Posts Tagged with the harbinger’s path

The Harbinger’s Path: Chapter 2 Launch | June 23, 2025

Digital Art, Finished Art, Guild Wars 2
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Crop showing Trahearne, Malyck, and Amaranda the Lonesome from Guild Wars 2. The panel depicts the moment when Amaranda discovers she feels no presence of the Dream within Malyck.
The Harbinger’s Path } Page 1, panel crop

The first page for The Harbinger’s Path: Chapter 2 is now up! 

This was the first page I finished for chapter 2. I finished it a while ago, and have been working on finalizing the rest of chapter 2’s pages since. Because of this (as I should have foresaw) – when I saw the page yesterday, I saw several things I wanted to adjust. 

The main things I wanted to change were the colors, values, and contrast – because when I was previewing the page with the final page from chapter 1 yesterday, I thought the color schemes clashed. I suspect the original version might be more pleasant “illustratively,” but I’m fairly certain the revised version flows better visually when these pages are read sequentially. 

I’ll post both versions below to compare: 

If the images look similar, try clicking one and flipping between them a few times – this should make the differences more apparent.  

As with the first chapter, I’ll also note down the updates here at the tail end of this post – primarily for myself, as it’s helpful for me to see the sorts of updates I need to plan for when handling the logistics of this type of project. It’s also kind of fun to keep a record to look back on down the line. As well, with how fast-paced (and outlandish) things are nowadays, time has a way of slipping by so quickly. If I don’t note down what I did at the time, the memories of what I was even doing at the time are so easy to pass by, or even forgotten. Pages like this post and the physical notebook are ways to help slow me down, and keep track of how much or how little I’ve been able to do – because when I don’t, it often feels like I’m doing very little,. Or that the amount I’m doing is moving along at this glacial pace. Which is still arguable, but at least when I keep track of it, it helps remind me of the small victories. Like posting this page today. :D 

Further Thoughts 

Adding a few more thoughts I wanted to note down here later in the day – I think I need to preview how pages look on the website earlier than when I’m ready to post them. Even though I can browse through the pages in my files, flipping through them on the website feels different. 

Maybe it will only be for this chapter page – because I hadn’t yet tried paging through Chapter 1’s final page and then to Chapter 2’s first page. In retrospect, this was silly not to do. It made me immediately see a number of things I wasn’t satisfied with in the original version, and know what to change to add cohesion. 

As well, I’m doing this with page 2 for Ch2 now – and it helps a lot seeing how it reads when flipping from page 1 to page 2. Maybe this is one downside to working on the pages as spreads – it doesn’t give me that “webcomic” page-by-page experience. Which is important to me that it flows properly, since it’s the primary way (I hope) the comic will be viewed. 

Comic & Site Updates Log (Ch2)

June 23, 2025

  • Chapter 2, page 1 posted. 
  • Slight UI adjustments: 
    • Added a “Latest Updates” anchor link to the page index.  
    • Added additional navigation to chapter 2’s pages. 
    • Reduced the footer font size for all comic pages to be less obtrusive on mobile. 

June 25, 2025

  • Chapter 2, page 2 posted. 

June 30, 2025

  • Chapter 2, page 3 posted. 
  • Adjusted the updates portion of the Harbinger index page layout to improve readability. 
    • Headers are now aligned to the left, instead of centered. 
    • Added “Latest Update” and “Previous Updates” sections. 
    • Moved the “page updates posted on…” section to below the most recent update, instead of at the bottom of the page. This is for improved visibility on mobile. I might move it back down during shorter updates – it was mainly looking a bit messy and confusing having it all the way at the bottom, above the art gallery. 

 Add-on Updates: June 30, 2025

  • Slightly updated the art for page 3 (small touch-ups). 
  • Page index UI update: 
    • The “page updates posted on…” section now only shows on mobile! This was my preference as the desktop version has the links on the sidebar – which disappears on mobile, along with those links. Really glad this cleans up the desktop layout, while keeping the functionality on mobile. :) Hopefully I will not forget the links are there on mobile, since I still mainly use the site on desktop (phones are not ergonomic! I don’t understand how people can use them for so long comfortably). 

