Artwork

[cairn destop]

The picture today of the dog castle does intrigue me.  If it is approachable from two directions, doesn't that make the place too vulnerable to attack?  Could see the castle overlooking the only road, but as described, the castle appears to be a fortified tollbooth.

[WyrmMaster]

The original plan was for the castle to guard one side of a natural land bridge over a deep gorge or valley. Later this was changed to a castle guarding a pass through the mountains. Maybe when the castle was changed to be mostly stone additions to a human ruin, the "castle near a gorge" idea didn't quite make sense.

[cairn destop]

I know these pictures of the dog castle are "conceptual," but did anyone notice the variences between the second and third frames?

The second frame has several characters depicted, one with a very snooty attitude that would rival the one in the story.  Second, the floor is unpolished as there is no reflective quality.  Third, the doors along the side are solid, and finally, there is no framing on the windows behind the throne.

In the third frame, the "doors" are now fabric, there are no characters, the flooring is marble and the windows have detailed frames.  And least I forget it, there are no characters in that frame.

One reason I noted this is because we are given the perception of the room on the ruler's left paw.  Wonder whatever happened to the decor on the right side.

Don't get me wrong.  I thought the pictures great conceptuals.

[cairn destop]

After seeing the artwork for Friday, October 20, 2006, I understand how a deer functions.  If you remember, I asked how a hoof could become as dexterious as fingers.  Now I know.  The "feet" remain cloven while the "hands" have been modified to match human norms.

[cairn destop]

Saw the picture for Novemberr 3, 2006.  I thougth your caption and comparison to the Reverand Mother of the Dune series almost comical.  My own thought was more as a cross between "Kung Fu" and "Xena."  Take a closer look at the artwork.  That is no happy expression and those paws, (hands), are held in a martial arts defensive position.  In this concept picture, I think villan rather than spiritual leader.  Glad the final version softened the perception.

[JSM3050]

Elara the Reverend Mother is probably the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life! Why wasn't it posted for Halloween? XD

[WyrmMaster]

A few artists always drew the characters like they were just about to beat you with a stick.

[JSM3050]

Considering Elara's situation in the game, maybe she was to that point. If no answers are forthcoming, beat them out of something.

[cairn destop]

Just got to see the "cave art" for December 22, 2006.  Think I died laughing at that picture.  It looks like it came right out of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galexy."  Unless the old hedgehog has a poor memory, that book had the dolphins "rescued" by flying saucers and when they left, they were quoted as saying "and thanks for all the fish."

[cairn destop]

The storyboard of the wildcat village may have had the cats "treed" for a specific purpose.  From that vantage point, they could see everyone within the village and everyone who approaches.  Can you say "sentries?"  I knew you could.  (Sorry about that Mister Roger.) 

It does seem illogical for the wildcats to band together.  By nature, cats are solitary.  Think the only cat that isn't would be the African Lion.  Even families don't stay in the same proximity.  Must be an effect of the morphing.

Hedgehog will now try not examining the logic and remind self this is a comic.

[AllieFiona]

Many cat species are solitary, some are social.  They run the whole gamut.  I saw a documentary once on semi-wild barn cats, and was surprised to discover they had a well developed social heirarchy without any help from humans.  I wonder if we would have been able to domesticate the ancestors of house-cats at all if they didn't already have a bit of a social gene.  Seems to me the more solitary the type, the less "tamable" they are.

My spin on the story would be that any animal morphed by the hand of man would have had a social gene inserted so that they would be easier to manage in the lab.  Or for some other mysterious purpose that humans took with them when they dissappeared.

[WyrmMaster]

The cats on the limbs may have have been there for scene scale purposes. A mundane alternative, I know.

[cairn destop]

Okay, what gives?  In the strip for the week of 6/11, Sandy has been changed.  In earlier shots, he is bulkier.  He looks powerful.  In this strip where he argues with Rif, he looks more like a child, puny and weak. 

[AllieFiona]

That's how the artist feels.  Puny and weak.  She has a reeally bad cold.

[cairn destop]

Today's picture of the Boar King's home isn't exactly the most inviting exterior.  How many noticed the piked skulls scattered about the exterior.  As for the middle frame and its mud pool, it's in character, but those gargoyales are horrors.  Somehow, I would think the king would have carvings of some lower servant pouring the water, not what could be interprited as a fierce warrior's expression.