Category: News

(EDIT: By “tomorrow” I mean “the 14th” because life and stuff. Also this post on my main site. Also, Sailor Moon Crystal airs new episodes every other Saturday and I don’t think I can handle the responsibility of posting new strips on those same Saturdays.)

Dear reader,

The background work and planning for this week’s strip is taking longer than anticipated, so it might go up tomorrow instead of today.

That said, things are sad for Kara right now, so I’m listening to really happy music to compensate, but I don’t really have much of that in my music library (I tend to listen to more chill stuff). If you have any recommendations, please send them my way! I would very much appreciate your help.

Also, today, I thought I’d address a question I’m sure you’ve been asking yourself ever since the Salamander was first introduced: How the heck does this guy move around? Does he waddle? Does he jump? Does he walk? *squints* Those legs don’t look like walking legs to me.

The fact that that question has four question marks, one action, and one declarative statement notwithstanding, it’s one that’s also been bugging me ever since I first came up with the Salamander. Well, wonder no more! Here’s how they jump (more or less):

They’ll also do a sort of shuffle/sidestep or little hops if they don’t have to go far enough to warrant a leap.

But Salamanders, like humans, are lazy little buggers who don’t want to go everywhere by their own power if they don’t have to, especially in the Rocky Mountains where everything is on an incline. This is where the portals come in. The Salamanders have a whole network of them, facilitating easy travel to places of importance. They’re not the only creatures to use portals, either, but that won’t be important until the next story arc.

Also, in case you’re wondering how I got that whole jump sequence figured out: I jumped back and forth several times and paid attention to how my body moved. Yes, there were people over upstairs. Yes, it felt super awkward.

But then, it’s not like I haven’t acted out what I was about to draw before. Definitely not that tripping sequence from last strip. Definitely not.

If I had, and if there was video evidence of the fact, I’d have to get rid of it, that’s for sure.

The things you do for art.

Sincerely,

Thea

Dear reader,

Some people say that writer’s block technically doesn’t exist. They are, to an extent accurate. It’s still the best description I can give for what’s going on in my mind right now.

The strip that’s supposed to go up today marks a turning point in the story, both in terms of plot and in terms of Kara as a person, and I haven’t really thought it through well enough yet. Chapter 2 is where we’re going to get more into what makes Kara tick. We’re going to find out why she’s so big on this hero thing, and why she decided to run rather than face the big bat-thing. We’re also going to see more of her parents and the Salamanders. It’s going to be a meaty chapter, for sure. Plus, there’s only two chapters left. Really. Chapter 3 is where it all goes down, good or bad.

What this means is that we’ve reached the psychological halfway point for me (chapter 2 is probably going to be pretty long, so it’s not an objective halfway point by any stretch). Up until now, I’ve still been building the story, still working my way up, with more of the story to come than what I’ve made. But now, as soon as I make the next strip, it’s the downhill run. There will be less and less left the more I go, soon far less than what has already been written. It’s something I’ve never done with an audience before, so it’s scary.

I don’t want to just push through this and hope. I want to give myself the time to prepare so that I can end up satisfied, knowing that I’ve done my best. Which means I’m going to take this weekend to plan things out, and I’m going to put up the next strip next Saturday (the 24th).

I’m sorry to leave you hanging like this, and I know I’ve paused and pushed things back a lot. Take that as a sign of my insecurity about the project, nothing more. But please also take the fact that I continue each time as a sign of my belief in this story.

This is something that needs to be said.

Until next time,

Thea

P.S. I posted the (awful) outlines of this and all future Kara story arcs on my main site. It’s in a blog post titled “What Writers’ Outlines Really Look Like”, and you can read it here. I hope it makes the wait more bearable.

Dear reader,

Yes, it’s January 4th already, but I’m doing this anyways. Just wanted to wish you a happy New Year, and may you experience all the best that 2015 has to offer. :)

So here’s to you and to the adventures of a new year. May you face them with courage, and may you make good use of a tactical retreat when you know you need it, rather than burning yourself out by charging into the middle of the fray when you’re not ready yet. I don’t know if Kara’s doing that in this week’s strip, but it’s still a good idea to listen to yourself even if you think you “should” be doing something else. Courage isn’t just about fighting, after all. It can be about resting, too.

Sincerely,

Thea

Hello dear reader,

Since the last strip went up, I got out of debt and finished finals, and the celebrations just haven’t stopped yet. Thus, today’s strip is being postponed by a couple of days.

Also, since two weeks from now will be two days after Christmas, I’ve decided not to post a strip then. Instead, it’ll go up next Saturday, as an early Christmas present. :)

May you have an excellent weekend, and see you on Monday!

Sincerely,

Thea

Hello dear reader,

As the title says, I’m going to have to pause Kara the Brave due to a bad case of midterms. It will resume on the 15th.

See you then!

Thea

Dear Reader,

First of all, the Expo was awesome. While we employed neither elephant nor rocket nor moon nor space (nor even lizards), people still came by and checked stuff out. I will definitely be going again next year. :)

Secondly, Kara the Brave will have to change to being updated every other Saturday, starting next week. I’m in my last year of my university degree, and I also have some big website and writing projects coming up, so I want to be able to focus on those better. I’m a little sad that this means that the latest in Kara’s adventure will come less frequently, but I really do think that this is a necessary change to make until I graduate. I hope it doesn’t diminish your enjoyment of Kara the Brave, and I look forward to when this comic can get back to a weekly updating schedule. :)

Until next time,

Thea

So, I totally messed up and wrote a blog post instead of drawing this week’s comic. As a result, since tomorrow’s totally full, I will be putting up the next strip on Monday, which is September 1st.

Oh. That’s weird. I totally thought that tomorrow was the 1st. O.o Obviously, I need a refresher lesson on how many days there are in each month.

Anyways. Comic. Monday. That’s a thing. I’m sorry for making you wait so long. :(

To make up for it, I will write a very short story about Kara, which I will read for you on video. Fun expressions and voices included. It’ll go up as a news post, like this one, after the strip has been posted.

Sorry again for this, and I hope the short story is entertaining enough to make up for the inconvenience. See you on Monday!

Hello dear reader!

I’m going on vacation starting next weekend, and will be gone for that and the following weekend. While I did consider getting those strips done ahead of time and just scheduling them, I was like: Hey. It’s vacation. I can stop working for ten days. The world will keep going on without me.

So, while Kara takes some time to figure out how on earth she’s going to get through that portal, there shall be a short, two-week hiatus. I wish you all the best in the meantime, and see you again on the 30th! :)

Yours sincerely,

Thea