Der-shing Helmer

Pin assembly tutorial~

This is not this month's tutorial, lol, just a random tutorial since I'm putting a lot of pins on backing cards and I also enjoy optimization and stabbing things.

For anyone who's wondering, backing cards are literally just business cards; you can buy them in various sizes and thicknesses to back your pins with just for a bit of display oomph. The ones here are 18pt thickness, which is thick enough to look good but also thin enough to stab pretty easily. You could probably do thicker or thinne...

TM Ch5: original thumbs (full PDF)

The full original Chapter 5 PDF (see attachment)~

I'll write more here later but I need to go to the dentist now lol

[the moving finger writes]

K BACK FROM THE DENTISt and my mouth is numb. As you can see, a lot of the final version ended up being pretty similar to the original. I really liked the pacing and the interactions in this chapter, and thought I did a good job (given that writing scenes with a bunch of characters coming in and out can be weird) (for me) (who never interac...

Tutorial/ shoptalk livestream in an hour :]

EDIT: THE GODS OF CROWDCAST FAILED ME, we are at Picarto now

https://picarto.tv/shingworks 

Just a reminder! The post with the link to the stream should post automatically at 6 so I will see you then*~

*I am praying to the gods of crowdcast

Tutorial stream on Wednesday evening PST!

Hi all! I'll be doing a crowdcast tutorial stream on Weds 9/27 at 6pm PST.

In this stream we'll be reviewing information from the Pacing Tutorial, the pacing tutorial's supplement worksheet, and anything else you'd like to know about! Will probably be reviewing my con experiences for 2017 as well for anyone who wants to k...

Newsy news

Here I come to pump some bullet(point)s into you

• The Meek won an Ignatz last week, scream. I am extremely not kidding when I say that Patreon is the main reason I'm able to create comics, so this recognition would not have been possible without you. A few bucks a month doesn't seem that important in the scheme of things, but it truly means the world to me ;__; continued gratitud...
  2017-09-25 20:15:54 +0000 UTC View Post

TM543 Notes

So drama

So far the storyline of what's going on in the Northern Territories has been limited to what's going on in this one family, and the questionably-reliable news that's being filtered down to various characters. Ulyer lives pretty far away so I guess we'll be seeing more of the outside world, and so will our opinionated (but sheltered) princess. 

Oh yeah and in the original comic Ulyer mentioned what he was holding; it's velztrek, which is a hot, fermented salty milk/ curd sor...

MI437- wip

Since I'm here and updating, some rough pencils I did on the plane yesterday (I'm up early today too to keep working on this page). Cut off the bottom cuz I didn't like it, but yeah, a look at what the page looks like at the uncut "I wish I could draw the way my imagination looks" phase... I always get these sweeping landscape ideas in my head and then realize I don't necessarily have the skill to pull them off, haha. This page in particular will rely a lot on colors so I wanted to show you how ...

Thrip pin giveaway contest!

Is there anything better than smol shoulder friend? of course not. Now you can have one too!

To enter to nab a free Thrip pin, just comment on any post I make this month (including and after this contest post). Any comment will enter you, and I'll be selecting one current Patron as the winner in early October.

As usual, international is fine, I pay shipping, and no restrictions, really, all you have to do is comment :] Have fun!

I'm at RCCC this weekend!

Sup guys! I'm a guest at RCCC in Portland OR this weekend! Feel free to stop by and say hello, as usual I'll have a few Patron-only stickers with me so you can come by and nab one while my supplies last :]

I was also freaking out all Thursday waiting for my delivery to arrive (it went out at 8am and arrived to my door at 930pm, lol), but the MI pins are DEFINITELY here. 

I'll be shipping th...

TM540- notes

Recent page 

I'm glad to finally be at the end of this really difficult-to-draw chapter, I have been both wanting to draw it and dreading to draw it for a long time now. This penultimate scene is the last hurdle technically speaking, haha

Some commenters have noticed the language flipping (bracketed vs non-bracketed text) on these pages, and yeah, Rana and Suda are both non-native speakers, and still have l...

Streaming for a bit!

Look at this crappy page! gonna make it beautiful.

Casual no frills workstream will be going from 1pm (about 10 mins from now) until ?pm, at the regular place, https://picarto.tv/shingworks

TM Stuff- Pasori Names

Pasori names are often a historical record of events: time, need, or acquisitions. In times of bounty, names might have more traditional acquisition-meanings such as "five seals" or "axehead," or names that remind the parents of recent good luck, in hopes of drawing it back. In leaner situations, names might be more plaintive: naming a son "gun" or "[metal] fishhook" in hopes that "calling" for the thing so close to a birth will cause it to also grace your path soon. Less-common Pasori names hav...

TM539 WIP

Just a WIP of the upcoming page~

I really like lettering! I love playing with opacity and color and density and all the other dimensions of the word bubble that is outside of simple text content and placement. Dagre's bubbles are especially fun for several reasons... first, just cuz I thought they would have raspy voices, and so they have raspy bubbles too. This means that on pages like page 538, I can insinuate Dagre's speaking voice by bubble shape alone, which is super cool to me. The other...

Pacing tutorial complete, what should I tut next??

SUP GUYS, the Pacing Tutorial and Supplement Worksheets are finally both up! The worksheet this month comes with a autofilling spreadhseet and chart to make pacing analysis a bit easier, yayy.

