1.10
So late T___T Sorry about that. I’ve been freaking out about my bathroom, which has become infected with mold. Black mold. Potentially DEADLY mold. Its way up high on the ceiling so I’m not sure how to get to it, but I’ll have to deal with it tomorrow… arg.
Anyways, comics. I am feeling much better about these now, I found a faster way to ink and color (basically: stop being so anal). Its a little dark but I’m going to wait till the end to get everything adjusted.
Next week I’m going to aim to get everything done on Thursday night so you guys can have a normal human update for once ;__; Sorry again!
PS: The vote incentive today is a closeup of the first two panels, since it is very very small online XD If you’re having a problem finding the vote button, that may be because it only shows up on the main page? So you can click the header to return there, the button should be under the comic :3
52 Comments
hehe, I love how the rocks have heart shapes in them on the top panels ^^
We had it (the black mold) in my last apartment growing so thick in the air vents that it was… well… terrifying. Get a squirt bottle and some bleach and hose it down before it gets too bad. But… You might want to get some sort of mold expert in just in case it’s in the ceiling or something… >_>;;
Yeah XC I am scared of it. Its like in crawling/spreading patches on the corners of the ceiling right now? and I can’t decide whether to ventilate the area or not vent it, since getting it wet will make it spread and drying it out will release spores D: I don’t want to die of mold, thats so lame.
Here are some remedies: put 4-5 drops of oil of cloves into half a bucket of water, and wipe this on the mouldy areas with a sponge/cloth – leave it for a day or so and then dust off the now dead mould – it doesn’t clean it all off straight away, but it does kill the mould!
Also using straight vinegar and a sponge and wiping it on the areas works a treat, bleach of course will work but its harsh on your lungs. I hate using hefty chemicals so I keep as many naturalish remedies handy :)
+1 on the vinegar. I’ve seen it recommended over bleach in many websites; and many people claim that it works like a charm. And it’s 100% natural, biodegradable, etc.
alexds1! Your vote button it gone! I looked for it last week as well, but I figured you were adjusting something so it would be back by this week. ;_;
In the meantime, the background in panel one and two is lovely as always. :)
That mold in the bathroom ceiling thing happened to me once. It was weird, and random.
I’m thinking it was caused by lack of bathroom ventilation + frequent showers.
Anyway, I love the third panel, and I love how simply you do hair.
I need to learn the “don’t be anal” rule. D:
Firstly, don’t stress – unless your immune system starts to shut down, it won’t harm you (ex-doctor over here) – but I agree, it’s totally *gross*! Like Kim and Naktarr I wipe everything down with bleach every 2 months – the whole bathroom, walls and all. You can use a squeegy mop… you can put on protective gear (mask, balaclava, et al) and pretend you’re a HAZMAT specialist – think of it as an adventure! :)
Loving the comic so far – especially love the amount of detail you put into the detailed colouring.. that’s what makes your art come alive. Don’t stress about being late – tee hee hee!
very cool facial expression in panel 6 :D
lesson learnt: never drink from jars filled with unidentified liquid!
actually, it makes sense that the colours are dark here, like she’s run into a deeper part of the forest i think?
sorry i can’t say anything useful about the mould situation by the way. hope it’ll be alright!
Hmm… Mold. My mom would probably know what to do about that. But I do know that ventilation would probably help, as long as it’s dry air that you’re circulating, if the air is too humid you’d just end up feeding it. :(
Love her expression when she’s tacking a sip, but maybe she ought to be spitting it out in the last panel? Most people I know wouldn’t immediately swallow down something they’d gotten from some bozo. :)
The forest is soo good looking. Good luck with the mold though!
Don’t worry about updating so much. We’re all people. Now, I’m not saying it wouldn’t be nice to have an update early on, but you don’t have to worry about it so much.
Worry bad. Worry make people sad. Hey, that’s a rhyme. Sorry about that.
don’t worry about it being late. no one is riding your tale… yt :P anyways great comic overall i love the drawings and i know you’ll get more in depth with the plot. your updating is fine being a little late never hurt anyone and plus you have a legit excuse. can’t wait till next one!
I like the forest scene in the first two panels, and the darker colouring really works here, much more shaded, whooooomeek was right. And, I just realy like the shading, especially on the rocks, they look reaaly kool. Don’t know about mold, but I would call a professional, even to see whats causing it.
