Brevity is the soul of wit. In essence, make anything the comes from your whelpling fingers be succinct, and that you don't overstay your welcome. Writing for too long can...
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: Hmm.. I've never attempted to critique art before. I'll give it a shot though! I think the thing with her leg might actually be mostly caused by the orientation of her foot? Like if her foot was facing more straight towards the viewer I think it might look a bit more natural.
Another thought is that her hand would probably be obstructing her shoulder from view, assuming she's supposed to have her arm outstretched straight. And if you do that maybe have her hand pointing more towards the viewer as well? Alternatively you could keep her hand pointing the same direction but make it a bit smaller and show more of her arm.
Those are pretty minor things though, I think it's a good drawing! Perspective is something I struggle with also, so I don't know if my advice will be of much value.
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: :D I appreciate the reply! And don't worry, I still care! (I'm always up for talking about Prequel)
I agree with you! I've been thinking more about how this could tie into her problem learning healing spells. It really seems this past self/current self separation could be it. As having to project an image of her past self onto her current "Katia" self while at the same time "believing in herself" all seems pretty incompatible with the way she views herself now.
It could be that's being hinted at here:
"You don’t… think that’s the issue? Sure, you’ve had plenty of times where you comforted yourself with lies, but you feel like your overall self-perception isn’t off base. It might seem like you’re hard on yourself sometimes, but really you just have a lot of problems and you’re extremely aware of them. And you’re not blind to the good things about yourself, either! Like, you did a cool thing last night and saved the day. Plus, you’ve been in Cyrodiil for less than a week and have already become a hundredaire. A high-end hundredaire too, over halfway to thousandaire. You’re okay.
And if your self-perception is screwed up in some weird way you don’t understand… well, that just makes you feel a little worse about yourself. Like, there’s something broken inside you that you can’t see, and it’s keeping you from learning the magic spell you want to learn. The thought is making you sad, which is pretty much the opposite of the snake’s advice to 'believe in yourself'."
(Sorry for the long quote! I couldn't figure out a good way to trim it, it all seems relevant.)
What I get from this is that she's conflicted over whether or not her self perception is the issue. She doesn't want it to be, because the coping mechanism is working well right now so she doesn't want to give it up. And after this she changes the topic to mess with her clothes. Which makes me think she doesn't want to think about it anymore, because she's afraid she knows the answer. (Not overly confident in this interpretation though, I could be reading too deep into it)
I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes! It's fun to speculate about. It'll be interesting to see whether we're onto something or if this is just headcanon.
Auserr: @Radiocaster: Alright, thanks for letting me know. I can see the appeal of a more text focused format from a story telling perspective. As drawing all of those panels has got to take a lot of effort! I really like pictures of Katia though, practicality notwithstanding.
Auserr: @Radiocaster: Okay, yeah. I get what you're saying, and I agree! I think we are on the same page when it comes to her planning as well. Thanks for your input, very well said.
Off topic side note: I hadn't told you that I quite enjoy the comics that you've posted here, so I'm rectifying that now. They're cool! I'm curious if you're planning on continuing either of them/making more? I actually made an account here originally to submit a command for Dragonbreak Protocol a couple years ago. Sorry about not interacting with them more, I really should have!
Auserr: @Radiocaster: :o I feel like you just said a lot of what I had been trying to say for like 6 paragraphs of stumbling over my thoughts and getting distracted. Then you also added to it and made it better, while still being concise. Amazing, thank you!
I wouldn't mind some further explanation on what you mean by "regrouping her thoughts in a negative light is a core habit that she owns rather than decries". As she does seem to have problems with that, like in the first few days where her being hypercritical of herself ended with her drinking. Or in the chapel after she got robbed. Obviously addiction was a major factor there, but I think she'd still rather avoid some of those thoughts if she could, I guess?
Only other minor thing would maybe be the planning part, often she doesn't plan much. And she seems to go into almost every situation head first, which I find admirable! She has definitely gotten better about planning though.
