Hey Everyone!
I know it’s a bit late, but I hope everyone had an excellent New Year’s!
May 2019 treat you well ^^
Happy 2019
Merry 2018
Merry Christmas Y’all!
Not really sure what prompted me to do a special Xmas sketch years back when I started MitM, but just because I don’t remember the tradition’s origins doesn’t mean I’m stopping anytime soon x3
Christmas may be wrapping up in the next hour for those on the East Coast, but I’m on the West Coast, so that means I still have 4 more hours to go!! >:D
Page 160
A BIG: ONE! SIX! ZERO!
Yup that’s the page number for today. Not exactly special or anything. Just was trying to think of something to start this commentary off with…
It really is beginning to look like MitM’s going to an “every other week update” schedule…
As mentioned last time, I do really try to finish one a week, but things just haven’t really turned out that way recently. On an even more depressing note, MitM barely updated this year! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! >.<
With only 11 page updates this year, the story has been crawling…literally. And as much as I’d love to post one next Sunday to have an even 12 and pretend I updated at least once a month, I know that probably won’t happen with holiday plans and the like…
Which reminds me, I should really consider doing a Christmas special illustration, like…really soon. For some reason, Xmas specials have been a staple of MitM since its first year, SO I CAN’T QUIT NOW! >:[
Oh! Probably should say something about the page. It’s funny. The two panels I was worried about the most (the first and eighth) actually turned out looking the best in my opinion. The top down perspective was hard to conceptualize for me and the slightly upward looking foreshortening was also giving me trouble for those two panels, but they turned out alright. The other panels though…not quite as good…
Several little inking mishaps just kinda made several of the panels too hard to read in my heavily critical opinion. And I kinda wish some of the expressions were handled differently… 🙁
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Page 159
Huh, it’s been awhile since I’ve stayed up late to finish a comic page. It’s kinda nice It’s gonna be a rough morning at work…
“A page every other Sunday” is kinda my bare-minimum goal for MitM at the moment, but I still do try to finish one each week ^^;
Used a more traditional thought bubble for Dayton’s solo panel on this page rather than the “see-through” stuff I was experimenting last page. I kinda like the other more, but I needed something more solid to separate Dayton’s face from the stone.
Speaking of which…I don’t really think I illustrated in the last chapter that Dayton hung on to the stone from Coy. I mean, I didn’t draw him putting it down and he was the last one holding it, but I also didn’t show him tie it to his suspender strap, sooooooo…yeah.
Hey look, Jon’s back! When I had Nic show up at the shop at the end of the last chapter I was a little surprised when no one commented that he didn’t look like the archer from the night before, the wolf that he’s supposed to be (although that may have been because no one realized he was a returning character, not a new guy). When Jon showed up, I wanted to make it a little more obvious, so I kept his guard helmet, shoulder armor, gloves, and boots. Part of my decision also stemmed from his goofy personality (and the fact that I have no idea what his hair looks like!)
I did a slight redesign to his helmet though, which I’ll probably keep for other guard helmets as well. I added a strap to the face guard and a small, subtle brim on the front. Small, boring details to my poor, inconsistent world building, but stuff I figured I’d mention…
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Page 158
“Hey! I thought MitM was going back to weekly updates now that Inktober was over?!”
hehe…
yeah…that was the idea ^^;
Balancing the new project, MitM, and my real job has been proving…fun.
Anyways, I’m sorry, I feel like MitM’s story is at a really important point and I should make a stronger effort at keeping a consistent schedule. I’d like to keep this current story arc moving smoothly (which it hasn’t so far).
As for some good news, this being the first page since the break, I do feel like I actually learned some stuff from Inktober!
There was still a fair share of ink missteps that I tidied up in “post” on the computer, but I enjoyed experimenting with some new ideas as well. Not sure if I like how I handled the thought bubbles on the bottom half of the page, but I wanted to try something new and this idea seemed cool (in theory at least).
Also a second apology from me this update to match the TWO close-up, shocked facial expressions on the same page by two different characters >.< I needed both panels on this page for pacing out the next page, but dang, after rereading it, it feels excessive to have two on the same page... JUMP to page Page 158
Inktober 2018 Results
Inktober Complete! 😀
Really pleased with how Inktober came out this year. I was a little stumped some days what to draw and other days I wouldn’t be finished until late into the night, but overall I really enjoyed it.
