Sticking Point
Sep06
To be fair, it’s a legitimate concern.
Some of the early comments may look confusing. That’s because when this page would have gone live, it was originally THIS, which is a preview of some microfiber cloth designs we’re having put together.
I love the one with Ti’en and Min Hua. It *screams* “best buds.” Even if Min Hua FLOMPED him into that position during a spar I can see him just laughing his head off like that.
Somehow Min Hua duckface doesn’t do it for me, it just seems out of character. Maybe it’s the makeup. I don’t see Min Hua doing makeup much. Xiu Mei, sure, and I even see her *teaching* Min Hua how to do it properly– but Min Hua isn’t a makeup kinda gal IMHO.
You’re absolutely right on the “not a makeup gal” side of things. She keeps that pic up because of how ridiculous it is and because of Xiu Mei’s quality “suffering” face.
Also, Min and Tien are totally thick as thieves. That’s actually one of the prompts that I’ll be offering over on the Patreon after I get these commissions wrapped up.
Love the filler page!!! And Min-duck face is obviously hamming it up with being overly made-up.
Top pic is funny, too.
*overdramtic gasp* its ma peeps! I know it. I gut be awhile before they are in the story still but, hey, I get to see my peeps from the….I’ll call it a. Peepqual?
Wow I misspelled that bad….* I know it might
xD! No worries.
I spend a ridiculous amount of time thinking about all the “fun” things I’m gonna do with those two.
Nothing wrong with life getting in the way occasionally.
For merch, I tend to try to support webcomics I like by buying T-shirts from them as Christmas gifts for friends and relatives (who generally do not read said comic). The sticking point is shirts that people who don’t read the comic would find amusing and interesting seem to be in the minority.
Merch… let’s see, T-shirts are always good, easy to give as gifts (as Random says). Prints, but nothing larger than 11×17. Mugs too! And, I would love to have the strip in books made from dead trees. I like to read books and then donate them to the local library (where I work), so more people can catch Mastery fever. And… since I’m the last person left on Earth who still needs a mouse pad at work, yes, a mouse pad. JMHO. Thanks for the strip, it’s great and funny and you really know how to use the ENTIRE frame to tell a riveting story. The positioning of the word balloons gets a little hard for me to follow, but I eventually figure them out just fine. Hope all of this helps. =wd=
I’m totally with you on the word balloon positioning of the second half of the page.
I think I’m gonna rearrange them once I’ve got a decent night of sleep in me.
I finally came back with a few more hours of sleep in me and fixed up the balloon order. Much happier with this <3
I appreciate the feedback <3
You’re welcome! Glad everything worked out. I forgot to mention that you catch the mercurial facial expressions of teenagers very well. They think they’re grown up, but don’t always know when their faces and body postures tell a whole different story. =wd=
For the first time in awhile, you’ve got a workable page layout, but there’s something //seriously// wrong with the faces and poses in panel 1. Unfortunately, I am not an artist and I don’t have the vocabulary or even the working knowledge to tell you what’s going on there. Any of your readers here an artist? Can you tell me why I’m wrong? Or if I am right, can you Gindlesperger what’s off?
I tried sketching out the unseen parts of the gesture to figure out what may have been bugging you with that, and all I could figure was that Jackie is too far away and looks like she could be standing on a box or something, given Sarah’s usual height advantage. (https://masterycomic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Checkie53.jpg)(I didn’t give Jackie her appropriate leg girth in this quick sketch, may she forgive my transgressions)
As for the expression, is it that Jackie’s iris’s don’t connect with any border of her eyes? It’s rare that I do that, so that might be what’s odd.
And reviewing this a few days later, the panel seems fine now. I don’t think you changed anything, so consider my critique withdrawn….
….and replaced with a WTF is her hand doing in the last panel? I think the fingers are oriented a few degrees southwards of correct.
Huh. What about it is off?
When I get home I’ll whip up a photo reference for you.
That’s actually one of my better hand drawings. I do that all the time with my own.
I actually had more issues with the bottom right panel than anything else. Rearranging the word balloons helped with that a little.
The pic of Min Hua and Rei, you say you don’t think it’s quite “front cover” material.
But it could work for inside cover, perhaps?
If it makes it into the book (that I’m gonna start working on tonight) it’d be on an illustration page to round out the page count (books gotta have a multiple of 4 “sides” per sheet of paper)
5 bucks that mom knows
I would never bet against Jackie Gains on anything.
Ryan, bro,dude,comic dude, can I just say, the fact that the people who work on this comic take the time to reaspond to their fans questions on almost every pannnel, sets you guys as the best for me, seriously guys, keep being awesome!
I sincerely hope I can keep up with that. <_< I'd love it if this comic "blew up" eventually, but I also love being able to respond to everyone.