Birth of an arcana!
And here we see the four Aces combining their powers to create the very first arcana. In fact, the arcana they are creating is one we have seen before. Can you guess which one it is? I bet you can! |
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And here we see the four Aces combining their powers to create the very first arcana. In fact, the arcana they are creating is one we have seen before. Can you guess which one it is? I bet you can! |
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Greetings, boys and girls and others; Keith W. here. You guys might remember me as that one guy who drew the first 2 chapters and such. I realize, with everything going as it has been, there are a lot of questions, though two big ones seem to be in the forefront. We will answer those in this post. Firstly, and most importantly, is J okay? The short answer is yes. Which leads us to the second question. Is MotA dead? No. MotA is alive, and J still plans to continue it. Referring back to the first question; J's suffering pretty bad burnout. The best and biggest thing I think any of us can do is be supportive and understanding. He's been pushing this coming out for over 3 years, with nearly no failings to get the writing done. Once he's able to find his footing, the comic will continue, and I sincerely hope all of you guys are here, ready for that to happen. Thanks for your time, and stick around, I'm pretty darn sure much more exciting things are coming. P.S. The picture above...it was tons of fun to revisit characters I helped bring to life, and incorporate a few of the more recent stylized changes (Theresa's hair). Hope you enjoyed! Regards, Keith W. |
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Hello, everyone. Its J. Not sure who is still reading this, especially since Google Reader shut down and I'm sure that screwed with RSS feeds but here's a status update. I'm going to break it down into two parts. First, what happened. Second, what's going to happen. What happened I could go into a long and complex explanation about insecurities and depressions but that would be whining and complaining. The truth is, I punked out and I got scared and it was just easier to pretend the comic didn't exist than deal with my inner demons. I'm sorry about that. The readers of Mysteries of the Arcana, who supported the comic through thick and thin, deserved better than I gave them. What's going to happen What's going to happen is the comic is returning. We're going to finish out this chapter and continue. Gennifer has, since our last page, become something of a hotshot in the RPG art world. Seriously. Go to RPGnow.com or Drive Thru RPG and enter Gennifer Bone in the search field and a ton of books will pop up! She's got some serious art chops going and a lot on her plate in terms of work. Because of that, I've had to search for a new artist. Luckily, Keith W just happened to have a hole in his schedule that needed filling. That's right. The original artist of MotA is coming back to help out. He's been very gracious about agreeing to "return to his roots". I'm thrilled to be working with him again. I'm in the process of writing and rewriting. Then he'll begin drawing. We're going to try to get some pages under our belt and build up a buffer before we begin posting so please bear with us for a few more weeks. It might not be until the beginning of November before we are ready to go. But we WILL be ready to go. In the meanwhile, we'll post a few updates. Examples of art. Things to show we're alive and not flaking out again. Also, and I hate to do this without real proof that the comic is back, but art isn't cheap. Keith's being very nice about working with a down payment and a promise of full rates ($20 a page) down the line. Once we have this chapter done, we're going to try a Kickstarter to raise operating capital and maybe even get a print edition. Until that time, if anyone can see it in their heart to donate funds, we'd appreciate it. That will help make sure Keith has art supplies and food. However, given the long hiatus the comic had, if you want to wait until there is proof that the comic is coming back? We understand that. The important thing is that you come and read Mysteries of the Arcana when it returns. I promise, the story will continue. |
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I just wanted to drop a note and let everyone know our status. I've finished the scripts for the second part of chapter 4. We'll be picking up right where we left off, just after the creation of the first arcana. The scripts have been written, proofed, and edited. They are now in Keith's hands. He's in the middle of reading through the scripts and making his own notes before he starts in on the art. I've also started plotting out chapter 5 with new character profiles and plot trees. We're not going to begin posting right away. Rather, we're going to try to build up a buffer so there's less pressure on Keith. Right now we don't have an exact timeline on when the comic will start posting again but my hope is it will be within the month. There are 25 pages left in the chapter. With two updates a week, that's three months of comics. We'll be putting up a few updates, previews of the pages to come as Keith works on them. Once we've got chapter 4 posting again, we'll set up a Kickstarter to fund chapter 5. Unfortunately, finances don't allow me to fund the comic myself and I can't ask any artist to work for how much I was paying before. It was just too little for quality art. I'll be posting more information on that when I have it. Today's update piece was done by Jesse Justice. An awesome picture of Theresa and the Beast. Thank you, Jesse! |