Thanks guys XD Damn I need to figure out how to make it so I can reply to individual comments XC
– Thanks for the mold advice :3 I am getting up in its face with a big ladder and a sponge (and wrapped up like a mummy).
– Oops, she is supposed to be smelling the liquid, not drinking it, I remember I was going to put in a sniffing sound effect but obviously I forgot D: Good thing it wasn’t important or anything gragh
– Meow
– The vote button seems to only show up on the main meekcomic.com page! I don’t know why. But if you want to vote, hit the banner to go to the home page!
MOLD….oh gods you make it sound like some sort of Blob slowly devouring your bathroom. Sounds like everyone has given you good advice to get rid of it. Too bad Angora isn’t there in RL she could make it turn into flowers or something XD
heehee XD The cliffs are full of love. also her ” doodeedoo just tasting to see what’s in the jaaaars lala ” face made me chuckle. Silly Angora you should know better than to taste strange clear stuff in jars!!! also no worries. Just keep them pages a-coming. I am infinitely patient
A rather slow-paced comic so far, you seem to have an interest in presenting as much activity as possible during a particular scene. Nothing wrong about this of course, it’s refreshing given how most comics love to switch gears often and it can be rather unnerving.
As for the mold, while it isn’t exactly dangerous immediately unless you decide to grab a nice chunk and give it a good lick, the mold you mention is a class 5 (if I recall correctly) mold that produces mycotoxins into the air which after a continued amount of breathing *will* cause serious damage. It should also be noted that while the previously mentioned remedies are very effective, it’s only temporary as such molds have a tendency to root itself into the material (and sometimes all the way through to the other side) and typically the vinegar, bleach or other solution will not be able to penetrate through, allowing the mold to grow again.
If you are renting the place, such as an apartment, condo or just a dorm, you should contact the owner about it. If the appropriate method is not taken into consideration, the place could be forcefully quarantined by law until a remediation is performed on the surface area. An old pastor of mine had that happen where he and his family had to stay in a hotel for a few days during remediation.
Normally what’s done is the direct surface is removed and replaced with a clean one, and inspections are done on surrounding material to see if growth is present. The procedure – depending on current growth spread – could take from 1 week to a month (I’ve seen longer, serious cases).
I used to be the network administrator for an environmental consultant firm, which performs mold, asbestos and other forms of inspection and remediation for commercial and residential. As a result, I managed to pick up a lot of info about this stuff during my occupation there, especially considering I typed reports and handled samples as well.
Thanks for the info VirGnarus! Its the bathroom in my house, I’m resigned at this point to going up there and bleaching the area as necessary, since I don’t know how feasible it would be for me to remove the ceiling material at this point. Not to mention its sort of a bigger project than we can affor at the moment XD I’ll just have to get rid of as much of it as possible and keep on top of making sure the area is nice and dry in the future.
As for the comic, yes XC I am annoyed at how slow-paced it seems. My old schedule with the thumbs had me posting 10 pages a week, which made the plot move very fast. At 1 page a week it seems like sluggish character building that would not be so sluggish if read consecutively in one sitting, as in the intended book format. Just waiting for some time to clear up so I can get to 2 updates a week, maybe that will liven things up a bit…
Nah, it makes sense for it to move at this pace. It’s supposed to be a graphic novel – if it moved any faster, we couldn’t get adjusted to the story properly.
And actually, I’m kinda using your comic as inspiration for me, since I’m working on getting my own online graphic novel in the works. :)
I will never stop being fascinated with Angora’s hair! It’s so awesome. The way you draw her mouth is good, too.
As for the mold….definitely try everyone’s remedies, but you might wanna have a professional look at it – not do it for you, for obvious reasons (money), but just to make sure you don’t accidentally leave some in there or agitate it the wrong way or something. Good luck :)
I don’t really want to know what Pinter uses to drink all the time.
Hm I thought she’d have a sip of it, too…
mold, ugh. Hopefully the advise will be helpful. Keeping the area dry and mould-free as good as you can will be the best if not professional help. But there are reports about heavier consequences, so watch out pls…! I’d be terrified about mould too. Q.Q
Long time reader, first time writing. You know, black mold gets a bad rap. Infact, the black mold in our apt. is quite friendly. Why, just the other night i was far too cold to sleep. So my good friend, the black mold covered me like a blanket and i was warm. Then again, i can no longer feel my legs. Is that a bad thing?
I love the pacing so far, it’s just right – but it really does look like she’s taking a sip of the liquid, lol.
