Hiatus over! Whoo!

Hardware update: laptop is still borked, but my desktop is up and running. Turns out the bluescreening problem was ridiculously easy to fix (a corrupted page file) so I’m back in business for drawing the comic, hence the new page. Thanks to everyone for being patient, and especially to Igor who emailed me and attempted to help troubleshoot my hardware. I don’t think I say this enough, but I really am very lucky to have such a nice, helpful, and intelligent fanbase.

Anyway, it’s a new chapter! I’m a bit on the fence about whether to add location descriptors in situations like this, since I worry about getting across the idea of different locations, especially when most of Red Moon Rising takes place in various large cities which I imagine could potentially become easily confused. On the plus side, the actual name for this chapter (“Seras Daya”, once it has a chapter cover) should clear up any doubts about where it’s set – the same Seras Daya mentioned in the last page of the previous chapter, so hopefully that’s not too much of a jump in reasoning. Hello, Rishara Caan.

Rishara Caan itself is stuck right in the middle of the two other nations mentioned so far in the comic, Ashul to the north and Imara to the south. I’m considering drawing up a proper map of the region to give everyone a better idea of the geography, since I expect it’s at least a bit fuzzy right now. Good idea, y/n?

Finally, the vote incentive is just today’s page, but with the texture layers and colour adjustments removed, and at a higher resolution so you can all appreciate how damn long I spent painting all of those clouds.

26

Page 99
Posted on September 28, 2009 by Rose

26 thoughts on “Page 99”

  1. Tancaliel

    Your clouds are quite pretty, but how do you do your rain? Curious minds (who didn’t have time to watch the livestream yesterday) want to know. ‘Cause your rain is pretty damn awesome as well.

    Anyway, glad to hear you were able to fix your desktop! I hope things work out with the laptop as well.

    1. Kyethn

      Haha, this was a hot topic during the stream as well, I had to explain it about three times. Basically I take a block of black, use the noise filter (set quite high, and to monochromatic), then the motion blur at whatever angle you want the rain to be, and at a sort of mid-high setting. Then basically I up the contrast on that by 100 several times over until it’s looking pretty contrasty (not a word, oh well) and then set the layer mode to screen and fiddle about with the opacity until it looks good. Instant rain!

      And thanks. 🙂 Poor ol’ laptop…

      1. Tancaliel

        That sounds really cool and quite easy. Now I want to try it, only my Photoshop decided to break last night. And I don’t think openCanvas (which is what I use for everything besides text and special effects) has quite the same filters/options. But I’ll be sure to remember your tips when I reacquire (that’s not a word either, is it?) a working copy! Thanks!

        (Also, I totally bought the banner space at the top of your page for my crappy banner, did you notice? Haha. So far, I don’t think it’s really given me any extra readers though.)

        1. Kyethn

          No, I doubt you could get the same effect with oC, alas. And reacquire is a word! Have more faith, haha. And I did notice, in fact I think you drove up the price on the space quite a bit for a while too, I appreciate it. 😀

          Having said that, I’d recommend not advertising too heavily until you have a decent archive of pages to back you up. It seems a lot of people resent clicking a comic ad and finding that there’s only a few pages up. As an example, I didn’t post a single ad for Red Moon Rising until I had over 30 pages, which I figured was a good enough chunk to merit some advertising.

        2. Tancaliel

          Yeah, I know, I WAS going to wait until I had at least the full first chapter done… But then I was clicking around a bit on Project Wonderful and I got all excited and wanted to try it. Haha. When this ad runs out, I promised myself not to buy any more until I get some more pages done. Let’s see if I can keep that promise 😛

  2. Sen

    Ah…this page is beautiful. Clouds and seafoam… Gawd I wish I coulda seen the stream for this.

    1. Kyethn

      I seem to be doing streams all over the place, so I’m sure I’ll see you at another one some time. 🙂

      1. Sen

        Oh yeah, I forgot to say that YES MAP PLEASE.

        It helps since location seems to be very important in this comic!

