord Ryven Asks:

Is Lichen male or female?

Hah, honestly, I have no idea right now. For the most part, Lichen is as much a mystery to me as to you.

—

ANONYMOUS Asks:

Do you think that drawing can be learned or does it require talent?

 [I’m only listing you as anonymous since you had messaged me about this a bit ago and I don’t want to out you for the question if you aren’t comfortable! I just thought it was a great question and one I think other people might want my answer, too.]

Answer: I think anyone can learn to draw.

Just remember: it’s a skill issue, not talent. ‘Natural talent’ just means someone has a more intuitive understanding of the basics. (To put it another way, I’m really bad at new FPS games when compared to a gamer who’s been playing CoD since the womb, but after I put 20+ hours in, I do noticeably better. Art is like that; put in the time, see some results.)

My first suggestion is to remove the idea of posting online. Take away the pressure to 'produce' and just explore. Finished art you're proud of is for sharing, but the learning process should have a degree of privacy and give you safety to just mess around.

Because, I think the absolute best place to start learning is by tracing or directly referencing pieces that you like. This is how young people begin (for me, I traced/redrew stuff from game manuals/magazines. I have a notebook somewhere of just tracings of that Jaguar boss from Pitfall.) This helps to train your hand to work with your eye and develops the muscle memory you need to translate an image from your mind onto paper. (Back to the FPS analogy, it’s like an aim-trainer!)

Life drawing is the next step after direct referencing/tracing. Again, it comes down to training your eye to recognize form and translate it to 2D. It’s an important exercise. There’s a great anecdote from The Illusion of Life I often think about, about how it doesn’t matter if you can draw Roger Rabbit, first you need to know how to draw a real rabbit. That’s how you understand the underlying proportions and then understand how to change/manipulate them.

Plus side though, you can life draw animals or people from photo reference — because the aim of life drawing is to learn to look at the subject as much as you can and NOT your hand/the paper. I don’t think a lot people realize that about why we life draw! (Also, do it with charcoal or soft super graphite pencils on cheap butcher paper. It is a good way to be loose/free/not give a fuck, and reminds you you’re just practicing.)

There’s a book called ‘The Natural Way to Draw,’ which is a self guided course book. It’s not bad and can provide structure for learning if that’s helpful for you.

Unless I’m misremembering (my copy is in storage at the moment) it focus on contour drawing techniques, which really clicks for some people.

Also look at Andrew Loomis’ books. Here’s a link to the free PDFs. He’s considered a master illustrator and has his own approach to drawing which might speak more to you. (His is more of a technical approach.)

Personally, I focus on ‘volume’ when I sketch, sculpting form rather than finding the outside contours. I have horrible ‘economy of line’ as my life drawing professor used to say, but it goes to show that people click with different methods. So! Try online tutorials if they seem interesting, look at the art books for movies you like, attend a workshop if you want— you might only find one piece of the puzzle in each new place, but it’s still more of the whole picture than you had before!

No one will have all the answers— art is way too personal. You’ve just got to be brave and experiment and have fun.

Be patient with yourself. You will draw so, so many 'bad' pictures before you start to feel like you're improving. It's a lot like going to the gym. If you go too fast, you'll burn out. Be slow and consistent (15-30 min of life drawing a day will really help) and after awhile, you'll start to see results.

Also, when you start noticing the flaws in your own art— that’s actually a good thing! It means you’re close to ‘leveling up’ (sorry for so many game analogies, yeesh.) Here’s an really great visualization of artistic improvement:

Art is many things but at its core, I think it’s catharsis— which is to say, a release of emotion, positive or negative. No matter your skill level—no matter if you ever share it—the process of making art is good for you.

I hope that helps! Good luck!

WIPs PG 315 + PG 318 (and wow, the KickStarter!)

First, just wanted to say thank you guys for your support on the KickStarter! It's fully funded now and within striking range of the Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf stretch goal, so that's pretty amazing. I couldn't have done it without you guys! I know a number of you were first on board and thank you for that dedication-- it really helps a project gain traction.
Now, I can't wait to get to work on the layout and the extra interior art (new title page, etc.) My secret nerd hobby is that I love working in InDesign (or any publishing software, tbh,) but I rarely have the chance.

(Also, Q/A Answer Post is coming up imminently-- had a couple last minute questions come up!)

Here's another panel WIP from page 315. I think I'll end up reworking Egg's face for the print version-- I feel like something got lost in translation when I inked it. I was crunched for time when I was working on this page though, and I didn't have the freedom then to spend more time then.

One of the major lessons I took away from (animation) college was to work evenly on a given project, so if a director or superior wanted to see something on the spot, you could show them a glimpse of the complete idea, rather than say, 'here's a hyper detailed spot in an otherwise empty void.' I think this mentality has been really helpful for me making comics on a reoccurring deadline-- by Monday, I can have a complete page to show you, even if there are small things I think may need a little more work. I can always come back to those if time/my desire warrants it. I think you can also see that same mentality in how I create panels-- stage by stage, so it's always in some kind of 'complete' state.