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Here's a weekly update to let everyone know we are making progress. As I mentioned before, the script for the rest of chapter four is finished. Keith is working on the arting as we speak. As proof that there is progress being made, I've posted a page of the script. Consider it an advanced preview of the rest of the chapter. I hope you enjoy it! I should also respond to the comments you've all been kind enough to leave over the last two weeks or so! Gunsolo, thank you! Drachefly, I'm glad you signed up for us on Comic Rocket. That's a great service, as is Inkspace, and I'm glad to be part of both. Aleena, thank you! I think you'll be especially pleased to see Keith returning. Felix, thank you. I am, indeed, alright. JD, MotA couldn't be awesome without you! Jarin, I'm glad to hear that. I'm testing out a new RSS feed reader now myself. WW, when I typed in "tarot centered webcomic" we were fourth on the list, after the webcomic tarot project and Tarot, the comic by Jim Balent. In the future, I recommend remembering "lesbian elf kisses" for a search term instead. We pop up first under that. Ceridwen, I'm doing a test run on a MotA themed tarot card (using the art of the Devil card that signifies Theresa's power) right now. We're hoping to use three tarot cards (Devil, High Priestess, and Knight of Swords) as rewards for the Kickstarter. David T, thank you so much. I'm glad the memory of the story has stuck with you. As the comic's writer, that's very important to me. Osk, thank you for coming back regularly! We're going to have new comics up for you soon. Haruko, yep! New comics soon! Adamas, here's a preview! David, you're absolutely right. I should have said something and communicated my troubles. I hope you can forgive me. I'm sorry. Fairportfan, you've seen the work of our new artist. Its the same as the original artist. Keith W, MotA's original artist, has returned! Eddie, glad you're here! Thank you. CA Morgan, deep breaths all the way. I'll have another update next week. Hopefully with an art preview. |
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Keith's hard at work doing the art for the rest of chapter four. We're also working on turning chapters one, two, and three into ecomics for sale. Up above are the roughs for a new chapter one cover. We've got Theresa, a Biohunter, William, and Chrys. The script for chapter five is progressing nicely. I'm currently doing scene breakdowns. I apologize for the wait on the rest of chapter four. We want to make sure we have a large buffer so there's no delay once we start posting it. In the meanwhile, as many of you know, we're probably going to do a Kickstarter to fund chapter five. So, I've got questions - what sort of rewards would you like to see in an MotA kickstarter? |
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Hello! Here's another update to remind ya'll that we're still alive and getting ready to finish chapter 4. As proof, here are the pencils for a page of chapter 4. Keith's hard at work on the art and we're aiming to get up and running soon. I want to thank those who gave suggestions for the Kickstarter. Your ideas are good ones and the links gave me a lot of ideas to work with. Now, I have a new question for loyal dreamwalkers! I'm happy to announce that Mysteries of the Arcana will be participating in WAGON's Webcomic Battle CCG. There will be six MotA themed cards in their next theme deck. As part of that, I need to provide quotes for each card. I'm having trouble deciding, so I'm asking you, the readers, to help me out. Which quotes from the comic would you put on a card for each of these: Chrys Theresa William Mandrake William's Sword the Royal Road I appreciate your input. You are all awesome. Thank you for your patience. |
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First, news! Keith and I have worked out a firm date for our return. Mysteries of the Arcana will begin updating again on December 2, 2013. We should run straight through the end of chapter 4 before our next (much shorter) break. Now, onto other matters. The winners of the contest are: Each winner will be receiving a Devil card, shown up above, in the mail. I want to thank each of them for entering and everyone for being patient. Thank you! |
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Its the 12th and we're moving closer to the return of Mysteries of the Arcana. Keith's working hard on the art. We'll be ready for the 2nd of December. In the meanwhile, please consider following me on twitter. I'm fairly active there. Mysteries of the Arcana will be participating in Comic Creators for Freedom, a yearly charity project that raises funds to help fight human trafficking. Up above, you can see a piece of the wallpaper from the very first Comic Creators for Freedom, several years back. Chrys and Theresa have been circled so you can locate them. Please check out the Comic Creators for Freedom website to find out more about the project and how you can help! |
We are getting closer to December 2nd and the return of Mysteries of the Arcana. Keith's working hard on the art as we speak. In the meanwhile, I'm working hard on chapter 5 and our upcoming Kickstarter. Today I'm very happy to say I finished chapter 5's rough draft. Sixty-six handwritten pages, not counting the three pages of flowcharts and the seven page outline. To celebrate, I'm posting the first page of the script up above. Its a fuzzy picture, taken with my iPad, but if you can read my handwriting you'll get a sneak peak of chapter 5! |
Today's our last status update before our return! Why? Because our first full, new page of Mysteries of the Arcana in over a year will be posted next Monday! We'll be following a Monday-Thursday schedule after that until the middle of February, when chapter 4 will be finished. By that point we'll have run the Kickstarter and we'll know if we have the funds to run chapter 5. In celebration, here's the first new, full color panel of Mysteries of the Arcana finished in over a year! Its stretched out a bit but up above, please get a nice glimpse of the four Minor Arcana queens holding their very own universes! See you next Monday! |
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Guest post by "JSmith"
The Disk World!