All the MitM related Inktober sketches are compiled here. If you want to view the entire month’s works, you can check out my folder on my FurAffinity Account, or scroll through my Twitter Account
Now I’d like to get back to MitM with updates resuming in Sundays; ALTHOUGH, I have been putting more time into starting that YouTube channel I teased during Inktober and have been talking about for awhile. So I’ll see how I can manage my time, but both MitM and Eclectic Fidelity (the YouTube channel) are things I want to get some serious work done with.
We’ll just have to wait and see how they turn out ^^;
Levi and Drake making trouble at a young age –
Redraw of the original webcomic teaser/announcement image I did back in 2012 –
Coyote propaganda ad –
Halloween themed drawing from main characters’ youth –
Travel postcard for Fort Cosgrove –
Joel’s family –
Present, Future, and Distant Future Coy –
Page 157
Wow…only one MitM update in September (and on the last day of the month too…) 🙁
So while I didn’t get around to updating the comic much, I ended up doing a lot of other stuff (mostly not art related though). I got a new job (thank goodness), and moved to a new apartment (also equally important). So far these two new steps have been treating me well, which brings me to some news about MitM that I would like to share real quick…
1) MitM IS GOING ON BREAK.
Yeah, I know, it’s basically been on break already, but hear me out. I plan on trying my hand at Inktober for the first time and that will undoubtably take a lot of my time and effort. Because I have not been very consistent with my art recently, I figured attempting a challenge that would require me to be drawing on a daily basis would be a good step back to making MitM a weekly deal once again. Well at least once November rolls around…
2) WHEN MitM RETURNS, IT WILL UPDATE ON SUNDAYS
So the new job has a very consistent schedule, thus my weekends are always…well that…the weekend. I feel that moving weekly update day over to Sunday (instead of Thursday) will help me to have a goal for my weekends and hopefully result in a more regular update pattern.
and 3) …well that’s actually it.
So while this site may be fairly quiet in the next month, hopefully my profile on FA and Twitter will be really active. I might try to compile all the MitM related artwork as a single blog post here though once it’s over (because there definitely will be some) ^^;
Oh yeah, page commentary, right.
Sigh…I messed up a decent amount on this page. Had to edit some stuff in post (digitally basically). Add a word bubble, change another, do a lot of line cleanup, etc. Tried some new stuff too (like the bottom left panel) which came out kinda neat, but I’m not sure how I feel about the panel layout. The angled overlapping ones are kinda neat, but overall I left a lot of empty, blank space in the top right :\
Also it feels weird talking about the comic narrative when things get serious.
“O-oh n-no. Nic looks like – well he might – h-he’s got a h-hole now…in his gut…”
“…”
“…that’s a bummer.”
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Page 156
So MitM is going to a once-a-month update schedule, I guess… >.< But seriously, I'll really try to update more regularly guys. I've been working on this page just a little bit every other day for the last month. Working 6 days a week and looking for a new apartment (and new job) just kinda eats up your energy and time. I really hate not regularly producing finished artwork though, so hopefully I'll do a better job of directing my occasional free time towards my pen and paper more often. I decided to post this page today on Sunday because; 1) Well...it was done, and I'm not really a fan of building a buffer of unreleased material for some reason, and 2) To help push me on to work on the next page as soon as possible. Also Sunday's might end up being the best day for me to update on anyways. My work schedule is pretty inconsistent, but I do normally get my one day off more often than not on Sundays.
As for the page itself, I’m still trying out new stuff as usual. The last panel was going to be two separate ones, but I thought, “Why not try the whole, ‘head-spin-around’ thing that some artists like to use a lot.” I looked through several One Piece mangas for some inspiration (since Oda likes to use it fairly regularly it seems). My attempt was still pretty much a flop though, but it was fun to experiment with and I might give it another shot sometime in the future.