July 7, 2025

  • Slight updates to the Harbinger index page layout to improve readability. 

July 9, 2025

  • Slight updates to page 6’s art – touched up Malyck’s arm pose to be more correct. 

July 14, 2025

  • Slight updates to page 7’s art.
    • Touched-up Trahearne’s pupils in panel 2 to read more clearly as intended at web resolution. 
    • Sharpened small detail text for improved legibility. 

Add-on Update: July 14, 2025

July 27, 2025

  • Slight typography adjustments to Harbinger’s index page. 
    • Aims to improve legibility. 
    • Some additional changes will go live when the new page (Ch2, Page 11) is posted later today. Decided to make all changes live now! 
  • Replaced the previous “page updates posted on…” section with “Fun Stuff” section. 
    • Now displays on on all views, both desktop and mobile. 

August 1, 2025 

  • Reduced top page text for individual comic pages on mobile-only, to increase screen area for certain pages. 

August 18, 2025 

  • Slightly touched-up the title pages for both Chapters 1 and 2.

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The Harbinger’s Path: Panel Previews + New Pages June 23 | June 18, 2025

Digital Art, Guild Wars 2, Work-In-Progress
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Crop of a Trahearne from Guild Wars 2, roughly drawn in a comic style. The firstborn sylvari is glaring up fiercely, as glowing amber sap-blood streaks across the far half of his face.
“The Harbinger’s Path” | Trahaerne panel preview (in-progress / artwork not final)

Wanted to do an update post! Chapter 2 for The Harbinger’s Path is about 85% complete now. I finished the first “refinement” pass for all the pages last Thursday, and began doing the “final refinement” pass for the first half of the chapter (if you’re confused about what I’m talking about here, I go into my rough process in this post). 

While working on them last night, I realized that because the files themselves are spreads – with 2 pages per file – I thought I had done half as much progress of the “final pass” as I’ve made so far. I realized I had double the amount of progress as what it had been feeling like for the past few days. I feel very silly, but this means I am confident I can begin posting new pages for chapter 2 next Monday, June 23rd! 

The previews in this post are updates on some of the in-progress panels from this post from last week and this post from earlier in the month (still works-in-progress here).

Malyck and Trahearne from Guild Wars 2. Malyck intimates a restrained Trahearne, as Trahearne glares defiantly back. High-contrast rim lighting has been added since the earlier work-in-progress crop from last week.
“The Harbinger’s Path” | Malyck & Trahearne panel preview (in-progress / artwork not final)

I’m going back and forth as to whether adding Malyck’s luminescence here adds or not – for the scene itself, I think it could work either way in terms of what it says about the character. 

Comic-style drawing with strong light and dark contrast. Malyck extends his hand to the side of Trahearne's jaw, the latter bound by thorned vines.
“The Harbinger’s Path” | Malyck & Trahearne panel preview (in-progress / artwork not final)

About 80% refined. 

Black-and-white version of the previous drawing.
“The Harbinger’s Path” | Malyck & Trahearne panel preview (in-progress / artwork not final) | Black-and-white version

This a small panel in the comic itself, but one of my personal favorites. I really like the contrast it has in black and white (though it will be in color in the comic itself). I feel like it’s working better in the black-and-white version – still working out how to convey a similar feeling when color is added. 

The Harbinger’s Path: Panel Preview | June 11, 2025

Digital Art, Guild Wars 2, Work-In-Progress
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Malyck and Trahearne from Guild Wars 2. Malyck intimates a restrained Trahearne, as Trahearne glares defiantly back.
Maylck & Trahearne Panel Crop

One more panel preview! I’d say Chapter 2 is a little less than half-finished now. I might update this post again later today with more progress. I’ve kept much of the process saved in the files, but I’m finding it smoother to continue progressing the pages and sorting through what to share later on. I know I said this for Chapter 1, but I’m really excited to finish Chapter 2 so I can start working on Chapter 3, haha. Chapter 3 has some of my favorite scenes in the whole project. 