Here's a WIP from the last panel of Volume Two, PG 318.

For a while, I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted to end it with 'Oh, shit.' I had that in as placeholder text, but every time I'd read through the scene and got there, it made me laugh. I felt like it was a more honest response than Oren spouting something more polished. In one word, it simply sums up everything going on in his head.

KickStarter is Live!

The KickStarter for Oren’s Forge Vol 2 is now Live!

Here’s the link if you need it!

Thanks for checking it out if you’re interested in a hard cover edition of Volume Two! Otherwise, I guess, thanks for just being here!

KickStarter Launch Time Clarity!

I was recently reminded of the temporal anomaly that is Arizona and their particular disdain for Daylight Savings. So, for added clarity on the launch time of the KickStarter, it is tomorrow, Thursday May 30th, at 5pm MDT (specifically, Colorado time.)

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that, just in case!

Here's the link again to the pre-launch site (which will become actually KickStarter site post-launch). There you can get notified when it goes live!

KickStarter Pre-Launch Site is Up!

The pre-launch site for the KickStarter is live! You can follow the project here and be notified when it starts!

I plan on launching next Thursday, May 30th at 5pm MST.
(Which is midnight May 31st in the UK, 1am in Germany, and 7am in Singapore, if that helps some of you guys localize easier.)

Here’s another breakdown of the reward tier, this time in graphical form.
(Simple text one over here!)

In other news— sorry if I’m a little disjointed seeming over the next couple days. We had a long power outage in my neighborhood last week which screwed up my work schedule/set me a full day behind on a bunch of things. I’m scrambling a bit to get everything done before the end of the month, but I already feel worlds better with the KickStarter approved/ready and that worry off my mind.

Oren's Forge PG 320 (Epilogue)

(I know the numbering might seem off, as though I'm missing a page. It's a printing thing I'm just anticipating-- if the KickStarter funds, PG 319 will be part of a double page spread from pg 318. Anyway, don't worry about it.)

Next epilogue page out next Monday!

[Click Here to Start Volume Two: Incursion from the beginning!]

KickStarter Launch Info + Bookplate Artwork

Hey everyone! It’s finally time to talk about the upcoming KickStarter!

First off, I aim to launch it next Thursday evening at 5PM MST, May 30th*.
(That’ll be midnight on May 31st in the UK/1AM in Germany.)
*This is subject to KickStarter’s review process—I’m not anticipating any issues, but you never know.

It will be very straight forward, along the same lines as the 2021 KickStarter for Volume One. The goal is to get a high-quality hard-cover edition of Volume Two to match the first (~7.5x11.25 inches, full color, 128 pages in total).

I’m using the same printer, planning on a hard cover edition the same size/paper as the first volume. (If you haven’t seen it, it came out pretty great!)

REWARD TIER BREAKDOWN:

#1 - Digital Only - $15 

A (.pdf) download of Volume Two for folks who just want to support the project.

#2 - Early Bird + Digital Download (Limited to 150) - $25 + shipping

One physical copy of Oren’s Forge, Volume Two: Incursion at a discount, plus a digital download/PDF.

#3 - Book - $30 + shipping

One physical copy of Oren’s Forge, Volume Two: Incursion, plus a digital download/PDF.

#4 - Signed/Numbered Bookplate Edition (Limited to 225) - $50 + shipping

A physical copy of Oren’s Forge, Volume Two: Incursion, featuring a signed and numbered bookplate, plus a digital download/PDF.

#5 - Original Artwork, Signed/Numbered Bookplate Edition (Limited to 10) - $200 + shipping

A digital download/PDF copy, plus a physical copy of Oren’s Forge, Volume Two: Incursion, featuring a signed and low-numbered (randomly chosen between #6-#15) bookplate, plus a 5x7 inked original artwork of a character from the comic, your choice!

(Here’s a link to the examples from the previous KickStarter if you missed it!)

#6 - Vol One + Vol Two Book Bundle (Limited to 50, US Only*) - $65 + shipping

A physical copy of Volume One, plus a copy of Volume Two!

(Digital downloads/PDFs of both, too.)

*The combined weight of both books plus shipping materials exceeds the 4lbs limit for international simple export shipping, unfortunately.

US + INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING INFO!

Shipping within the US for a single book will be $10 for USPS Priority.

For International Shipping, I’m going to be using PirateShip’s simple export rate (ultimately through Asendia) which allows for a flat rate. It offers tracking for 55 countries which is great. Downside is it takes a little longer (things get grouped onto a pallet and ship overseas together, then distributed by your country’s local post to your door.)

For Canada, the shipping rate is $21 and $28 for everywhere else.