  3. Nistur

    I have to say what Tencaliel and Sen have said, very very pretty (especially your precious clouds). I like the first panel a lot. Feels very… bleak? In a good way of course.. I love the ruined wall 😀

    Anyway… I know you already know I love maps… but now you’ve brought it up… I feel the need to shout… YES PLEASE… and I promise I’ll try my best to refrain from humping your leg if/when you get around to doing some cartography 😉

    1. Kyethn

      Shoulda known you would pipe up about the map. 😀 I’ll get started on it ASAP.

  4. JefLebowski

    A map? I want one \o0/

    And this site is plain awesome, wish I could draw like this >.<

    1. Kyethn

      Well, it’s all a matter of practice. I’ve been drawing for about eight years now, so it’s not like it’s beyond anyone if they really want to be able to draw well. 🙂

  5. Kosake

    ‘t is allways a pleasure to help, mylady ^_°

    I like the Idea of a map too. Makes the world somehow more real or something.

    1. Kyethn

      Sounds like the map is getting a big thumbs up. Thanks again for the help. 🙂

  6. Lonnie DiNello

    Hi there! I just found your site today. Great start to the story! I’m very interested in where it’s going. I’m really enjoying the artwork as well!

    1. Kyethn

      Thanks, Lonnie! Glad you’re enjoying it.

  7. Jim

    Like the story, great art. New location narratives would add considerably.

    I just wish I could have lent a hand when you wrote some of the military and shipboard dialogue towards the beginning. The exchanges seem straight out of Japanese RPG’s vice what sailors or soldiers would say.

    Oh well. Still, very good stuff.

    1. Kyethn

      Hi Jim, thanks for the comment. 🙂 To be honest, I’d be pretty happy to hear what you have to suggest regarding the dialogue as I wouldn’t rule out going back to edit it. I mean, I’m not going to pretend I have any military experience at all, it’s all gleamed from other sources, which is probably going to be painfully obvious to anyone knows better. Would you mind dropping me an email at kyethn@gmail.com with your thoughts?

      1. Jim

        Sure, I’ll read through it again when I get the chance and send you some recommendations.

  8. Kyle Z

    Thought I’d chip in to agree with the other yes-mappers.

    Well, that, and to lament once again how horribly unlucky you seem to be with technology… I hope the gods of HI-Tech give you a break from disaster soon – you deserve one!

  9. Kyle Z

    Oh, and I forgot to ask, how do I find out when you’re going to be live-streaming???
    I want to watch some time, but I never see anything telling me when it’s gonna be, and then the new post is up, and then I’m sad because I missed it again…

    1. Kyethn

      I’m hoping for some better luck with technology as well, but I guess we’ll see… fingers crossed. As for the livestream, as Tancaliel points out below, I always announce it on my Twitter account. They tend to last quite a while and are generally on days before updates (Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday), so hopefully you can catch one of them. I don’t stream every page, but it’s happening more often than not these days.

  10. Tancaliel

    I just realised that I skimmed over your update text a bit too quickly when I first read it; so I just wanted to add that I’d love to see a map! Also, with all the talk about clouds and rain, I never got around to mentioning how pretty the waves/seafoam are.

    @Kyle Z, if you follow Rose on Twitter (kyethn), she always announces the livestreams there 🙂

    1. Kyethn

      Well, I definitely have to draw up a map now. Maybe in the next stream? 🙂 And thank you!

  11. Kelsey H

    I am totally blown away by how gorgeous the art in… gah, every single one of those panels is. You do beautiful work, but this is… intensely beautiful. I also support a map, yes.

    I really love your style, and the way in which the story is unfolding; I wish you the best of luck with your hardware-software woes!

  12. Oneiromancer

    I just found RMR today (I only clicked on the link from SMBC because RMR is also the name of an expansion for EVE Online) and I am loving it. This page is especially beautiful, the third panel made me think “Hokusai” almost instantly.

    If I stay up all night reading and be all grumpy tomorrow at work I’m only blaming you. >.<

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