Also, HOLY CRAP this scene changed A LOT while I was writing it. I wrote and rewrote how this scenario would pan out quite a bit. Most of the early interpretations involved Levi either outright fighting Ty (the coyote that went upstairs) or stealthily knocking him out. Eventually I came to the conclusion that if Levi grabbed the weapon plans, there really wasn’t a reason for him to stick around (after all, they kinda wanted to lure the coyotes out of the carpentry anyways). Having Dayton stay behind and hidden kinda setup some interesting possibilities too… O.O
ALSO (so many also’s…), apologies if the whole cut to Dakota and Mr. Connors feels very confusing and “straight out of left field” (which is kinda how it feels to me after rereading it myself), but I did kinda want to keep what was happening between the two kinda in a confusing/unknown place. I wanted Mr. Connor’s role in everything at the moment to be “involved, but not directly” without really having to discuss to what extent or why for the time being. Buuuuut, it may feel a little more confusing than I had intended, so…um…yeah, sorry about that. I will address it later though! I promise ^^;
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Page 155
Well, well, well.
FINALLY another update >.<
Everything aside, it's been quite awhile since page 154 (over 3 months actually), but I really have missed working on MitM. I'd write a long-winded excuse, but those aren't that much fun to read (and I kinda already did one on my FA Account).
I do really hope to go back to a weekly update schedule, hopefully starting with this week’s update. Once again, not really sure I’ll stick with Thursday, but since that was the “usual” day for my updates, I chose it to start back up on it.
I was definitely a little rusty after the long break, but I decently pleased with this page (especially the top 3 panels).
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LP 45 – God Bless Tiny Tim
Livin’ In The Sunlight, Lovin’ In The Moonlight –
Strawberry Tea –
After talking about some more serious material like Nirvana, sometimes it’s nice to just step back and cover something light-hearted, fun, and just plain silly. Enter this week’s record…
God Bless Tiny Tim (1968), by (you guessed it) Tiny Tim. Often remembered as one of the older novelty acts from the sixties, Mr. Tim (as he was often referred to as) would continue performing all the way up until his death in 1996. Literally, “until his death.” Sadly, he would suffer a fatal heart attack while performing his most famous tune “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” in front of a small crowd in Minneapolis.
Dangit! I thought this was supposed to be a more cheerful entry this week! Alright, even though Mr. Tim suffered his share of troubles and controversies, I’ll focus a little more on the lighter side of things.
Tiny Tim’s real name was Herbert Buckingham Khaury. Kinda like “Little John” from Robin Hood, Khaury’s stage name was something of an ironic title since he stood at well over 6 feet tall. While he could play several instruments, he is most easily remembered carrying around a small ukulele, which was made even more tiny when compared to Mr. Tim. The tall man with a tiny ukulele helped establish him as a novelty act, but there was one even more important factor that really cemented his status. His extremely high, warbling, falsetto voice. There really is no one else who truly sounds exactly the same as Mr. Tim (for better or for worst). But like his multi-instrumentalist abilities, his vocal range didn’t always side on the ridiculous end of things (just most of the time). He would often sing duets, but with himself covering the lower male part and his falsetto singing the female part.
The first song I chose, “Livin’ In The Sunlight, Lovin’ In The Moonlight”, opens up with Mr. Tim announcing that this is his first record. The song had been recorded by Bing Crosby prior to Tiny Tim’s release with a much slower tempo (and obviously at a much lower vocal registry), but most people just recognize this version nowadays. This song was my initial introduction to him, and likely the same tune that several others from my generation first heard from him. Why? Well because this song was actually used in the conclusion to the very first SpongeBob SquarePants pilot episode (just visualize SpongeBob serving Krabby Patties to a bunch of anchovies). Overall, the track is just silly fun and while there is an interesting version with just Mr. Tim and his ukulele, I really like the many musical colors that the full band brings to this mix.
But not all of Tiny Tim’s music was just for laughs. A good example of another side of his music is “Strawberry Tea”. A much more psychedelic pop tune with dreamy strings and surreal, vivid imagery in its lyrics; it stands in contrast to some of his other “silly” work. It’s surprisingly a song that wouldn’t feel too out of place on an early Bee Gees album. Now that I think about it, Mr. Tim’s vibrato voice actually does remind me of Robin Gib’s, but mixed with his brother Barry’s falsetto.
It’s been more than 50 years since Tiny Tim made his debut; and yet, he still manages to bring a smile to many a face. Throughout the years, his music has really developed something of a cult following for those who remember him for ALL his work, not just his more iconic novelty material. God Bless Tiny Tim gives a strong picture of both his silly side, his more serious side, and how they can still overlap in the most unusual of ways.
