Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Strop's sporadic scrapbook
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Right, so I pulled out of the previous GFX round due to not being able to finish on time. Since then I've been working on the image on-and-off and now it's finished only about a week late.
The picture shown below is half the size, the fullsize one can be found by clicking on the picture.
The full resolution pic (1280xs1024) is low quality...the high quality version is 1.1Mb and doesn't fit on photobucket xD Lame. Except I feel justified with the size...this was hand-drawn from start to finish.
I should have tidied up the sketchlines more, but wasn't actually intending to spend this much effort on it. Meh.
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Alright guys, prepare for a...big update. Hopefully it will all fit into one post!
Page 52
I remember promising myself that this comic wouldn't ever get as ridiculous as Dragonball Z. Then again that was before I read One Piece.
Page 53
As I was saying.
Page 54
Regenerating walls do their stuff again. That should keep Orlestat busy for a while. Meanwhile, I find an excuse to break stuff I haven't broken yet.
Page 55
I've decided that in the full project, I'll divide this part of the narrative and intersperse it with action from the other versus matches. Hopefully that way Strop crashing through stuff and landing in piles of more stuff won't get old as quickly.
I also intend to break away from this arc at this point.
Page 56
A little time passes. Orlestat finally regains his bearings.
Page 57&58
Strop has taken advantage of the elapsed time to prepare a little dramatic irony. Those hanging bodies weren't hanging before he arrived. You'll see where I'm going with this soon enough.
Page 59
The dramatic irony works beautifully on Orlestat, who thinks this was how the bodies were left originally. Then again in such a grisly massacre as this, it wouldn't particularly matter.
Page 60
Movement! Something is flying at Orlestat. And it doesn't seem to be Strop. Orlestat is half expecting Strop to be hiding somewhere within the hanging bodies but this doesn't appear to be the case...
Page 61
Strop has sneakily planted a timed explosive arrow in one of the bodies. This actually takes Orlestat by surprise.
Page 62
Orlestat isn't taking chances, so he dodges the next body and cuts it loose so it doesn't explode in his face.
Page 63
But the second body doesn't explode, further frustrating Orlestat. The third one does, prompting him to think harder. And laterally. Now he remembers saying, on page 19, something about them being puppets.
Page 64
Orlestat spots, through the smoke, the tangle of ropes which all lead to one location. This must be where the puppets are being controlled. So naturally before any more bodies explode on him, he decides to take out the source.
Page 65
But he's flown right into Strop's trap! From his true hiding spot Strop fires a net at Orlestat.
Let's do some math. Strop's bow is nearly as long as he is tall, meaning the tensile strength of the string is appreciably large. The exit velocity of the arrows, therefore, is somewhere in the range of 30-40 metres per second, given that a net in an arrow would make it quite heavy. Given that Orlestat is barely five metres away from Strop when he fires, this gives him a reaction time of less than a quarter of a second, which is the average reaction time of a human. This means that Orlestat has no chance of escaping.
Page 66
...Orlestat, however, is a martial-arts expert, so his instincts are very sharp. Strop observed earlier that Orlestat, when faced with a net he cannot dodge, has not many options, the best being slicing the net apart. In this case, doing so has left him wide open, at full stretch with his qi channeled away from bodily defense, leaving him vulnerable to an inner-attack to his central gate, the same technique he used on Strop on page 18. Checkmate.
Page 67&68
Bonus points for recognising the exact reference.
...okay, I'll give you a hint. It's from Ong Bak.
Page 69
I just had to draw in a page to drive home the significance of a crashing defeat. Get it? Huh?
Page 70
For those of you who remember the beginning of Story of Strop, you may recall that on page 3 Orlestat uses the exact same phrase on Strop in a similar situation, but in a very different context.
I'll explain something here- the Mixed World Tournament is a standalone project as it really has more to do with Kai than anything else, but as told from Strop's perspective, actually comprises one of the final story arcs in the Story of Strop. I've already mapped out the basic plotline of SoS. The first volume is a series of flashbacks in the context of Orlestat's and Strop's first meeting, in which Orlestat drops in on Strop and gives him a hard time. Subsequent episodes will demonstrate the various milestones in Strop's development on his journey to seek how he should best apply the way of justice. The MWT therefore constitutes one of the most important stages of development for Strop as it will give him a great deal of perspective about where he stands.
This confrontation between Orlestat and Strop, therefore, will be their final fight and thus it is somewhat climactic and makes many references to their first meeting in SoS- that's why it's so long. I don't expect you to understand any of it as I'm writing this with all the character changes in mind already. The Strop here is more assertive, confident and sure of himself, but as implied by Kai's warning (and Orlestat's implicit agreement) and his refusal to heed it, he is still stubborn, perhaps a little too much so? Stay tuned to find out!
Page 71
I need more divided frames to denote the passing of time between Orlestat admitting defeat and sitting up.
Orlestat implicitly acknowledges that he was played, and played well.
Page 72
Strop unintentionally rubs this fact in his face some more. Orlestat gets snippy. This invariably makes me giggle.
Strop makes like an operating theatre nurse and inventorises his medical supplies, which must have a gaping hole in them thanks to treating Kai-splat.
Page 73
Has the immortal Orlestat undergone a change himself!? Or not really, he's always been this way...let's face it, Strop still doesn't quite get Orlestat.
Page 74
From behind that unfathomable poker face, Orlestat drops a big tell. Strop is stunned into silence, save for the cracking of his joints.
Page 75
Strop can't help but feel slightly disappointed that Orlestat won't at least lend his assistance in this matter. But maybe Strop understands him a little more.
Page 76
Strop exits. Orlestat waits. Curtains.
Phoo! I'll tell you now that was the single biggest chapter of a comic I've ever drawn. It took me a big chunk of my free-time from before Christmas up to now, so nearly a month. I am very glad that Cenere has been so kind as to put in a joke round, as I finished this technically a week late.
As I actually did this as fast as I could, at the expense of other projects, I'm actually feeling quite drained. Fortunately I will be up and ready to go as soon as I get the full info and discuss setting for the next round. However you may have to rely on scripts as I will definitely be taking a break from drawing MWT to finish things that I desperately need to do.
Hope this chapter has been suitably epic for you guys.
I interrupt the broadcast of MWT to give you a little concept from SoS...
It's coming.