Auserr: So I've been thinking about this EVEN MORE, and also reading the update today reminded me that Katia also has had a pretty big problem with over confidence! I think that may be an extension of the what I was talking about before, where she will go and try stuff even if she's not sure about it. Which is generally a good thing I think. But if she meets the task with anything other than success she is super hard on herself, which is the bad part.
I think it could also tie into what you were talking about, where she has two different images of herself that are separate, her past self and her current "Katia Fucking Managan" self. So when Katia fails to do well at something, it breaks that perceived reality. Reminding her that she is still the same Khajiit from Hammerfell, which makes her get all sad.
It's pretty interesting to me that she has both over confidence and low self esteem. (maybe something to do with the thousands of internet voices in her head?) Makes me wonder if she actually even has low self esteem? Maybe it's something totally different! There are so many possible answers!
I'll stop inundating you with my rambling now, sorry! I just can't stop thinking about it.
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: Ok I have organized some of my thoughts, hopefully they are not too rambly and tangential.
So I think that maybe Katia believes both of these things simultaneously. That is, she's proud of her accomplishments as well as thinking she's kind of worthless. And these thoughts are fighting each other in her head. From my experience, you can kind of build up a fragile "confidence" that you're on the right track and doing well. That maybe you can be something of value, but it can all fall apart at a moment's notice. Sometimes there is a cause, sometimes it just fucking happens. And then all the self loathing comes in and mopey bullshit ensues. Thoughts that previously helped like "Look at all these good things I did!" become "I could've done so much more if I wasn't such a fuck up. These things only look good when compared to how useless I've been in the past." stuff like that. You turn stuff around, and instead of looking at your past and thinking about how far you've come, you start to just see how much it has held you back. It's as if no matter what you do your past is this albatross around your neck holding you down. Making every accomplishment lesser. It's like starting life over again but from a negative score. So you feel you have to do a bunch of good things to come up to everyone else's baseline.
For example, her response to a command about self esteem in the update reposted yesterday:
"That just sounds like a very roundabout way of asking 'do you like being a talking animal that panics about everything'.
And no, you take more pride in the fact that you worked stuff out okay despite being a talking animal that panics about everything."
To me this basically says, "Yeah, I've been doing pretty good, despite being what I perceive as pretty worthless" Like she is acknowledging who she is and where she came from but not exactly in a good way. It's a similar line of thinking as what you described just used to the opposite effect.
Even knowing that it's objectively a way too harsh and reductive to view oneself, it still happens all the same. She might already be aware of the new perspective that you're talking about but not be able to truly believe it. When someone has such ingrained ideas of themselves it gets messy, and they can be pretty hard to get rid of.
That's my read on the situation anyway, but maybe I am unintentionally projecting my issues onto Katia or something. I don't really know.
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: No need to be sorry, I've really enjoyed this conversation so far! I like your perspective on things, and you've made me think about the comic in a new way. I'd still like to see it made into fanart if you decide to! I also wouldn't be surprised if something similar to this concept gets included in the story at some point.
(I feel like there are other parts of this I want to discuss but I'm pretty tired atm and I think that's keeping me from forming coherent thoughts right now)
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: When searching for answers about Khajiit lore in the past I only found more questions. And that thing about the Khajiit space program, which led to even more questions!
I think I remember a while ago someone came up with a similar scenario where Katia's mother was an Alfiq, it's definitely an interesting concept!
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: Ok, wow! That's a lot to unpack. I want to make sure I got this part right: your main point is that you view Katia's name change and life restart as a sort limiting factor, right? One which causes her achievements to seem smaller than they actually are. I think that is a good point. Is her realizing that fact the different perspective you're talking about or am I still missing that part?
I always viewed her reinvention and new identity as a mental tool which she is using to self actualize and become the person she wants to be, which to her is "Katia Fucking Managan". I think it represents more than just a name, if that makes any sense?
The idea that it could also be a sort of crutch had not really crossed my mind. But it does make sense. (Holding yourself to way too high of a standard does tend to be pretty crippling when you inevitably falter in my experience.)
