[LotF] rant: A Conclusion That's Been A Long Time Coming

Legend of the Four

Hey guys. Long time no see. Work, San Diego wildfires, and life in general have been keeping me away.

I've had a conversation with Reverie recently (She's been with LotF almost since the beginning.)... And I've decided to do something that I've been debating with myself for over a year now.

I think I needed to talk to Rev' to finally come to this. Everyone else I've mentioned it to is a family member or one of friends who are my siblings in all but blood. In other words, biased. Rev' is my friend. In fact, she is one of my oldest and favorite online friends. And I want to remain friends with her. But, unlike everyone else I mentioned this to, Rev' and I met and became friends because I as drawing LotF. We've never met face to face. She's been with the story from the get-go and has a lot invested in it, but in a way completely different from Jenni and I. Jenni and I have a lot invested, but we already know how the story goes. So I needed the kind of opinion on it that only Rev' could give me.

I love Legend of the Four. It's been my web comic baby since July 2001. However, six years later, the story isn't written out in exacts, but I do know the general plot line all the way to the end. I simply don't have the time to update on a regular basis and draw the things I get inspired to do at random. At some point, I lost the drive to finish LotF as a comic.
The story is long, and I finished telling the basics of it in my head a long time ago. Basically, I'm not going to be able to get back to doing more than one page a week at most, and at that rate, I don't know that I'd ever finish the story. It's a daunting concept, and it makes sitting down to draw it page by page even more intimidating. The beginning of the story is a twisted mess, and I can't stand the early art at all.

So I've come to a hard decision. I will be ending LotF. There's 3 pages left in the current chapter that I've already thumb-nailed. I will finish drawing and post them in the next couple of weeks. After that, I will begin the process of finishing telling you guys the rest of the story. It won't be full prose. It will be outlines and sketches, snippets of dialog, and the occasional finished picture (my cover art quality or better). It will probably take me a couple of months to get it all down on digital paper and up. But I will finish telling the basics of the story before I shut LotF down forever.

I will most likely continue drawing random illustrations on my Deviant Art after I finish the story, but I don't want to keep leaving it hanging, and I can't see myself as capable of finishing it in my lifetime at my current rate and method. So this is my solution. I expect to have everything finished before April of next year, probably earlier, but I'm being overly generous given my history, and that I may want to get elaborate with some scenes.

Thanks to all of you for staying with LotF so long, and I'm sorry I won't be able to finish it the way I originally wanted.

I've discussed several times with Jenni re-telling the story as a novel and attempting to get it published. I may still do that at some point. Tell the story right, and have a plan going in. I know I'll probably never stop drawing Derce' and Mainyo completely, but their adventures as a web comic are going to come to an end.

~ Lycorne
ElfGrove Studio @ DA
Legend of the Four

[LotF] rant: Cat Legend and Travel Update

Hey guys! And many welcomes to any visitors from over at Cat Legend. The secret project I mentioned working on before was that I got an opportunity to do a guest page or two for the wonderful Kat who does CL. If you guys aren't already among the Cat Legend audience, go start reading it now. I positively adore her story, and her characters are a blast to draw.

And to those visiting from CL, I hope you see something you can enjoy in Lot4 and/or Overhill. Please pop into the chat room to say "Hi". The more the merrier!

By way of an update, I got an extra page finished over this weekend, so my missing updates as a result of my trip will be for only two weeks instead of three. You've got another Lot4 page coming on Monday.

... Yup, that's it. Busy Busy.

[LotF] rant: Travel Notice

Travel Notice

Hey-ya Everyone!

Those three pages are all completed and up, and I’m going ahead and starting on the page for next week.

But after next week, things get tricky, and I’m probably not going to be able to update for three weeks. I’ve got to do a lot of last minute stuff, and then I’m going on an (about) two-week vacation down South. See my whirlwind trip from one end to the other of the freaking state of Alabama.

This translates as no new pages from Monday, August the 27th, to Monday, September the 10th. Regular updates will resume on Monday, September the 17th.

So if anyone has the time, I would really appreciate having some filler art or guest comics to go up in my absence. I probably won’t have consistent internet access once I leave San Diego, so if possible, any fillers for the time period would have to be emailed to me by midnight, Tuesday the 28th. Of course, there’ll be link pimpage for anyone who can help me out with fillers on such short notice! I'm kinda betting on there not being anyone with the free time though.

Sorry Guys! I so need this trip though. I want to see all my friends from back home, and I’ll be getting to meet Jenni’s (Undine’s Character Basis) baby in person for the first time! *SQUEEE!!!*

Lycorne
ElfGrove Studio

P.S. WhooHoo! Dragon*Con!

[LotF] rant: Triple Update + 1

Hey guys!

Yes, I know I missed the last two weeks. This is after I told one of you in an AIM conversation that I shouldn't miss any updates through the end of this chapter. *sigh* DAMMIT.

I had two surprisingly busy weekends.

I wasn't planning to attend Sn Diego Comic Con until a friend called me up to say she had an extra badge (she'd acquired a staff badge for volunteering) that I could use for free. So I went to SDCC for about half of Friday and all of Saturday. (I saw the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" panel live. Freaking Awesome!)

