Ironic, Isn't It, Feeding These Bird-lover's Tongues To The Crows.

SISYPHUS GETS A 9 TO 5

[spoilers for all of severance season 1. words by northernlion, brain worms by me]

Did you actively design Cresce and Alderode to be opposites of each other or did they sort of evolve that way as you were writing the comic?

They were designed to be foils. Can’t have a story without conflict! However I didn’t design one to be markedly or obviously “better” or more just than the other. They both have their problems. I’m not extraordinarily interested in the fight between them, because neither are ideologically pure. You can’t honestly cheer for either side. If you DO, that’s fine, but there is plenty of space and reason to dislike them both.

I’m more interested in the citizens of each place and how they deal with each other on an individual level, and how people in general are able to live in a world where no one is ideologically pure; where almost all institutions are self-serving and wicked. That’s a big theme in Unsounded. All group endeavours are rotten, or become rotten. Trust individuals, but never institutions.

This will all carry through to Alderode. There is no “right” caste. There is no “right” religion between the Ssaelit and Gefendur. There are good people, good intentions, and good days all carried along by a river of time and entropy. That’s life.

Such a face of unbridled rage can only belong to The Johnny Jhonny. (I love it, thank ye)

"Send me a ✍ and a character and I’ll draw the character horribly on MS Paint." I have two words for you: Johnny. Jhonny.

Life’s greatest mystery: is this a drawing of Shou Suzuki or Johnny Jhonny?

Send me a ✍ and a character and I’ll draw the character horribly on MS Paint.

Oh yeah I forgot that was a thing that existed. Quite understandable, considering I’ve only read the first chapter 8, 9-ish times. Poor Root, it didn’t ask to be burned up by virtue of Sette’s foul mouth and Duane’s pig-headedness. Rest In Pieces

"Empathic trees" I cannot recall any empathic, or even sentient trees in this comic as of yet. Would you be so kind as to clarify?

The Wand’ring Root in the first chapter!

Obviously you want the story to stand completely on it's own, but do you think this blog and other ways of communicating with your audience has made you more willing to include details in the story that are more esoteric or require more context?

Mm, prooobably, but I really love dense work. My favourite media is always overwrought, busy, and layered, sucking you into a world that's been illustrated to a degree you immediately and fully buy into it. My favourite fantasy comic is Nausicaa, and it's often called too hard to read, my favourite novel is Moby-Dick which goes off on incredible tangents about the world of whaling. My favourite game is Vagrant Story which has about a dozen ways to play it and a story so sketchy in a world so rich that people are still trying to interpret what happens in it even today. I like worlds where much of what you're seeing isn't explained. You're dropped into an opaque setting, and exploring that setting and putting its pieces together is just as much a part of the experience as following the plot and the characters.

All this is to say that Unsounded would still be a snaggled jungle even if I'd made it before the internet ever existed. This is just my jam :)

There's a lot of stuff about Kasslyne you ain't gonna get a canon answer for. You'll just have to try and go there and see things for yourself.

Made a mouthwashing animation yayyy

Does one ever really "stop" being influenced by the things they read, watch, play, or otherwise experience, fiction or otherwise? You can't endlessly tinker with the story of Unsounded, and I imagine you already know what you want to say with it... but do you see yourself still able to change or evolve, either during the making of it or beyond? Signed, someone feeling old and stuck.

>>Does one ever really "stop" being influenced by the things they read, watch, play, or otherwise experience, fiction or otherwise?

I think that's up to you. My sixty year old mom listens to the same Tom Petty albums for hours, and watches the same episodes of MASH over and over and over again. For her, media has become a warm and comforting bath after a long day. Maybe that happens to all of us as the world gets more alien and we need that comfort. I don't think it has to be that way, but I think it takes real effort to continue to connect with new stuff; to let it in. The new stuff won't be catering to you so you have to do more work to understand it. And work sucks. But if you care about staying connected to the changing world, you gotta do the work to change with it. Or don't. It's your call.

If you feel old and stuck, let new stuff in. Don't dismiss it, even if your experience lets you recognise the same old tropes repeating themselves.

That latter thing is a problem I have. The older I get, the smaller the world seems. We just aren't very interesting animals. We make the same things over and over because we're trapped in such a tiny, limited world. Teach a hamster to paint and all you're gonna get is canvas after canvas of water bottles and hamster wheels.

>>You can't endlessly tinker with the story of Unsounded, and I imagine you already know what you want to say with it... but do you see yourself still able to change or evolve, either during the making of it or beyond?

Unsounded's changed a lot as it's gone along. It's a very long comic, but it's broken into storylines that have reflected my own changing self as the years have dragged on. I'm sure you've noticed it's gotten a bit more cynical in recent chapters. Sette has sobered up as she and I have experience more of the world. It'll keep changing, too. There are places I want to go in it that I couldn't have gone ten years ago. There are things I want to say that I didn't even know existed back then. Fortunately, while Unsounded's narrative highway is complete, there's plenty room to traverse that highway dynamically, via vehicles I've yet to even decide on.

So yeah, if you're stuck, Anon, get in a different car. Maybe get on a hippopotamus.

Your one ask makes me wonder, did Ruck have any history with Crescia? He did know about that one tunnel in the palace too, which I think was under a different queen. Guess his experience shows that there really will always be more queens for him, damn

Ruck had some complicated history with Crescia but wasn't in her face like this. I'll write about it one day. Ruck was not Ruck then, he was a snivelling little worm lurking at the periphery of a much more powerful and wise efheby.

But I don't want anyone thinking Ruck had any influence over Crescia; he was just there in the world when she and her forces were establishing the beginning of the country. Even the senets then were impressed by her, and to this day put respect on her name.

why must you draw something like this that draws me into this tumblr crap?

I had too many comparison messages/requests to abstain from this crossover any longer

Help a gal and her cat out, oh 9 followers of mine

$5 COMMISSIONS! Not even kidding! I posted this on a different app but it was taken down. My baby has a tumor, and I need extra money for X-rays and surgery, provided that the cancer hasn’t spread to her little lungs.

gofundme.com/58mn6-surgery-for-kitkat

My go fund me campaign- but I am more than happy to work for the money. I’ll draw pretty much anything right now within reason. $5 minimum for the 5.5 x 7” sketches.

I NEVER ASK FOR REBLOGS BUT- I’m putting my pride aside and trying to do what’s best for my baby. Please reblog this if you’re a fan of my work- or a fan of cats. I love her so much and can’t stand the thought of losing her.

Someone pitched her out the side door of his truck one day and she tumbled onto the pavement and it broke my heart because she was so tiny and her eyes were gunked shut. I kept her a secret from my parents in my room upstairs for 6 years. It was just the two of us. So as you can imagine I have a very deep bond with kitkat and I would do anything for her.

If you want to help but can’t commission or donate then please reblog it will mean the world to me and the sweetest little catholic could ever meet.

yOU CAN CONTACT ME HERE oN TUMBLR OR AT MY KIK IN THE PICTURES ABOVE