Auserr: Should add that I realize you were talking about how Katia could use a new perspective on things. I was trying to say that I can see how that would help because she was a new perspective on things for me, and it did help! I'm finding it hard to discuss these aspects of the comic without bringing up my personal experience for context because a lot of my thoughts on it are based on parallels I've found between Katia's experiences and my own.
Auserr: Also sorry if this is getting way too personal, I don't mean to make this a public therapy session or something. Like I said I'm doing quite well now, so no need to worry. I've been trying to be more open lately but I think I might go to far sometimes.
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: That may be true about the antidepressants, I've always thought of them as a bandaid solution, but they also help a lot of people, and sometimes I think it may have been unwise to not at least try them, I guess?
I believe I did understand you about the new perspective thing, actually! You see, Katia does still have a lot of problems including holding herself to impossibly high standards but she also has come pretty far in a short time. She has made a good start, but still has more to do. She did this largely just by trying things, ideas that might not sound the best at first, or she may not be confident in. But she tries them anyway. She just keeps going, even if things don't work out. That's something I had not been able to do for a long time. I had grown extremely adverse to risk. Because I had tried things in the past and been burned. I wanted change but I had grown comfortable in my unhappiness and addiction. I knew it well and I didn't think I could ever escape it, so I pretty much just wallowed in self pity and did nothing about it for a long time. Searching for some perfect answer that was never gonna come. (I am probably explaining this really badly) Katia made me realize that I should just try some shit like she did even if it seems crazy and stupid. Then all the sudden all these things I had always dismissed as impossible didn't seem quite so far fetched. It's not been easy and I still struggle with it but I am making progress, like Katia is doing I think. Does any of that make any sense?? Basically I realized if she can do it then maybe I can to.
Auserr: OK I'm all for this! :D Thanks for sharing this, it's very interesting.
I've had somewhat similar problems to Katia's, and I guess she actually acted as my "new perspective" as you called it. I've never been to therapy or taken antidepressants or anything like that. As I always had the (probably very stupid) idea that the problems are my own and I should be able to solve them myself. And I have been struggling with them for a long time. Over the past 3 years or so though, I've slowly started to have a fairly major shift in perspective on some things and recently I've made some big changes (for me that is, in hindsight they were pretty straightforward) that have helped me a lot! All directly caused by finding Prequel as silly as that might sound. Katia's reinvention of herself has been very inspiring to me.
I said all that I guess to show that I am very compelled by this topic! And I think your idea to explore it through fanart is extremely cool! It's neat to get to see another point of view on this stuff. I look forward to seeing what you come up with! (Also if you want to discuss it more I'd be happy to.)
Auserr: @Azmeltosh: Hmm.. I can't seem find the words to describe exactly why. Other than what I already said about the expression and pose. I find this Katia to be very charming, I guess? It is a bit rougher sketch than your others but there's just something about it that's adorable!
Oh and I don't judge bad handwriting much as mine is fucking terrible. I could read this, which is more than I can say for mine sometimes.
I can see why the show made you think of Katia! haha That is an interesting point about cats not feeling shame or remorse, I had not considered that before. I'm also very curious to see where Kaz is going with Katia's self doubt and unintentional Khajiit racism. The latter is caused by the former I think. Also it seems to be the reason she can't do restoration magic. Which was being brought up again in the most recent updates before the server exploded. So I'm predicting it's gonna get expanded on further soon! (Soon in the comic time that is)
Auserr: Gonna be honest, I'm totally out of the loop when it comes to anime(?) stuff and have no idea what this is referencing. (I am curious what it is though) But regardless it's my favorite of your drawings posted here so far! Katia looks super cute! I love the pose and expression.
Dramatic Descriptions
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@FunkyFreshFellow: I thought she was just hungry, but this also works!
@TheGibusGuy: :o I hope not! But yeah very possible. If it does she might switch to alternate fishing methods. (dive in and fish like Khajiit!)
