State of the Empire Address: Rome’s delusional, destructive, insecure heir

by on 9 November 2016 at 10:01 am
Posted In: blog

I am unapologetically anti-Trump, anti-bigotry, anti-sexism, and anti-foul behaviour and foul attitudes from both elected officials and citizenry, and do not have respect for the choice of supporting this person’s points of view. If this stance concerns you, enough to keep you away from reading the comic: I’m not going to be indulging in much discussion of this on this site beyond this post, and would prefer that people not do so in the comments, either. (Policy subject to change at a future date.) I would, though, be open to discussion of ancient Rome and its survival, around the time of this story, of an assortment of vile rulers and frankly crazy-pants behaviour.

Domitian was always going to be portrayed as…Domitian. If you see any parallels, just know that his character–delusional, narcissistic, selfish, massively insecure, and destructive–and his story arcs within Felix’s own story were already planned out.

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Sketch of the day: this other pencil

by on 20 October 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: sketch of the day

Some sketches with Mitsubishi Hi-Uni 8B and 6B pencils.

This is supposed to be a fancier pencil than the 4B used in the previous sketches. At least on this paper, these softer leads don’t glide with the same buttery smoothness. Also, I can’t tell any difference between the 6B and the 8B.

(click to see larger)

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Sketch of the day: this pencil. This pencil!

by on 19 October 2016 at 6:00 am
Posted In: sketch of the day

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I cannot stop loving this pencil–a Mitsubishi Uni 4B that’s been in the drawer for who knows how long since the last time I tried it. Some erasers can handle it well (though I used an inadequate eraser on one of the Felixes below).

I have a couple of dozen other interesting pencils I should try out too. I’m sure I drew test sketches with some of these pencils way back in the distant past.

(click to see larger)

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Sketch of the day: quick hands

by on 18 October 2016 at 8:00 pm
Posted In: sketch of the day

Today is practice quick-sketching hand poses, and some test lettering for…some other project 🙂

That’s a tattoo I don’t actually have.

This pencil is so smooth and dark, I might try drawing a whole comic with it (no inking), see how it goes. It’s probably very hard to erase–I haven’t tested this pencil recently.

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Sketch of the day: Sunday scribble

by on 3 October 2016 at 9:45 am
Posted In: sketch of the day

(click on image to see larger)

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A random Egyptian night, some years ago…

There’s evidence from the wear and scuffing on mummies (of ordinary Graeco-Roman-Egyptian folks) that they were kept upright in or near the home, or else were brought out and set up for special occasions, until eventually being buried, maybe after a generation or two.

Q&A from LJ:
esmerelda_ogg: Are those Felix’s little brothers or sisters next to Father? (We’re lucky. We can forget how many children didn’t grow up back then.)

It’s only mentioned in passing here and there, but Felix had an older brother who died young (Rufus) and a younger brother (name not mentioned) who died of the same illness as his parents. And, given the child and infant mortality rates, there are likely to have been more siblings.

Making Felix technically the middle child but raised as the older brother. That also isn’t mentioned specifically, but I had it in mind when Domitian tries to be all simpatico with Felix about both of them being oppressed younger brothers.

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