I suggest vinegar over bleach. Bleach normally covers it up instead of killing it completely which vinegar does
In response,
I went ahead and viewed the pages over again in sequential order. While it would give a strong illusion of sluggishness to have it posted one page a week (especially when people’s anticipation – like my own – are high), reading it over sequentially also delivered the same pace. You have to admit, that’s 10 pages (5 page flips if reading it in book form) right there, and not much has developed yet, while many questions are surfacing, such as:
What’s that liquid?
Why is that guy so determined to catch that girl?
WHY IS THE GIRL NEKKID?!
etc. etc.
However, as I said before, it isn’t anything negative (though it could be for you if this pace continues, as we might be seeing this novel get as thick as an encyclopedia!). Rather, it’s contrast to many other graphic novels who love to try to fit in as much as possible in one panel/page, confusing and stressing the reader as they try to keep up. I guess you can call it faux replay value, as people will often have to flip back and forth just to figure out what is going on and why. In your case at this moment, things are unfolding slowly and progressing at a walk, so we as your audience can digest it with wonderful ease.
It should be noted that most comics do have a tendency to start off in 1st gear like what is going on here, and when the viewer becomes accustomed to what’s going on, the pace speeds up and they’re able to handle it without scratching their noggin in befuddlement. I never did see the thumbs (never could find em!) so I am not sure how you plan on pacing this in the future, but I would recommend giving it a couple more pages to flesh out all the characters’ intent before having us merge onto a storyline freeway :)
Oh, and bout the remediation, since there is no ‘standard’ as to remediation prices and the like (since it’s all typically done by local firms), it should be on the average of 70 bucks for a small job, and most firms will do inspection for a very low/free price (ours was free) to give you a cost estimate. I’d personally recommend putting a couple dollars every so often into it, certainly better than having to be booted out of the house while they do the job than be forced to pay (doesn’t happen often enough to worry about, but it’s still a risk).
VirGarus – , well the girl is naked because she lives in the jungle, that’s obviously moonshine and I think the guy wanted to catch the girl because he’s been with a group of men for a long, long time – and wants a little time with a girl? As he stated
The pace seems fine to me, I don’t think you’re paying enough attention to the comic my friend ;P
I adore this scene, that’s exactly my first reaction to alcohol xD
Basic speculation, Critter, yes. Though the comic has yet to give anything definitive, aside from the guy wanting to catch her just cuz she’s a girl (which I’m sure there’s some ulterior motive), which yer right bout that (I fergot :< ).
I also have an ignorance when it comes to alcoholic beverages. Blissfully ignorant I might add.
I’m not bothered with the pace at all, this is what I would expect at the beginning. I informed the author that I would assume it’d speed up shortly, but I wouldn’t mind it staying this way, nor picking up. I don’t think you’re paying enough attention to my comments my friend :P
I’m glad you’re not paying too much attention to the comic, you might spot all the mistakes XD Thanks again for the infos VirGnarus, I’m looking forwards to busting some out on Monday when we get some free quotes >:3 As for comic pacing, the rough draft (which isn’t publicly accessible anymore) was reallllly fast paced for the first chapter cuz I didn’t know what I was doing. I sort of hated it, and wanted to get off on a less frenetic note. I may have overdone it a bit but I’d rather err on this side than the other :) And yes, its going to be a million pages, I think I used the word epic somewhere and unfortunately I think I meant it. The plot will be picking up in a page or two.
And thanks Critter XD Mostly right, though she’s naked moreso because she prefers to be naked rather than because she’s in the jungle. ITS CRAZY 8B
She looks so CUTE on this page, I am not sure why. Her reaction the the moonshine is precious. (It truly does taste like rubbing alcohol! Don’t stress about updates, that’s what RSS feeds are for!
To be honest, theres a lot here to be said about your artwork, let alone the plot. If more pages a week meant any less quality in the comic itself, I would definitely rather wait. Quality over quantity anytime. Also, I like the pace, don’t know if anybodies ever read Starship Troopers, but it opens the same way, dropping the reader right into the action with almost no explanation.
Plus this way, theres a lot more anticipation for the next page.
Keep it up!
lol, Starship Troopers (the book) put me to sleep XD Apologies in advance if I cause any comas.