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Another thought is that her hand would probably be obstructing her shoulder from view, assuming she's supposed to have her arm outstretched straight. And if you do that maybe have her hand pointing more towards the viewer as well? Alternatively you could keep her hand pointing the same direction but make it a bit smaller and show more of her arm.
Those are pretty minor things though, I think it's a good drawing! Perspective is something I struggle with also, so I don't know if my advice will be of much value.
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@PlatypusEnjoyer75: Cute comic! I've been following your project and have been enjoying it.
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I agree with you! I've been thinking more about how this could tie into her problem learning healing spells. It really seems this past self/current self separation could be it. As having to project an image of her past self onto her current "Katia" self while at the same time "believing in herself" all seems pretty incompatible with the way she views herself now.
It could be that's being hinted at here:
"You don’t… think that’s the issue? Sure, you’ve had plenty of times where you comforted yourself with lies, but you feel like your overall self-perception isn’t off base. It might seem like you’re hard on yourself sometimes, but really you just have a lot of problems and you’re extremely aware of them. And you’re not blind to the good things about yourself, either! Like, you did a cool thing last night and saved the day. Plus, you’ve been in Cyrodiil for less than a week and have already become a hundredaire. A high-end hundredaire too, over halfway to thousandaire. You’re okay.
And if your self-perception is screwed up in some weird way you don’t understand… well, that just makes you feel a little worse about yourself. Like, there’s something broken inside you that you can’t see, and it’s keeping you from learning the magic spell you want to learn. The thought is making you sad, which is pretty much the opposite of the snake’s advice to 'believe in yourself'."
(Sorry for the long quote! I couldn't figure out a good way to trim it, it all seems relevant.)
What I get from this is that she's conflicted over whether or not her self perception is the issue. She doesn't want it to be, because the coping mechanism is working well right now so she doesn't want to give it up. And after this she changes the topic to mess with her clothes. Which makes me think she doesn't want to think about it anymore, because she's afraid she knows the answer. (Not overly confident in this interpretation though, I could be reading too deep into it)
I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes! It's fun to speculate about. It'll be interesting to see whether we're onto something or if this is just headcanon.
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"The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a Khajiit's heart. One must imagine Katia happy."
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Off topic side note: I hadn't told you that I quite enjoy the comics that you've posted here, so I'm rectifying that now. They're cool! I'm curious if you're planning on continuing either of them/making more? I actually made an account here originally to submit a command for Dragonbreak Protocol a couple years ago. Sorry about not interacting with them more, I really should have!
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I wouldn't mind some further explanation on what you mean by "regrouping her thoughts in a negative light is a core habit that she owns rather than decries". As she does seem to have problems with that, like in the first few days where her being hypercritical of herself ended with her drinking. Or in the chapel after she got robbed. Obviously addiction was a major factor there, but I think she'd still rather avoid some of those thoughts if she could, I guess?
Only other minor thing would maybe be the planning part, often she doesn't plan much. And she seems to go into almost every situation head first, which I find admirable! She has definitely gotten better about planning though.
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I think it could also tie into what you were talking about, where she has two different images of herself that are separate, her past self and her current "Katia Fucking Managan" self. So when Katia fails to do well at something, it breaks that perceived reality. Reminding her that she is still the same Khajiit from Hammerfell, which makes her get all sad.
It's pretty interesting to me that she has both over confidence and low self esteem. (maybe something to do with the thousands of internet voices in her head?) Makes me wonder if she actually even has low self esteem? Maybe it's something totally different! There are so many possible answers!
I'll stop inundating you with my rambling now, sorry! I just can't stop thinking about it.
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So I think that maybe Katia believes both of these things simultaneously. That is, she's proud of her accomplishments as well as thinking she's kind of worthless. And these thoughts are fighting each other in her head. From my experience, you can kind of build up a fragile "confidence" that you're on the right track and doing well. That maybe you can be something of value, but it can all fall apart at a moment's notice. Sometimes there is a cause, sometimes it just fucking happens. And then all the self loathing comes in and mopey bullshit ensues. Thoughts that previously helped like "Look at all these good things I did!" become "I could've done so much more if I wasn't such a fuck up. These things only look good when compared to how useless I've been in the past." stuff like that. You turn stuff around, and instead of looking at your past and thinking about how far you've come, you start to just see how much it has held you back. It's as if no matter what you do your past is this albatross around your neck holding you down. Making every accomplishment lesser. It's like starting life over again but from a negative score. So you feel you have to do a bunch of good things to come up to everyone else's baseline.
