Heterochromia
Reads right-to-left, updates Fridays.
The life Panima has known is one of severe oppression under the alien rule of the Satekae. Only in their earliest childhood memories do she and the other humans living in a rock formation known as "the Spire" remember an Earth free of the aliens. The mysterious arrival of a man named Tamino—who appears to know little of the Satekae laws—coincides with the humans' reawakening of the desire for freedom. Rallying under his unwitting, revolutionary inspiration, Panima leads the campaign for a once-again free Earth; precisely the kind of discontent Tamino was sent to quell.
(description en français ici: http://heterochromia.smackjeeves.com/comics/681073/chapter-1-cover/)
Style Crisis
So, long time, no update. Between (roughly), January and late March, I had a good excuse for that: 19 credits of classes (5 of which were Chinese), on top of 4 hours of lecture, 4 hours of volunteering each week, and getting transfer applications ready. There was no free time. Obviously, though, it has been a couple months since then, and for me, a whole term. Last term (which was Spring Term), I finished my year of Chinese, finished the core of my Honors University studies, and managed to get the most hellish Calculus I teacher. I also started my first regular job at my university's library (in a tech support position). While less busy, I still just didn't have the energy to update, and didn't feel inspired to do the pages I had been planning on.
I was hoping that, come Summer, I would just do it, finally. I really want to continue telling this story, and the only way to do that is one page at a time. On the other hand, I have been feeling frustrated for quite a while. The source of my frustration is a dissatisfaction with my style. I am still developing, obviously, but I think I need to be more active in moving it to something I like better. And that is what I'm working on right now, and part of why I haven't updated.
I've been moving away from manga style for a while, now (at least, that's what I think, but I have been told otherwise), but without a real "goal" in mind. I don't particularly want to draw hyper-realistically, nor like American comics, instead of Japanese. Lately I've been putting together a list of people whose style I particularly like.
The styles I have in mind are those of
luna-kitsune (particularly her comics)
lily-fox
thenizu
Insid
Those are just the general ones, though there are of course others that I like a particular aspect here or there. Jen Wang's sense of movement, ransama and handmade-crown's colors, and others.
I've been collecting to try to figure out how it is i want to change, and now I ready to start synthesizing. So, that's what you can expect: I'll probably be posting more sketches and concepts as I try to figure out how to translate my work into a style I like better.
I'm also thinking of starting a tumblog to post whenever I find something I like the style of or have a sketch to post. We'll see where it all goes from here, but I thought I was overdue for an explanation as to the lack of updates.
Thank you to everyone who has continued to follow Heterochromia despite all these months without updates. I understand if some have chosen to quit checking in; not updating is one of the best ways to commit web-comic suicide, after all. Believe me, if I could produce art, especially this comic, more constantly, I would be a very happy person. Thank you again for your support <3
tl;dr Changing my style up a bit, will probably be updating intermittently with random art, not sure about pages. Inspiration/sketchblog tumblr, maybe?
Donations, Intentions
By request, I've added a donation button in a couple different places on the site: both under the comics (beneath the Top Comics and Webcomicz voting buttons) and between the Latest Comic display and the RSS button on the homepage. It looks just like this:
Yeah, just the default for now. In the future, I plan on revamping the site; when I do that, I'll make matching buttons. Going to be trying to up my activity in the near future--currently working on opening a shop over at ArtFire, then probably Etsy. You'll be getting updates when that happens, of course. Until then, enjoy the comic.
Layout Changes
Just wanted to officially acknowledge the new layout stuff that's been going on, recently. The most obvious of these is the new, retro-futuristic-themed header. To see all the detail on Panima (or buy a print if you really want to XD ) , you can check her out in my deviantart gallery.
Less obviously, you can now rate pages. I haven't tested it out yet (because it's my own comic), but I'm hoping it works... I had to mess around a bit with the code. Hoping to change the rating graphics soon to fit more with the theme of the site, instead of using the generic ones, but as classes just restarted for me, we'll have to see when that gets done.
Furthermore, you can now vote for Heterochromia on Top Web Comics and WebcomicZ. The links are also on the comics' pages themselves. More graphics I'd like to redo...
Oh, also: There was a glitch last week or so where the public could see pages that only authors were supposed to see. Thanks to that, I have a comment on a page that wouldn't normally appear until late January (not your fault!) and I just wanted to say that I'm thankful you like the art and storyline. Didn't want to put a response off until February XD
Maintenant en Français
Briefly, in English
The pages of Heterochromia (on both dA and Smackjeeves) now have French translations in the "Artist's/Author Comment" box. Enjoy!
Français
Maintenant, les pages de Heterochromia (Hétérochromie) (sur dA et aussi Smackjeeves) ont les traductions française du dialogue (et du quelques bruitages) dans la boîte pour "Artist's Comments." Elles sont mes propres traductions; alors, elles sont aussi imparfait et il exige une forte tendance pour elles d'être incorrectes ou anormales. Je suis étudiante de français depuis cinq ans, mais je dépende encore si fortement des dictionnaires et des guides de français. Ainsi, j'accepte avec plaisir de corrections à mes traductions, en particuier celles de personnes de langue maternelle française (bien sûr, toutes les corrections sont les bienvenues!) J'espère que ce projet m'aidera à améliorer mon français!
Credits
Here are the resources I use for most of the pages. If there are any I use on specific pages but not regularly, those will appear in the "author's comments" of the appropriate page. I have tried to follow the posted terms of use of each of these resources.
Textures
CG Textures
Mayang's Free Texture Library
masterjinn
Brushes
Psychobob's Screentones
Obsidian Dawn
Writing Systems
Dalorm was created by Isak Sellanrå.
Mesa (cursive) was created by Juan Mesa.
Conceptual Calligraphy / Elian Script was developed by C.C. Elian
Each of these writing systems was found using Omniglot
Fonts used include Digital Strip by Blambot, and Dominican by Harold Lohner
Grand Launch, Maiden Voyage
To celebrate the arrival of the first prints of the first chapter of Heterochromia, I've decided to also launch Heterochromia on Smackjeeves.
I realize it may not make immediate sense to try to sell in print what I offer for free online. Obviously, most people who read Heterochromia won't be paying for it. Luckily, profit isn't really my aim in selling copies. The price at which I'm selling the currently-printed copies will basically just cover the cost of printing and shipping, never mind all the money I spend on paper and other supplies. Instead, I'm selling copies to get the word out about my comic. I am very excited to finally be creating the story I've been working on (off and on) for over two years. I want as many people to enjoy it as possible, whether it earns me money or not.
That's not to say there aren't benefits to buying a copy rather than reading it online (or doing both!) ~_^ I will only be uploading one--maybe two--pages a week, whereas one can read the first chapter straight through in print. Further chapters will be printed as I finish them, rather than waiting for the online version to catch up (although obviously I would probably increase the number of updates per week if I were to get that far ahead). Not to mention the other arguments for print vs. online reading (eye strain, portability, online ad annoyance, etc).
Unless you can spot me in real life (Kumoricon, perhaps?) you can buy a copy online at Indy Comics:
http://www.indyplanet.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2607
For now, enjoy Heterochromia on SmackJeeves! More about Heterochromia can be found at my blog, Kon Hayai. More of my art can be seen at my deviantArt page.