WIPs PG 325 & 326
Added 2024-12-23 22:00:06 +0000 UTCQuick breakdown of a couple panels!
First, here's a pair from page 325...
Swift from page 326!
My normal process-- sketch then line art, flat colors and working from the background forward.
Comments
I don't think she's actually being all that aggressive. In her mind, the concept of small prey species working together is a completely foreign concept. She's really not had any major reason to change that belief or come to a different conclusion. The only time she's actually seen them working together was with Baneberry, and she dismissed that as a trick of light. Lichen, Oren, and Rask were all separate on the trail, and while it's easy for us to come to the conclusion that they were working together, I don't think she made that connection. So when she arrived a the lake and witnessed a marten directly communicating with a hare, her entire world is turned upside down. This situation is so far removed from everything she has ever known or experienced, that she is seriously questioning whether or not this is actually a place for her. Basically, I don't think she has a particularly aggressive tone in the middle panel despite how the words might read at face value, she's just trying to figure out what the hell is going on. As for the last sentence, I think it's more misplaced confidence than anything (she also tends to overestimate her abilities quite a bit). I don't think she actually understands what the metal spears are capable of. Her only direct interactions with it were with Baneberry and Rask, both of whom didn't actually injure her with it. Her pups, despite telling the flying rabbit story, never actually said that the weird stick is what killed Seral. They also never referred to it as a tooth, only as a weird stick. We saw a similar situation with Rask and Yarrow, Rask reffered to it as a tooth where Yarrow called it a weird stick, denoting different levels of knowledge of it's use and capabilities. For all Swift knows, the shiny stick is just something that they wave in your face to distract you (like Baneberry did) while they continue the attack in a more traditional manner. In her mind she's prepared for this and isn't going to be tricked again, so repsonds more aggressively to a direct threat from someone she doesn't yet trust. The question that remains though, is why did the pups refer to it as a weird stick and not a tooth when they very clearly saw it "biting" Seral? I think it's becuase the pups are still too young to have actually hunted prey that require teeth. They haven't learned the concept that teeth are for cutting and killing, so they have no reason to call the metal spear a tooth. Something that has big implications despite seeming so minor at first.
treefiddy
2024-12-29 00:15:30 +0000 UTCIs there a reason Swift is acting so aggressive? I mean, obviously there is. But can you tell us or will you keep us guessing until the New Year?
Julian Seguin
2024-12-25 17:36:35 +0000 UTC
