The past three pages were a whole lotta talking heads. That can sometimes feel a bit monotonous, but I think if the conversation itself is interesting enough, the repetitive nature of the talking heads is easily overlooked. If I had more time, I would’ve preferred to have Jayd’s backstory told over scenes that actually showed her two parent races, to break up the scene with more illustrative visuals. But that would have involved actually designing the races, their clothing, culture, etc.
In the end, for the time investment, there just wasn’t enough bang for the buck as far as my workload goes. I don’t know if we’ll ever actually see either of these races, so it wasn’t worth my concepting time for just the brief mention on these three pages.
So talking heads it is!
That said, I did intentionally design Jayd so that she looked like a mix of different features blended together, in case I ever did want to show the two parent races. Maybe one has solid green skin and the other has stripes. Maybe one has a long pterodactyl head and the other has side horns. Maybe one has hoof feet and the other has forearm protrusions. That was the sort of thing I tried to keep in mind when doing the design.
It’s sad. With all these different species in all kinds of shapes and sizes, one can still be marked as a defect.
Regarding the time investment, I think you made the right decision. Unless someone from either race shows up in this volume. 😉
A surprise pop-in visit from mom and dad! On it!
Curious what her response will be when Sky’s friends actually show up to help her.
Well there is the old saying, “A friend of my friend is my enemy.” But then maybe I got that wrong. 🙂