The Harbinger’s Path: Panel Previews + Release Date | June 4, 2025

Digital Art, Guild Wars 2, Work-In-Progress
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Panel preview from "The Harbinger's Path" Guild Wars 2 fan comic. Malyck, one of the main sylvari characters in the comic, extends his arm as he becomes wrapped in thorned vines.
“The Harbinger’s Path” | Panel preview (in-progress / artwork not final)

Wanted to post a few panel previews from the current stage of Chapter 2! I have the majority of chapter 2 blocked out now – what feels like the bulk of the work for me. Progress is going smoothly, more than chapter 1, as I’ve been able to apply everything I learned from doing chapter 1 to chapter 2. Chapter 1 had sort of a haphazard workflow, because I didn’t really know what I was doing – the way I drew the pages was very inefficient. But necessary, I think, for figuring out a workflow that works for me and feels natural. I estimate new pages should be ready later this month. 

Above and below are color tests from yesterday. Below was the initial color test. I liked the contrast of the warm colors, but comparing it with the cooler version (above), I thought the color version was a better fit for this page’s tone and dialogue. 

More colorful version of the previous image. More warm tones are added.
Initial color test for the previous panel preview (in-progress / artwork not final)

I’m using a different method for coloring this chapter’s pages, which I tried on some practice pages for a different project alongside doing The Harbinger’s Path first chapter (Nightmare’s Embrace – a short side-comic about my personal sylvari characters, which I haven’t shown anywhere yet). I really like how the colors for those pages are turning out – they give me a little more control compared to the workflow I used in Chapter 1. 

Monochromatic line drawing with strong light and dark contrast. Malyck extends his hand to the side of Trahearne's jaw, the latter bound by thorned vines.
“The Harbinger’s Path” | Panel preview (in-progress / artwork not final)

This is a panel early in Chapter 2 I like – the composition for this preview is the full panel. 

Detail close-up of the previous drawing.
Close-up of the previous panel (in-progress / artwork not final)

Close-up of the previous panel. 

The workflow I’m using right now is loosely: Layout >> Block-out >> Color or Refinements (order is interchangeable) >> Final Refinements 

Layout = Very loose, messy sketches. Likely only understandable to me because they are incredibly loose (maybe I’ll post examples in the future, though they aren’t anything to look at because they likely won’t be very readable) 

Block-out = Changing the loose layout sketches into readable forms and shapes. The color tests above are the block-out stage with very loose color just added, while the panel below is a little before I’d consider a block-out “complete,” because the shapes for Trahearne’s hair are not fully defined/decided on yet. But I also sometimes leave this to the “refinements” step, when they are smaller details like these, and if I think they will not take me too long to figure out during refining. 

Color = Initial colors. 

Refinements = Refining the block-out lines, as well as any color changes. Maybe this should be two steps, but I’ve been thinking of them as a combined step. 

Final Refinements = Fix anything I’m dissatisfied with in the page at this stage. This is arguably the most important step, in some ways – Harbinger Chapter 1 hovered in the “Refinements” stage for a long time. It was “mostly presentable,” but there were many things on all the pages I saw I wanted to fix or improve. It wasn’t until doing a second “refinements” pass that the pages began to look more finished to me. They’re small changes, but ones that make an impact disproportional to what I’d expect (at least, it was surprising to me how much adding this step improved all the pages for chapter 1). 

Above is just a personal favorite of mine – I really like how Trahearne’s expression is turning out. Doing these pages is forcing me to learn a lot of things about line weight which (to my detriment) I’ve never had a strong interest practicing with very much before, but which has become endlessly interesting to me for some reason this year. 

The Harbinger’s Path: Chapter 1 is Live! | May 12, 2025

Digital Art
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Latest post to updates log: May 21, 2025
(scroll to bottom of post)

Preview of page 3 from "The Harbinger's Path," showing an establishing shot of the Maguuma Jungle in a painterly comic style.
“The Harbinger’s Path” | Page 3 preview crop (establishing shot)

The Harbinger’s Path officially launched today! :D

The entire first chapter can be read here.

Here’s the description from the site:

Pact Marshal Trahearne spent 43 days captured by the Elder Dragon Mordremoth. What happened to the Firstborn during this time?