The next weekend I went to a Renn Faire in Balboa Park. It's not bad, but seriously... Not impressed. Between the "Beer Garden", severe lack of enthusiastic "Players", and no permanent Faire Site (this is evidently the norm in Cali?)... I was kinda disappointed. I paid the same entry fee to go to the Atlanta Renn' Faire before, and they have a kick ass permanent Faire Site, jousting, wandering "Players" and professional Bards... *shakes head*

But between weekend activities, long work days, and having to finish a "Secret Project" with a August 10th deadline (that will be unveiled soon)... I just fell behind. The two missing pages will have final versions posted on Monday as well as the new page for that Monday. The rough sketch versions of the pages are up now. Also, as a cover page, I've posted the response to Rev's request for a bluehair!Storm and Mainyo romantic pinup.

P.S. My AIM username is "KageLycorne" for those of you who don't know it. I know it isn't posted on the site since I re-did the layout. I'm not great about being on it, but I am there occasionally, and I love hearing from you guys via the Chatzy chatroom & AIM.

from Legend of the Four

[LotF] rant: IM IN UR MAPZ

Here's a pretty cool trick.
I was able to Google Map the Amayinehi's Spring being shown in the last few pages with Storm & Mainyo. If you go to the below address, try zooming in on Hybrid or Satellite view. You can get a bird's eye view of the real life location I used as a setting for an imaginary comic event.

Google Maps: Amayinehi's Spring

[LotF] rant: Update Issues

Okay, some of you caught the link I left in the chat room, but here's the official word on the front page.

Remember ages ago when I lost my entire archive because one of the two KeenSpace servers died violently, loosing a randomized chunk of about 1200 KS sites? Yeah, me too.

In a wonderfully prepared move to prevent that incident repeating itself, ComicGenesis (mostly the same people, new name) has purchased a new server, backed up everyone's stuff, and moved it over to the new server successfully. The CG forums, home site, and site admin have not made the switch yet, and DNS is having random issues, but no one has lost more than a week's worth of comics. The CG auto-update system is not functioning properly yet, as you guys may have noticed, since a script went up Sunday night, but no new page on Monday.

The ComicGenesis staff are working on the problems. Working as CG Admin is done for love of the community, not for money, so Kisai and Strredwolf are working these issues along with their day jobs. Much kudos and love for them with it going as smoothly as it has. Hopefully updating will be functioning normally again soon. Until then, bear with it. I love CG, this place is made of win.

And, as for the two pages sitting in limbo where you can't see? I've tried a couple of back door ways, but I can't force an update through right now. I'm suddenly very glad my rant area is now an outside blog. I can get updates to everyone when CG isn't at top form.
So here are some temporary links: 57 & 58
Those files will be gone as soon as the CG page updates. The CG versions are a bit larger and not pixelated from auto-shrinkage.

from Legend of the Four

[LotF] Rant: Site Revamped

Hey guys. As you can see, the site has been through some major updates this weekend. There's some stuff you've never seen before in the gallery, some new links that I highly advise, and the Side Notes page is halfway back up.

Play around, and let me know via either the chatzy room, email, or blog comments.

Safe Journeys,
~ Lycorne

from Legend of the Four

[LotF] Rant: Sunburned

Monday, May 07, 2006
mood: Nauseated

So, I update. Update a bunch. I know it's hard to belive seeing the mediocre results but drawing the Amayinehi (a Native American water spirit/faerie) and the limestone spring that Big Spring Park in Huntsville, AL is named for has been intimidating the heck out of me. I'm not that proud of how the Amayinehi came out, but I have a couple of pages to reveal her details. I am however, very pleased with my results for the spring itself. I tweaked it a bit, but that entire steps down and stepping stones across things does exist. It's really cool. If you Google Big Spring Park and Huntsville you'll probably find photos of it.

I feel ill right now because my whiter than white idiotself went to the beach on Sunday. I swam in the Pacific fully clothed, now, THAT was amusing. But then I sayt in the sun in a tank top and jeans rolled up to my knees. I am lobster red, nauseated, and in a great deal of ouch-don't-touch-me-or-i'll-dismember-you-YES-that-hurts!

That character outfit design? I'm mixing Kat and Rev's submissions slightly. Ishi... I'm working on his new clothing.

EDIT [05/08/2007]: Okay. Normally I double-check this stuff before I post the actual text. But the place I orginally pulled the word "Aspara" from named it as the Native American term for a Water Spirit. I did some double-checks tonight, and that's wrong. "Aspara" is an Indian (as in India) cloud and water spirit/deva-thing. Bad internets, you betrayed me. I imagine the Sidhe common-speech (indicated to be in use by the "//"s) is something very close to Gaelic. Thusly I use a lot of Gaelic and Welsh words to name titles, affiliations, and other nouns for Sidhe, under the assumption that the full Sidhe meaning does not translate properly to English. But because the Water Spirit seen here is tied to a rather (locally)historically important spring in the Southern USA, I felt it necessary to use a Native American term for it. Thusly to refer to the Spring Water Spirit, Storm uses the Sidhe-common "Chibbyragh" (Gaelic for "spring; as of a well") and the Cherokee/Tsalagi term "Amayinehi" (meaning "water spirit/faerie") . I've gone back and corrected the comic.

Safe Journeys,
~ Lycorne

from Legend of the Four