Update: next batch of pages will be up Monday, February 25th. Mark your calendars!

And that brings the magic duel to a…uh, draw, I guess? Or invalid due to outside interference. Probably that, as you can tell Hart isn’t too happy about this (or the crowd for that matter).

Now everyone’s together at last! Very exciting! I personally learned a lot during this batch of pages that I look forward to refining and applying to the rest of the chapter. We’re over halfway finished now. Can you believe it? It’s gonna be a chaotic rush to the end, and we’ll see what happens to everyone soon enough.

Tune in next month to see what happens!

If you’d like to see pages as they’re finished, along with in progress shots and some behind-the-scenes talking about my process, become a patron on Patreon! It’s how I keep the lights on and help my girlfriend get through her computer coding course. Or if you need a gift or just want to treat yourself, I got a Storenvy full of Inktober pieces, prints, stickers, and more! Or or, if you need a personalized piece of art, I am open for commissions! Email me specifics at vanessacsketch@gmail.com and I can give you an estimate. Please consider these, because capitalism is a hellscape and I need to pay the bills.

Keep up on how the next update’s doing and me going wild for the remake of Resident Evil 2 by following me on Twitter, or see some free sneak peeks on upcoming pages over at my Instagram.

I’ll update this page when I have a solid date for next month’s update, but we should be on schedule for exactly a month. See you then for more action!

It’s Nolen! And Brody, Mariel, and Jase! To the rescue!

New Challenger approaches with a kick to Wes’s face! Who is this mysterious “You”? You probably already know, but let’s find out!

First update of 2019! *throws confetti* Vera and Wes really know how to get under each others’ skin, but this time I don’t think it’s gonna work out for Vera.

Update: Next update will be on Monday, September 24th, in honor of our 4th anniversary (which it’s the closest to)! Very excited for this one, as you’ll get to see a part I’ve been waiting to get to for a very long time.

Wes also isn’t too bad with lightning either, unfortunately for Vera. The top panel of her is my favorite one of her so far.

And that’s it for now! What happened to Vera? How is the bidding going? What of Brody? Find out next time!

If you’re just joining us after King Con, welcome aboard! Have a seat, get comfy, check out the archives, and have fun! I hope you stick around for the rest of the story, as it’s only getting started. We had a great time at the con, talked to a lot of wonderful people, and are really happy to have been there!

For those of you who don’t want to wait, consider becoming a patron over at my Patreon! I’m posting there all the time with sneak peeks, tutorials on my process, full pages as I finish them, and more. It would be super rad to have you!

For up to date knowledge of updates, what I’m up to, and me yammering on about whatever game I’m playing in my spare time, check out my Twitter. I’m there a loooot. For comic stuff only, there’s AE’s Tumblr. And for art posts and pictures of my cat, there’s Instagram!

See you all next time! <3

Wes, as it turns out, is pretty good with water magic. A little bit less so with justifying betraying his friend, though.

Again, another page where I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, though the water took more fiddling with than on the previous page.

Leave it to Vera to throw normal punches during a magic duel.

I’m very fond of the way the punching looks, but I ended up having to go back to reedit the wind magic to match what I ended up making it look like later. I like this version better, so I’ll probably keep tweaking it as I go along.

Despite everything, we are coming back! Come back this Monday, July 16th for the beginning of the end of Volume 2! There will be drama, fights, laughter, and I may or may not have already lost my mind! Come back and find out.

Also, we’ll be at ValCon again tomorrow at the Valley Cottage Library. Come by and say hello, maybe get some cool art, and enjoy some awesome comics and people!

Until Monday, enjoy the cover that broke my old computer!

Ready for it?

*dun dun duuuuun!*

Yeah, it’s Wes. Good ol’ former-friend-working-for-the-other-gang-Wes. What does this mean for Vera? Nothing good.

And that, my friends, is Chapter 4! I hope you enjoyed it, along with its cliffhanger ending. I’m really grateful you’ve been along for the ride so far. Not to worry, though! I will not leave you hanging, there is way more story left to come. Work on chapter 5 is going along at a steady pace, as I close in on finishing the thumbnails this week, along with thumbnails for the next chapter’s cover.

I don’t have a solid release date for Chapter 5 yet, but it should come soon. Another exciting bit of news is that the next chapter will be done in a new update style: by scenes. What this means is that I’m currently breaking the chapter into natural story beats. You won’t get one page every week, but what you will get is several at once. Hopefully, this will improve the feel of the story flow. I’ll talk about this more in depth when we’re starting up.

For the most up-to-the-minute updates on the comic, check out my Twitter. The Tumblr will also announce when things are ready to roll. As always, my buddies on Patreon will be getting earliest previews of upcoming Chapter 5 stuff, along with early access to pages as they’re finished. If you’d like to support the comic, please consider becoming a patron. Or I’ve got a Ko-Fi, if you’d rather go that way (will also likely keep me supplied with necessary caffeine).

Well, that’s it then. Thanks again for reading, and I’ll see y’all real soon for updates on Chapter 5. I gotta get back to work!

Soooo. Small world, right? Well, at least it is for Venetroni and Exiles. On the bright side, he and Vera now have “used to be friends/work with Wes” in common.

I tried to use more pencil work for the dream panels, in that didn’t come through in the final. In fact, all it really seemed to do is add time to flatting the page. Most of the dream-like quality comes from a higher saturated color palette and a soft focus. I’m chalking that up for a learning experience and will probably keep testing dream-like looks in the future whenever the story calls for it. This was “the more you know” for the week for AE.

In Patreon news, another inked page for +$5 buddies, and previews for all buddies. Consider joining and you too will see previews and be referred to as a buddy! I will also be adding the original Inktober pieces I did to my Storenvy this week, so check that out and grab one! They’d make a great holiday gift.

We’ll be doing some transitioning next week, along with one of the most time consuming pages I’ve done yet. See you then!