For example, her response to a command about self esteem in the update reposted yesterday:
"That just sounds like a very roundabout way of asking 'do you like being a talking animal that panics about everything'.
And no, you take more pride in the fact that you worked stuff out okay despite being a talking animal that panics about everything."
To me this basically says, "Yeah, I've been doing pretty good, despite being what I perceive as pretty worthless" Like she is acknowledging who she is and where she came from but not exactly in a good way. It's a similar line of thinking as what you described just used to the opposite effect.
Even knowing that it's objectively a way too harsh and reductive to view oneself, it still happens all the same. She might already be aware of the new perspective that you're talking about but not be able to truly believe it. When someone has such ingrained ideas of themselves it gets messy, and they can be pretty hard to get rid of.
That's my read on the situation anyway, but maybe I am unintentionally projecting my issues onto Katia or something. I don't really know.
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(I feel like there are other parts of this I want to discuss but I'm pretty tired atm and I think that's keeping me from forming coherent thoughts right now)
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I think I remember a while ago someone came up with a similar scenario where Katia's mother was an Alfiq, it's definitely an interesting concept!
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I always viewed her reinvention and new identity as a mental tool which she is using to self actualize and become the person she wants to be, which to her is "Katia Fucking Managan". I think it represents more than just a name, if that makes any sense?
The idea that it could also be a sort of crutch had not really crossed my mind. But it does make sense. (Holding yourself to way too high of a standard does tend to be pretty crippling when you inevitably falter in my experience.)
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I believe I did understand you about the new perspective thing, actually! You see, Katia does still have a lot of problems including holding herself to impossibly high standards but she also has come pretty far in a short time. She has made a good start, but still has more to do. She did this largely just by trying things, ideas that might not sound the best at first, or she may not be confident in. But she tries them anyway. She just keeps going, even if things don't work out. That's something I had not been able to do for a long time. I had grown extremely adverse to risk. Because I had tried things in the past and been burned. I wanted change but I had grown comfortable in my unhappiness and addiction. I knew it well and I didn't think I could ever escape it, so I pretty much just wallowed in self pity and did nothing about it for a long time. Searching for some perfect answer that was never gonna come. (I am probably explaining this really badly) Katia made me realize that I should just try some shit like she did even if it seems crazy and stupid. Then all the sudden all these things I had always dismissed as impossible didn't seem quite so far fetched. It's not been easy and I still struggle with it but I am making progress, like Katia is doing I think. Does any of that make any sense?? Basically I realized if she can do it then maybe I can to.
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I've had somewhat similar problems to Katia's, and I guess she actually acted as my "new perspective" as you called it. I've never been to therapy or taken antidepressants or anything like that. As I always had the (probably very stupid) idea that the problems are my own and I should be able to solve them myself. And I have been struggling with them for a long time. Over the past 3 years or so though, I've slowly started to have a fairly major shift in perspective on some things and recently I've made some big changes (for me that is, in hindsight they were pretty straightforward) that have helped me a lot! All directly caused by finding Prequel as silly as that might sound. Katia's reinvention of herself has been very inspiring to me.
I said all that I guess to show that I am very compelled by this topic! And I think your idea to explore it through fanart is extremely cool! It's neat to get to see another point of view on this stuff. I look forward to seeing what you come up with! (Also if you want to discuss it more I'd be happy to.)
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Oh and I don't judge bad handwriting much as mine is fucking terrible. I could read this, which is more than I can say for mine sometimes.
I can see why the show made you think of Katia! haha
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I believe nipples under painted underwear have been allowed in the past so you're probably fine?
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