I will also show 2 bonus crops at the end of this post – one that I posted yesterday on Bluesky, and a bonus version here with color flats added.
Bluesky Censorship
Though before showing the images, I want to briefly mention the widening scope of censorship currently going over on Bluesky. This isn’t something that has only happened on there – it’s been a recent occurrence across several platforms in recent years. Most notably, for this year, are the Itchi.io and Steam bans. But before then, it was Patreon and Gumroad, as well as others. Bluesky, however, is a little unique in it is one of the most far-reaching among these recent censorship pushes.
These are important topics to me, but (at least, for now) too wide in scope to broach entirely in this post. I’d want more time to word everything properly, as it’d likely be an essay’s-worth of words, if I tried and tackled it now.
But what I want to note about Bluesky for the time being, is something I thought about posting there – and maybe I still will, depending on how this week goes, and if the admins there react to the backlash or not.
What I want to say is this:
General thoughts on the widening scope of censorship in recent years
Some years ago, it used to be widely understood that if you wished to protect the art you like, you must also defend the existence of the art you dislike – or even find repulsive. You are free to be disgusted by anything, not look at and filter it, and move on.
It was when people began forcing everyone to censor anything uncomfortable that lead to where we are now. Where multiple platforms are widening their scope of censoring artistic expression, which used to be widely understood as a key aspect of what it even means to be human.
Social platforms have spent years inciting the dehumanization of their own users toward themselves and each other. These recent censorship crackdowns are a reflection of this. Platforms would prefer censoring expressions of sincere humanity, in favor of the most banal visual products, aka “content”
Bluesky specifically
With that, I’ll just write what I posted there, with some expanded thoughts since I am not limited to a wordcount here (I’ll link to the social post itself afterward, if you’d like to see the original, much shorter thread):
This is a very, very rough test – but contemplating adding slight animation to the final page of chapter 2.
I should probably be using fade/opacity transitions for this and not frames, but, I both don’t know how to do that in Krita (yet, if the function is there), and I’m also partial to frame animation to probably a detrimental degree, haha.
Edit: August 9, 2025
Practice frame animation (Unfinished)
Decided to practice a bit more with this (separate) test, and also widened the aspect ratio. I’m not planning on finishing this because it was mainly unplanned practice, and the way I set up the file is pretty messy. Mainly after the initial sketch, I made a layer and just drew on top of each keyframe – both the character and the background. This would probably make it too time-prohibitive if I wanted to try and fix every error and make the frames motion read more smoothly, haha.
Really fun to do though, and it gave me a good sense for how Krita’s timework works now. Should make it easier for me to add some small animation to Chapter 2’s final page at some point!
Anyway, earlier WIP versions in the full post below:
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 2, page 2, panel crop
I think I’ll make this post for any page previews I don’t end up making a separate post for – starting with this preview crop from chapter 2, page 3. Will add to this post as needed!
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 2, page 3, panel crop
The Harbinger’s Path | Chapter 2, page 2, panel crop
This page went through a number of changes and deliberations while I worked on it, and I wanted to share some of the process and thoughts that went into it.
First, some process steps below! The first 2 are fairly early on in the process, though further along than the “layout” step (which are barely above stick figures). This page’s ideation started with heavy silhouetting. When I initially drafted the layout for this page, Malyck was the only panel on it for a while. I went between leaving the rest of the page with negative space – either empty or filled with black – or with an establishing shot or something involving Trahearne to fill the space.
Ch2, page 2 | Early draft
Ch2, page 2 | Starting to refine the draft
My aim was that this part of the page should convey some time has passed since the final scene in Chapter 1.
I wasn’t decided initially, and left the rest of the page blank and went on to do the rest of Chapter 2’s layouts. When I came back to this page later on, the idea to show Trahearne most appealed to me. It would work both to reorient ourselves with where our main character is now, as well as also serve as a bit of an establishing shot. My hope is this would also convey how the previous page is a memory – though whether by Trahearne, Malyck, or someone else, is left to interpretation.
My other dilemma with this page involved Trahearne himself. It was important to me to convey his sense of desperation, but also his strength and resolve. The clawing vines are a visual representation of his capture, but I didn’t want to only represent his imprisonment – I want to represent his strength of will. The main question became, should I represent this visually, or through internal thoughts?
Ch2, page 2 | Test colors (didn’t like this initial test)
Ch2, page 2 | Color scheme chosen – the cooler tones were a better fit.
To thought balloon or not to thought balloon
This is an interesting question. My understanding is, displaying internal thoughts for characters is a bit more archaic (at least in western comics). It was very commonplace in the old Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Marvel comics (which of the few I’ve read, I quite adore). I personally really loved the style of those old comics – including the thought balloons. I don’t know if that’s a controversial or unpopular opinion or not, among comic fans today (I am woefully out of the loop). My understanding is this has fallen out of favor with modern comics (at least, again, with more western ones). The preference being to represent character thoughts externally, through visuals, instead of through thought balloons.
I admire this aspiration. There is incredible merit to it. My favorite webcomic, Unsounded by Ashley Cope (which has, incidentally, just launched the pre-campaign on Kickstarter for the Iron Circus Comics publication of volumes 1 & 2 – which you should very definitely consider checking out & giving the campaign a follow!), adheres to this methodology. I believe I read it in an interview Ashley gave many years ago (or it might have also been a reply to someone on Tumblr), where she explained more about her reasoning behind this. I’m going to paraphrase (forgive me), but the general sentiment I took away from it is that, if you forgo thought balloons, it very often results in much more visually interesting, impactful pages.
For me, the easiest example to show are pages 16 and 17 from Unsounded’s first chapter. It makes more sense in-context if you read from the beginning of the chapter (which I highly recommend!), but even so, these pages are excellent examples about visually representing the internal turmoil within a character’s thoughts and mind, without any use of thought balloons. I love these pages because of how well the concept is executed here. From what I recall (and again, forgive me if I’m misremembering), Ashley is such a strong proponent of this, that I think she has mentioned before that she doesn’t use thought balloons anywhere in Unsounded – which currently sits at over 2,000+ pages in length! A mightily impressive feat, if you ask me.
Ch2, page 2 | Final version of the page
Now, all that said and all my praise for this methodology – why did I decide to use thought balloons, in the end? I also used them in The Harbinger’s Path’s first chapter, also for Trahearne. I’m sorry to say I don’t have a deep reasoning for my decision other than – despite both my awareness and admiration (and enjoyment!) for eschewing thought balloons – it’s a personal preference that I also highly enjoy them. If I had to guess, I think it may be because I grew up reading comics that used them a lot. I read mostly Japanese manga, which makes liberal use of thought balloons (at least, in the ones I read). I enjoy how it can make the character feel closer to the reader, or more intimate. It is true it’s an “easier” technique – it is far more ambitious to represent a character’s thoughts visually, and it is something I would like to attempt in the future. However, I do also think it is a more advanced way of making comics.
So! With my comic project being a “pilot” project of sorts for helping me learn how to make comics in general – combined with how I personally love the intimacy thought balloons can add – I decided to make use of them in The Harbinger’s Path. Maybe this will change in future pages, but for now, I think this was the right choice for me, and for the pages so far.
