‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 317b

Just think: Texting (as in between cell phones) didn't exist 23 years ago. If you can't remember a time when texting wasn't a part of normal life, then you're like Jake. He has only seen mail delivered by humans in (usually old) movies.

Also, comments may be slow in showing up since I'm in an area with little to no internet access.

23 Comments

v.v and I can remember when cell phones could be used as deadly weapons… and before…

My smartphone can be used as a deadly weapon, thankyouverymuch.

Yeah, I can use mine as a hand-grenade, or a garrote, or just something to replace your thumb inside a fist for added power(still, punching with a closed hand is a horrible idea, open palm punchs hit just as hard and don’t hurt you).
H***, I wouldn’t harm my phone in any way I can’t fix in less than five minutes using it as any of those weapons.

Just a tiny art thing. The iris of the eye closest to the reader looks really weird. Like the pupil looks kinda blobby, and the iris itself looks like it’s at the position. Also, i think the other eye has the iris and pupil to far over, even if he is looking to the side. Literally only trying to help

I see what you mean and it threw me too at first. But then I realized: its a reflection in his eye of something that he’s seeing.

Agreed — the left edge of Walter’s left eye (the one closest to us) is somewhat “blobby,” and that does not appear to be due to a reflection (If it’s intended to be, it does not appear clear to this beholder).

The right eye is either too far to the corner, or the left eye is not far enough to the corner (to the right, from our perspective), so the eyes do not look focused upon the same point to this beholder, either.

🙂

The last panel immediately struck me as odd — proportionally/realistically off somehow as well.

Good luck!

I’m pretty sure that’s Jake, not Walter. Walter was speaking, Jake interrupted.

I honestly did not notice the shape of the iris until you pointed it out. I’m not sure what Aneeka’s intention was, but to me the shape helps convey a sense of surprise and concern, maybe a bit of fear. I think it’s because of the very realistic style that it looks a bit odd to some people. One small detail: it’s dark, so the pupil should be much more dilated.

Incidentally, the closeup is of Jake’s (Bandit’s) face, not Walter. Follow the dialog closely.

Aneeka, what you did with his hair is amazing. I have no idea how to make hair look that realistic.

Rhea, what you’re seeing with the pupil is that it’s partly obscured by two glints (bits of light color that represents ambient light reflected off the surface of the eye.) They’re both oval, with the long axis arranged radially, the one on the right of the image is larger and more pronounced then the one on the left. It’s a realistic detailed used to give a sense of life and emotion. If you google images for the human eye you’ll see plenty of examples. In art glints are often used to convey a sense of the person’s emotions. Someone who’s very emotional will often have larger more pronounced glints, and someone who is feeling numb or out of it (such as someone who’s been hypnotized) will have little or no glints. An interesting example of using glints is actually from a live action film – Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. If you look closely you will notice that she always has unusual glints with lots of dots of reflected light. The filmmakers actually used a frame strung with white Christmas tree lights to produce the effect for her closeups to give her character an otherworldly quality.

Haha, apparently the one panel I was proud about is horribly flawed. 😳

I shall attempt to fix it, but first, I have to get the next page done…

I think “horribly flawed” is an overstatement. I’m not sure the non-round iris goes with the realistic style you’re using, but other than that, it looks fine to me.

Maybe he just has lazy eye syndrome or something? although I’m not sure there is a medical condition that gives “blobby” eyes.

Back when people delivered mail and drove their own cars, those were the days…

Heck, I’m just old enough to remember when people delivered milk, let alone mail. (Though oddly enough, that seems to be making a comeback….)

Much as I appreciate the more realistic art style, the pace of the storytelling is starting to seem glacial, especially after the long break…. Maybe post a bit more in the way of text background with each half-page? Not plot spoilers, but some things about the underwater cities, maybe some pre-Ending info snippets, technical background trivia, etc.

Past experiences can be very useful in informing present views of possible realities.

In an interesting way, becoming stuck in only the present (or whenever one was born x decades ago) to the future is a lot like growing up in a very small town, aware of that small town’s customs. 🙂

It can be somewhat dangerous to be complacent with the values of a small town as “just how things are”.

Regarding the glacial pace, this reader feels that a little bit and – outside of that – finds the background effort and detail (realistic!) the author has put into constructing the story’s background very cool and fascinating.

I would very much love to read more about it! (Especially if you can manage to weave in “extras” which are not extremely spoilerific.

The post about the depth of TENka City and its surrounding temperature was interesting, for example.)

Great story, so far after the return!

Walter’s figure/beard and Jake’s on the previous page were really beautiful and well-drawn.

It’s honestly neat to watch your art evolving.

Here’s to hoping you keep on evolving! 🙂

I remember milk deliveries, and I’m only 48. Heck I had milk delivered when I moved into my first house in 1987. I had to stop them, in summer it was going off in the sun sat on the doorstep since they delivered it about 4am and I brought it in around 8am. I’m in the UK for reference.

Apparently, what with the localvore and organic food movements milkmen are becoming more common again.

Texting still isn’t part of normal life for me! Skype, yes. Talking over the phone, yes. (when I was a kid, it was only the stationary phones, oh, and I remember paper mail, too)
Sooo… Jake irritates me a bit there.

Texting and talking is the only way I communicate with others. I barely even use email, but then again I go to a high school where we use tablets instead of paper books.

Whaaaat, no way texting is 23 years old. I require a citation.

Aneeka didn’t say texting is 23 years old, only that it didn’t exist 23 years ago. (This might be a clue to Jake’s age.)

However, according to Wikipedia, “SMS messaging was used for the first time on 3 December 1992, when Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old test engineer for Sema Group in the UK (now Airwide Solutions), used a personal computer to send the text message “Merry Christmas” via the Vodafone network to the phone of Richard Jarvis who was at a party in Newbury, Berkshire which had been organised to celebrate the event.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_messaging

2014 – 1992 = 22 years.

I’ve actually used one of the old hand cranked phones where you then asked the operator to connect you with someone. That was long ago in a place that was several decades behind the rest of the country.

I went to McDonalds wearing one of Aneeka’s “I am not a villain” shirts.
Random guy: Are you a mom?
Me: Yeah.
RG: Then you’re a villain.

That’s Jake in the close-up, right? He’s not really blond then? Also, his face looks filthy! Please tell me the job he was doing before getting suddenly called into the game was a dirty one, and not that they’ve gotten so hooked on it that they just don’t bother with basic hygiene any more. (Eww! Just the thought…)

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

‘Not A Villain’ Webcomic – Page 317b