Gonna do a poll for the next tutorial subject very soon. What would you like to see the most? Leave a comment and like other comments to let me kno...

Pacing Tutorial supplement worksheet!

This is the supplement worksheet for the Pacing Tutorial!! 13 pages of materials that expand on the material in the tutorial, clarify some points to a deeper degree, and of course ask you a bunch of questions about your own opinions and work to get the ol' brain juices flowing (ew)

There's also 2017-08-17 06:13:20 +0000 UTC View Post

MI Stuff- the closet of destiny

Hi guys! Thank you for your patience the last few weeks, I haven't been posting as much here because I'm getting like half a dozen big projects off the ground in serious ways (and have spent about $8k doing it, someone please call the police I am robbing myself). ENOUGH ABOUT ME and my self-imposed work suffering, I will be back to posting more behind-the-scenes stuff more frequently soon. Also some pin giveaways for fun, he he.

I am finishing up the supplement worksheet that pairs with th...

Pacing Tutorial

The 13-pg supplement worksheet for this tutorial is also available!

This tutorial was suggested by Tym P, and voted on by Patrons to be a future tutorial! Thanks for voting :] We'll have another poll soon.

I hope you guys like this tutorial, I put a ton of thought into it and I think I've got some really good advice in here, all of which I use myself. Let me know if you have a...

MI Stuff- Big Girl

Someone asked for a larger view of this image, so here you go~

The fish is based off of extinct Placoderms, they have some really fun designs so I riffed off a couple of them

For clarity, here's the image without all the water stuff on it, it's a bit less dramatic, but you can see those beefy Wollarian jaw muscles at work

MI428- comp and notes

One of my favorite recent pages!

One reason is obviously cuz Kalla, but the other is due to the composition, which is actually a new one for me (at least, reading it this way). I overuse long vertical panels for physical drops because the directionality forces you to "feel" the drop with your eyes (the only regularly-shaped alternate I can think of would be a square panel, but only for falling into a broad void). It gets boring if we see the same compositions over and over tho, so I try to mix...

MI Pin Kickstarter soft launch~

Hi guys, just letting you know I launched a small pin project... I start promoting it publicly tomorrow, but you guys get to look first XD

If you scroll down you'll also see there's a Patreon section- Patrons of any level who decide to back any tier of this project get an automatic bonus sticker, just a little way to say thanks to you guys :]

Okay back to work, busy busy busy, some new Patreon stuff up soon, including that dang pacing tutorial (finally)! 

Tutorial stream- trying again

Okay let's try this again! Hopefully it works this time. 

Tutorial stream soon!

*edit* link to the page is here

https://www.crowdcast.io/shingworks

I have it scheduled for 9am (10 mins from now) because nobody I know personally is awake yet. Patreon should pulls through and send the link out when it starts but if not, I will update this post accordingly*

*dear god help me I have no idea what I'm doing

Tutoring Stream on Sunday! (and secrets)

Hi guys! Tutoring stream will be on Sunday morning for $5+ Patrons, probably starting around 830-9pst. I'll try using the Patreon system first but if that fails, I'll be at the normal stream location! Stream won't be saved, but I'll post a rough overview/ transcript afterwards. Feel free to bring your questions about any of the tutorials I've posted in the past, and if you don't have any, I am prepare...

Tutorial Stream- got questions?

Hi guys!

Next week I'm going to do a tutorial livestream to have a conversation about the subject of Networking, and answer any questions you might have had about the tutorial or the worksheet!

I'll be answering questions during the stream, but if you have any you'd really like me to consider or bring up, feel free to comme...

MI Stuff- Thursday Tips

Could come in handy for some of you?

Stream soon! and: Contest winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered the pin giveaway contest in June! Our winner is none other than lovely patron Rengin T... congrats Rengin :D
I'm doing a new small pin project soon, so we will be definitely be having some more giveaways in the near future :]

Speaking of the near future, I'm going to be streaming in a bit as well, probably around 6pm after I finish sending out like 2 more emails *sweats* but possibly starting earlier if I finish early. Either way you can co...

MI422- Notes and comps

A comparison of all the pages! If you were at the Saturday stream, you probably saw that I spent almost the entire time on bubble placement. On a page like this it's important that the flow of the panels makes sense (of course), that the flow of the text inside the panels also is tiered and makes sense, that the camera angles aren't flopping all over the place like dying fish, and that there's enough room for the art to breathe once all the text walls are in place. Text placement is pretty much ...

Streaming/ screaming

https://picarto.tv/shingworks

I'm not even making a preview image that's how much I'm just gonna go stream

I'm freaking out on an inadvisable strength of coffee right now and am going to thumb and pencil the next page so this should be super duper fun, see you in like... 10 mins... or not I'll be there in an empty room too if I gotta

oh my god my body is going to vibrate apart help

Streaming soon

https://picarto.tv/shingworks

Gonna be streaming the genesis of the next page starting in... maybe 1pm-ish PST? and going until whenever. Nothing too special other than the magic of BIRTH (of comic pages). Feel free to stop by and say hello/ chat a bit if you like! 

TM Stuff- The Bridge

There's one last town before the Northern wilderness starts for good, the deep forest where if you start walking you'll never find the end of it. You can't see the animals that live in those woods, but you can hear them howling.

Some things have changed since you were a kid; the bridge is stone now, and there's a post to hang a light to guide your way back to civilization if you need it. There's also the river below your feet... You just haven't decided which direction you're going.