I didn't have a good graphic prepped so here's a doodle Ependa did of the sisters that I inked and colored :V

UPDATE 4 - 12-6-24

So obviously I didn't mean for this much time to pass before an update. There's been some roadblocks, as noted on socials, but nothing insurmountable, and I'm hopeful about getting back to a more regular schedule.


Collab; everyone has to do their own 'fake screenshot' doodle eventually.

COMIC WORK

Accommodating the ADHD of two people trying to get back on their feet is tough, so re-entry into full-time project work has been a bit scattered to make it all a bit more doable.

Projects currently on the plate are:

The lattermost will be posted on socials. The others will obviously stay here.

Collab; a near-finished comic panel from the UnPhoebe intro.

Most of them are in various stages of completion. Some are proof of concept; some have multiple pages hashed out; some have near-finalized scripts but not a ton of visual dev for one reason or another, and etc etc.

It's not the most efficient way to run things, certainly, but it's better overall than what I was doing. I had a bad habit of letting myself get really excited about scenes, take little drafting notes in prep for when I finally 'got there,' and then be completely exhausted by the time I got to the part I was super interested in doing.

Some of these scenes are the entire reason the story exists in in the first place. Fragments of ideas that really got their hooks in me, but didn't quite work as standalones.

Anyway, tl;dr I let those sit for too long. I'd treat getting to it as a reward, and forget that a lot of those moments would take even more work and even more sweating than all of the lead-up. So my 'reward' would feel like cresting Everest into the Death Zone with slightly less O2 than I need to get to the summit and back, leaving absolutely no room for stumbles or mistakes.

Solo work; concept sketch from the 'otherworld' thread that I've been hashing out when I'm spinning my wheels on more 'important' storylines.

I know that probably sounds overly dramatic, but anyone who has ADHD and has had to wrestle their way through project work knows just how much of a make or break moment that can be. So, nowadays, I'm a lot quicker to jot down ideas when they come to me, and develop them when I'm really in the mood.

It means that things can be a bit slow-going, at times, but it's been a much gentler way of making progress.

It's not all strategizing around ADHD, though.

I'm in that narrative stage where, whenever I put ass in chair to write, I find myself stumbling across worldbuilding or narrative gaps that actually need addressing in order to proceed. Ex: Phoebe and Lacey's first time together was going to be our 'intro' story to the two of them, but there were elements that were requiring too much exposition to convey which, to me, is usually a sign that I started the story in the wrong place.

So it goes.

STARTING FROM THE BEGINNING

Some absolutely fantastic establishing work on Ependa's part, of Lacey's slow approach towards the derelict front of a place referred to primarily (and rather uninspiringly) as The Mercantile.

Lacey's story is a story about repentance, and second chances. It's about losing everything to a series of terrible decisions in an impossible situation, and picking up the pieces in the aftermath. All while trying to decide if the pieces are even worth picking up in the first place.

She is a woman - a werewolf - in her sixties, coming up on an age where being able to change forms is no longer guaranteed. For a number of reasons - terrible decisions coming back to haunt her among them - she knows that losing that ability is a death sentence. Making herself useful to someone able to repel those attacks would be ideal, but therein lies the problem.

How the hell can you make yourself useful when the education you got about the outside world was given to you by the werewolf equivalent of homeschooled evangelicals?

Ependa doing some concepting on Lacey's outfits. I did my own for Phoebe but uhhh something something not done yet.

She is a fish out of water in every sense of the term. The human world isn't at all what she expected, and the supernatural world, even less so. Glossing over the moment that became apparent to her in such a profound and gutting way, and especially the role Phoebe plays in it, was leaving out a significant chunk of story that couldn't be summed up in a few panels.

Lacey beginning to understand what she doesn't understand about her new and bizarre circumstances.

It might end up being the case that even this isn't the best starting point, but theirs is a story that's been waiting too long to be told, so-- I'll settle for second best, or third, and see where this thread takes me.

"UNPHOEBE" AND HESTER

I'll devote more time to these two in future updates, but I do have some art to share of them. One is more concept work based on a fantastic doodle Ependa did (she did the face, I did the body/pose and finals), and the second is her roughs, w/ me trying out a faster style for comic pages so we can keep up a reasonable pace.

UnPhoebe, as ever, has her tits hanging out (she always will), so fair warning before you click the thumbnails.

Folks may also notice that Hester's looking a little different. And she is: she got a bit of a recolor, which was tough, because Ependa and I really love Hester's Doberman/Rottweiler coloration, but I was having a hard time finding it in the time period in which she and UnPhoebe meet. In the Americas, anyway.

Ultimately, the decision landed on 'old-style great dane' mutt since it matched her design characteristics. The coloration'll be missed, though, so if anyone wants to weigh in with how it can still be accurate to 1800s America, I'm all ears.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I'm going to try and write more character notes into these updates like I did with this one, and I'll be looking to cover more about Phoebe and her arc next time around.

I thought about adding that on to this one but, honestly, I just wanted to get this update out there so I'm back in the habit of writing them. This has been a tough year, with a lot of really, and I mean really unnecessary bullshit, and freeing up the brain space to be able to work again has been really helpful wrt ending it on a positive note.

Ependa has been an incredible help through all of it. She makes it easy to get back to work; approaches these stories with such earnest enjoyment and investment that it's impossible not to feel inspired. It's like the moment I'm voicing an idea she already has a little doodle to go along with it. Or she doodles out some little scenario that gets the wheels turning in ways I hadn't anticipated.

It's been a genuine privilege, watching her build much-needed and frankly well-earned confidence in how she approaches these projects. Her enthusiasm for the material, besides-- I know I already said as much but it has been such a boon. I've told her before that she's the only audience I'll ever actually need, and I stand by that. Even if she's the only one who ever ends up reading these silly lil stories, that'll be enough or me.

May you be so blessed as to find yourself with similar over the holidays, and thanks again, as always, to all the folks who've been sticking with us. :) You are and always will be deeply appreciated.