You had Questions, I have Answers!

Here's some of the questions you guys sent in earlier this month! I think I answered most, and I combined a couple where multiple people asked the same or similar question.

STORY QUESTIONS:

Will there be more stories with these characters in the future or other stories set in this world you have created?
(~Dyxxander)

Yes! I plan to pick up the next volume where this first one left off, with Rask as the main protagonist. I also have a short story planned about Oren and the One-Eyed Wolf, and at some point in the future I would love to tell the story about the bear and how Oren got the Stone Hollow in the first place.

What became of Hemlock and the Wardens? Did they establish their own home somewhere else?
(~BritishRabbit)

Hemlock and those that left with her will be back in the next chapter— I don’t want to spoil too much, though, so that’s all I will say for now!

Can you name things that inspired you to write such story?
(~Bedeser)

Watership Down was the major inspiration! (And probably the tone of Plague Dogs, if I’m being honest.)

Which character is your favorite to write and why?
(~BlueTheCaracal)

My favorite character to write is Egg because she reminds me of my dog, who passed away in February.

Will we perhaps learn more about Rask's youth before the start of his journey
(~BlueTheCaracal)

Yes, a little. There will be some exposition in the next volume about Rask’s life before the Hollow!

WORLD QUESTIONS:

What’s the size of the characters?
(~Cpat)

I'm fast and lose with this, so take it with a grain of salt. They’re larger than their animal equivalent, but smaller overall than humans. Martens are probably around 3-4ft tall, wolves around 5ft, black bears just bear-sized at 7 ft, etc.

Are there birds of prey?
(~Cpat)

In my mind, yes, though most of the story  so far takes place in thick forest, which is likely to have less gigantic birds of prey. As such, I haven’t really had opportunity to dive into it. Golden Eagles are large enough to mess up a marten or something smaller (they take down adult roe deer as it is,) plus who’s to say Woodward’s eagles aren’t still alive in this world. I’d definitely love to touch on their existence/niche when the story allows for it!

I noticed that your martens are digitigrade in Oren's forge, in contrary to Mustelidae of our world. Why?
(~Cpat)

It’s funny, but— Rask and the other martens are plantigrade, it’s just if I draw their legs they always seem to be running or doing something I (as a bipedal, toe-first human) would be on the balls of my feet for. There’s definitely early panels when I didn’t illustrate it well, though (and it’s on my list of things to fix.) There are a few panels where Rask is just walking or standing, and you can see it best. 

Here's his first reference sheet, which I think sums up my approach to it. (Toe-first, rather than being a heel-first walker.) His weight it distributed forward more (using his tail for balance, rather than support like a kangaroo), but he can fall back on his heels.

Does the world map coincide with the Earth?  If so, where is the stone hollow approximately located?
(~Sansanik)

It is not a direct correlation to Earth, but the setting is based on the Black Hills of South Dakota region. It's got everything: grassland, ferns, giant trees, limestone caves, etc.

ART QUESTIONS:

How long can one page take your time?
(~Bedeser)

The amount of time a page takes varies greatly on what’s in it. On average, a page probably takes between 12 - 15 hours of work, but if it has multiple big backgrounds or panels of three or more characters, closer to 20 hours.

Have you ever had thoughts to stop working on that comic?
(~Bedeser)

Hah, yes. It’s been a rough road to get it finished but I’m feeling pretty good now that it is.

Do you have your story drawn as rough sketches or does it develop during overall process?
(~Bedeser)

I try to break the process down into “scenes,” and I will thumbnail a whole scene out and layout the pages in ~10 page chunks. I will usually thumbnail a handful of different scenes so I have a rough visual “spine” of the story, then I can go back and pick and chose which scene I want to work on in depth.

In love with this comic! I am curious though, will we see a return of the character bust streams in the near future?
(~Anon)

Yes. I’ve been right up against total art burnout for a while now and I’m definitely going to take a little time to do nothing but lay on my face, not drawing. I do plan on returning to more normal/scheduled/reliable busts though, but I can’t give a date.

THE FRENCH EDITION!
(Multiple people asked)

Here’s how the French publication came to be! 

As an author, you typically sell language rights for a project, rather than the whole project. Paquet, the French publisher, met me at San Diego ComicCon some years ago and asked about the French rights to Oren’s Forge. At the time, I only had the first 70 or so pages finished. I said sure, they translated and published a beautiful volume and I’m still really excited to have it out there. (Seeing it for sale in a Paris bookshop was a major emotional boost for me when I was at a pretty low point.)

However, this was before my Patreon and I was really struggling to work on the comic full time— (for some context, my advance from Paquet was about $2000, which was great but not enough to quit everything and focus on Oren’s Forge. Comics, even published, don’t really pay.) So, my time was spread pretty thinly, and I was taking ages to get the next volume to Paquet. We drifted out of contact (though they reached out late 2019,) but then 2020 happened. I will probably email now that the whole thing is finished and see if they’re still interested, after a few things on my end settle down.

Paquet does have publishing partners for German, Spanish, Dutch and (as I recall) Chinese, so, who knows. I can also reach out to another EU publisher.

And, to answer a follow up— Why KickStarter for an English edition?

I spun my wheels for about a year trying to find an agent willing to take on Oren’s Forge. In the US, the comics industry is a little more limited to YA, children’s books, or established properties (ie, superheroes.) I received a lot of positive feedback along the lines of, “this is great, but I have no idea how to sell it.” Which, is fine— it’s a weird story with talking animals,  adventure and existential crisis. It definitely fits more into the European graphic novel scene than in the US. (It’s also possible I write a terrible cover letter.) In any event, I just really wanted a printed version in it’s native language, so KickStarter was the easiest way to thread that needle.

(If anyone wants an old reference, had this same issue with Nordguard. One representative of a major American comic publishing house told us “we’ve already got one book with animals…if you make the characters human we’ll publish it.” That still makes me laugh.)

I hope that answers them all!