Aah, the great outdoors.
Some models are more fun to work with than others – they might have one of those faces which are just expressive, or have a good base topology to work from, or are simply nice and uncomplicated to do a quick rig of. Dryads are none of these things – making use of them is like an uphill battle against their low resolution, messy and fixed expression texture, their very low poly bodies and even their centaur-esque skeletal structure. I did a “quick” (about 4-5 hours) rig to get some actual poses out of her, and I immediately found myself with the conondrum of whether to treat the front legs as an extra pair of arms, or the hind legs as an extra pair of legs, either with their share of advantages and disadvantages.
Ultimately, I went with the latter solution.
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Not the dryad they were looking for + bad pun = facepalm. Elementary, dear Tiny.
you made the dryade fit in rather well id say.
So there’s very little chance we’ll be seeing Areen ride a Dryad into battle, is what you’re saying.
You did a fine job on the dryad!
I love areen’s “Umm…?” expression in the 3rd panel, when she sees the dryad.
Holy crap I didn’t even see that. That’s awesome. It’s like Areen’s having her own little Labyrinth.
I think my favourite thing about this page is that it’s packed with little glances and interactions. From Raene smirking at Hani in the second panel “Oh this will be good” to Areen’s WTF (and Dagri’s “meh” in the third). Then, as mentioned, we have Tiny’s suprisingly silent (Don’t encourage her!) but nevertheless attention grabbing reaction; Te’len placating her childhood friend in panel six, with a slightly tired glance, while Raene ignores her unspoken advice and trolls everyone (that face).
Judging from panel three, Hani’s clearly a little uncomfortable with Therylune intruding into her personal space, leaning back and clawing her fingers ever so slightly, so it’s adorkable when she backs up Raene’s suggestion (which Te’len looks not the least comfortable with, in panel eight). Hani is clearly very pleased with herself for this, slipping back into the role of subordinate from behind her hood (which she’s obviously absurdly fond of; like a cat with cardboard box to “hide” inside). Rei is once again dodging ears (ah, nostalgia) and Raene is smirking, leaning slightly away, and silently going “well done Kitten” at the end.
Now some of this is me filling in the picture, but the point is that Nhani puts the frame there for you in the considered way the characters live on the page and respond at any given moment. Details like these, the new way Hani is carrying her sword, the sense of musculature in Raene and Hani’s arms, are why I love this story.
http://earlyyears.site40.net/images/wtf.jpg
Hee hee…
I’m loving Rei’s epic facepalm there…
this great! I was missing this history! Pleaseeee, don’t leave us for sooo long! ^^
I’m thinking Hani needed to work on her disguise more. It seems ineffective.
To be fair, she did point out its main purpose was to avoid being instantly recognized and noticed over distance, and this would suggest it holds up well enough in that regard.
I don’t think she ever harbored any illusions that she’d be able to disguise her identity when face to face up close.
ever since the conversation areen had with dagri ive been waiting for some “epic” moment with them both charging in to any kind of battle/rescue together preferably with areen riding the wolf :)
ive been reading this comic for so long and its only getting better and better, visually, the depth of the (main) characters, and the twists and turns of the story. sometimes i almost wish that i still played the game, but my next mmo will probably be “The Secret World” while waiting im very happy surf in here and read and look the this wonderful little pearl of the internet.
Yup, fully agreed. Even if I don’t play WoW anymore myself, this is one of the few comics I still visit for it does have the perfect balance between humour and good story. It still retains the good side of story while also using humour in situations.
Speaking of which, Nhani, even if you do decide to end this comic at the end of Arc 1, I wish to tell you it’s been amazing and hope you’ll be making more comics in the future, even if not about WoW at least about something as you do have a style that grows on people.
I wonder what will happen when Therylune will see Areen, I wonder if she’s ever seen gnomes. Areen might grow on her or will our party try weeding the dryad out as Dagri barks his concerns? Guess we could guess after what we have seed.
One thing I always wondered though is if dryads actually laugh to their jokes, I always thought they feel them as natural conversation… pfff… after so many dryad jokes I actually made one in this last sentence too without thinking, guess it does grow on me, or maybe it’s her leafy blossom. Ok, enough! There’s so many dryad jokes someone can bear in one day. It’s time I go for (r)est in the meadows.