 

Trahearne & Malyck fan comic set during the Heart of Thorns era of Guild Wars 2.

 

Rated PG-13

The main thing I learned from this launch is I need to schedule more buffer time than I think I will need, to account for unforeseen occurrences, haha. I had planned to take care of the majority of the comic over the weekend, and intended to upload the pages early this morning. I had existing (comic-unrelated) plans which I didn’t allocate enough time for, such that I lost about a day’s time. I managed to have the comic live at 2 pm PT, and started posting them to socials/RSS/email after, around 2:45 pm or so. I was originally hoping to post them at around 8-9 am PT, which is what I’ll aim for in the future if I do another bulk chapter like this.

I received a few messages throughout the morning from people anticipating the comic’s launch, and I feel bad I kept you waiting. D: I hope the wait will be worth it, and I may even have a chance to do a few touch-ups tonight before you perhaps see it when you awake next morning … though from what I’ve gathered through the years, excessive revisions for the first chapter of a comic can be a potential pitfall. Maybe I should make a personal rule to not revise chapter 1 until I finish chapter 2. But I will probably end up revising a few small things, before then. :p

I was still touching up pages this morning! In my defense, I think adhering to a launch date personally helps me a great deal. The reason I was still touching-up pages was because I didn’t notice many things until it became closer and closer to the launch. Suddenly, the realization of, “Oh man! People will actually see this! I can’t show it in this state!” And that happened even to pages which I had previously checked off as “finished” last week. Funny how that is – it’s probably some psychological trickery. But I think the pages turn out better for it, than if I had allowed myself infinite time to work on them. They probably would never have been completed if I had done that – more for that pile of WIP’s we all seem to have.

The PDF

The main thing I have remaining for the first chapter is the digital PDF I wanted to put together. In the end, my ambitions to complete the PDF to coincide with launch day proved a bit lofty, haha. I think I might have struggled to finish it even if I had not had less time this weekend than I was intending. On the bright side, with the extra time (my new ETA is for this Friday, May 16), I’m hopeful I can perhaps add some flourishes I wouldn’t have had time for, had I posted it today.

At the very least, it should be a bit neater than if I had tried to fit it in for today.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is also well under way! I have the layouts done, and have started refining. I’ve found that layouts of initial refinement are some of my favorite steps of the process – I have layouts for a lot of ideas, some Guild Wars, some with original stories with my characters – it’s so fun to note down these ideas in sketch form.

Anyway, I’m going to list Chapter 1 launch day updates below – mainly for myself, to have a record for the things I had to fix, haha – and then have some longer thoughts/likely rambling in the full post afterward.

Comic Updates Log (Ch1)

Updates: May 12, 2025

  • Fixed a bug with the cover page’s mobile layout displaying incorrectly.
  • Fixed a broken link on the cover page’s “next” link.
  • Fixed the footer formatting on comic pages.
  • Added source links for “The Nightmare Harbinger” on pages 1 and 2.
  • Fixed the background image for “The Harbinger’s Path” index page displaying in an unintended way.
  • Slightly updated the art for page 3 (the establishing shot).

Add-on Updates: May 13, 2025

  • Slight adjustments and touch-ups to pages 9-10
    • Primarily word balloons, slight art updates
  • Updated art for page 8
    • Turned on some layers I didn’t realize were off!
    • Cleaned up art in panel 3

Add-on Update: May 17, 2025

  • Slight update to the title text typography on page 3.

Add-on Updates: May 18, 2025

  • Slight update/touch-up to the final speech balloon on page 15 (an errant brushstroke).
  • The bonus-art version of Chapter 1’s web PDF is now live. It is currently sent to everyone who signs-up for email updates.

Add-on Updates: May 21, 2025

  • Slight edits to both versions of the web PDF for Chapter 1.
    • Reduced file size while maintaining the same image quality.
    • Very small touch-ups in the opening 2-page spread and pg 5 PDF formatting.
    • Added a version number to the PDF on the bottom of the final page. Current version: Ver. 1.02
    • Neatened the PDF’s metadata.
  • Added the pages-only version of the web PDF as a free download on Ko-fi. 

Comic Launch Thoughts

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