Found you through Top Web Comics. (The first of the month is a good time to find new ones)
Your art is amazing! I would like to echo what other people have been saying about your girl looking like a _real_ girl, with like, anatomy and stuff. :-) (And your boys aren’t bad either, though overly clothed)
It’s a bit early to tell about the story, but it looks good. And the pacing is excellent.
Let me also echo “quality over quantity”. You want to post pages you are proud of.
this comic is super! why is she naked?
I do that pose in the 6th panel when I drink stuff. 8D lol
Good luck in the war against your black mold. Yuck!
lol bookmarked
Hey this is cool so far found it on dA. I’m intrigued to find out what happens next.
Haha, it’s starting to go in a different direction than the sketch comics now. It’ll be [even more] interesting to see where it goes from here :D.
XD Lol’d at her reaction to the alcohol — and the jungle looks amazing in those first two panels O_O
“I found a faster way to ink and color (basically: stop being so anal)”
…I’ll have to look into this technique sometime :B
Hey, fellow comic creator, do you use the BPelt filter on photoshop? It help to lay in base colours in like no time at all.
http://www.bpelt.com/psplugins/flatting.html
I use it all the time, the results are fantastic.
Thanks Blue10, hehe. You should try out the non-anal thing, it can add hours to your sleep-life :3
And thanks also, Anise! I’ve seen that plugin before, but can’t actually use it myself XD I color my stuff on one or two layers nowadays with a more paintystyle, not so much with base colors. But thanks for the link :)
Hiya, you! (It’s the same “TheAntimonyElement” as on dA) Sorry I haven’t commented here yet; I promise I’ve been reading religiously. Honestly, your art here is far superior to pretty much any webcomic that I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot. It reads like a published work–gorgeous and fluid. I would also like to say that I LOVE YOUR TREES. I mean, I also love Angora and Pinter and Luca and your exceptional grasp of anatomy and expressions and all that jazz, but how you can capture the essence of a rainforest with like five trees amazes me. I bow to your mad skillz. Keep up the marvelous work!
I think the pacing is fine because the quality of the pages are so worth it. The vote incentive today was hilarious/genius! Hahah…
I personally like the darker colour to the page. It seems to imply that she’s still being wary, evading the camp, but without it being obvious that she’s trying to hide. I say keep the colour just as it is ;)
As many have said before, the quality of the artwork is well worth the wait. I quite often find myself at this website looking for inspiration for my own work, and using it to see ways that I can improve as well. While two updates a week would be great, I wouldn’t want to sacrifice the amazing quality you put into these pages to do so.
I’m really looking forward to the next page, though. So don’t make me wait too long. :B
I love the color in general of this comic. The art is really beautiful and the characters are really dynamic and entertaining. I’ve been voting everyday, because I think this is ammaaazziinnggg
Wouldn’t it be amusing if you grabbed Angora’s (moonshine?) and poured it on the black mould :) I have no idea what would happen, though.
why is she running?
i mean its just a bunch of guys who have been without women for god knows how long
Dont know if I am to late, but I work in the environmental field. just read thru some comments about the black mold thing. DO NOT use bleach to clean the mold. All you are doing is removing the top layer (not to mention disturbing the particles and making it much more breathable then it is left alone), but you are bleaching the color out of it. Eventually, the mold will come back b/c the bleach doesnt reach the base of it.. which is deep in your boards. What you need to do is call a Mold Remidiation company and get it looked at asap.
Just a FYI …just because you have Black Mold in your house doesnt mean you will die. Each person reacts differently from it. From common allergic reactions to, yes, death. So dont freak ..but get it looked at.
OH, and a comment on the comic. Great comic so far. Really wondering why these men havent seen women ..and what is that stuff in the bottles.
Spores, btw ..not Particles *blushes a million shades of red for not remembering the ‘proper’ name*
Haha, thanks for advice crescentgirl! Unfortunately it is too late for me! I’ve already removed all the wallpaper and bleached the hell out of my bathroom walls, haha. I’ve also removed some of the gross drywall, I’m sure that isn’t removing all of it but thats the best I can do for the moment. I think without the wallpaper and with additional ventilation there will be no more mold problem, since most of the fault is mine for not turning on my fan enough. I’m afraid of loud noises, what can I say?
But yes, thanks very much for the kind advice!
it looks like she’s drinking it.
NO MORE MOLD ! EVER SINCE I READ THOSE COMMENTS I HAVE IT GROWING OUT OF MY PC !
I cant be the only one wondering how her feet can be so clean after running around the jungle like that …
No, I know.