PRODUCTION TIME LINE:

Since the comic is finished, I can get moving on the printing process fairly quickly. Once funded, I’ll need a couple weeks (no more than four) to get the book’s layout ready for proofs from the printer and finish some small touches (such as title page artwork). From there, it's a few weeks to receive/approve a proof from the printer, then roughly a month of production and 6-8 weeks for the books to ship to me before I can start sending them out.

I am aiming to have the books in to the printer around the end of July and hope to have the books in hand sometime in November. (While I’d love to get them out to folks before the holiday season, don’t bet on it. It might be tight.)

If we’ve learned anything over the last few years in the global marketplace, it’s always to expect the unexpected. I’ll keep backers appraised of each step in the process!

STRETCH GOAL!

The first Stretch Goal will be to print Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf as a separate 16-page comic (including the 13-page comic, a brand new cover, and a few pages of WIPs/misc art.) Those will be soft cover/saddle-stitched on a sturdy paper, same size as Vol One/Vol Two, and the batch will be sequentially numbered. If we hit the stretch goal, I’ll include a copy in all physical book purchases!

Beyond that, I have a few ideas for further stretch goals, but we’ll cross that bridge if we get to it!

BOOKPLATE ARTWORK:

Here’s the artwork for the bookplate! These will be hand numbered and signed, fixed to the front inside cover (I’ll also be signing the title page of the book.)

I'll definitely make a post about it here on Patreon when it officially launches, but I'll also post about it on Twitter (@teagangavet) and BlueSky (@teagan).

Coming up, first epilogue page will be on Monday the 27th and I'll sneak in the answers for the Q/A and some last WIPs early next week, too.

Thanks guys! I hope you have a good one!

Vol 2 Wrap Up/Cover/Q&A

The Wrap Up!

Being at the end, it feels… odd, to be honest. It’s been a weird few months and it hasn’t really hit me yet I’ve crossed the finish line on this chapter. I know I had a lot to say, random notes I made while I worked, but now I’m just left with the broad, lingering impressions.

If pressed with what I’m happiest about, it’s how Red evolved. I knew going in he wasn’t going to die, largely because most people would expect him to die, but I had no sense of him as a character when I started. His relationship with Swift was a surprise to me as it unfolded, gentle and calm, something for Swift’s brashness to play against. He is one of the things I’m really excited about for Volume Three. That and-- well, you'll see in the epilogue shortly.

While Volume Three feels like wide-open territory, much of Volume Two was been rattling around in my head for a long, long time. The scene with the raven eating Seral, for instance, lived rent free for years, well before the first volume was even finished. Honestly, It can be mentally taxing to carry things around in your head for so long. There’s real catharsis to have finally gotten here, to see these scenes on the page rather than just in my mind. Overall, I’m satisfied with my effort but I’m glad it’s over, and I’m looking forward to the next thing — which is the artist process in a nutshell, hah.

It’s hard, being alive, creating. I think as far as a ‘fursona’ or representation of myself, choosing a coyote twenty something years ago ended up being the right pick. I often feel like I’m just screaming into the void—but that’s what coyotes are made for, in my humble opinion. One long laugh in the face of the abyss, ever onward.

But then someone might leave a casual comment, along the lines of ‘hey stranger, this character/this part/this story affected me,’ and on that particular day, it might bring me to tears. I’ll get overwhelmed by that feeling of being seen, of someone hearing me in the dark. It’s a simple connection but it’s good. It’s grounding; I feel incrementally further back from that abyss’ edge.

I know this story is odd and niche and I see all the flaws (usually, I only see the flaws.) It’s some reflection of myself, I suppose, if we’re being terribly analytical and I’m up my own ass about it— but yeah. I keep making art because somewhere out in the dark, people keep reading and connecting to it.

So… thank you for being here. I’m glad we found one another, for however long or short that is.

The Cover!

Here is the (nearly) finished cover for Volume Two! There are a few things I’ll keep picking at over the next few weeks but overall, I’m pretty happy. I ended up changing Swift’s pose from the original concept— she started to feel really static and it was becoming a struggle-fest. I couldn’t escape this uncanny valley vibe like the box art from old Disney VHS, where none of the characters look on model. So, I re-drew her and started a few things from scratch, and I got there in the end.

Q&A!

If you have any questions about whatever—the comic, the future, the price of weather—drop them in the comments (or send me a message if you want to remain anonymous when I post answers.) I’ll answer the ones I can and post 'em before the end of the month!

KickStarter!

Still happening, details still coming very soon! I have have some ancillary artwork for the launch to finish and one price quote I’m waiting on before I work out my final numbers.

Oren's Forge Original Art (2022)

While sorting through a few things from the 2021 KickStarter, I realized I had never posted the ink original artwork I did for the top level tier! I’m still happy with out they turned out and I’m planning on offering a similar tier for this upcoming KickStarter.

Folks had their pick of a character from the comic— it was a pleasant surprise when a couple people wanted Quanaq. I hadn’t been expecting to draw him!