Author: Madeline Crane

Fantasy writer, tabletop gamer, wearer of hats.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 39

Thumbnail of Panel 1, described below.

Listen, we need the man to be miserable so that it will have more weight when things get better.

This four-panel page was a nice gift from my past self to my present self. I have a bunch of pages with seven or so panels coming up.

This is the penultimate page of this chapter. The last one will be up on Friday. On a related note, I’ve now noted the chapters in the Table of Contents on the Stories tab above (under the Menu if you’re on mobile).

Warnings for blood, general misery, and a severed head.

Full page below:

Continue reading “Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 39” →

Song of the Week

Peter Hollens, “I See Fire” (Ed Sheeran cover, from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)

I like this version better than the original, so here you are.

I’ve just ordered many books in preparation for going out to events again starting next month. I’d love it if you would come see me and take them off my hands! First up will be the Kenosha Book Festival on April 26.

This week, we’ll be finishing up this chapter of Last Watch Before Dawn, with a page on Tuesday and one on Friday.

A couple of petitions:

Via Win Without War: Not one dime for Trump’s war

Via Just Foreign Policy: No troops on the ground and no draft

That’s all for today. I love you, take care, and stop by again soon.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 38

Thumbnail of Panel 4, described below.

If the thumbnail doesn’t give it away, this page is gruesome. Approach at your own discretion.

Two more pages in this chapter! By this time next week, I will be done torturing Ichiro (for now. Both my husband and a reader have recently pointed out that I put my protagonists through the wringer).

The full page is below:

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Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 37

Thumbnail of Panel 1, described below.

Silhouettes are so dramatic and so much fun. They also save me a ton of time.

Also, did I not put Page 36 where it was supposed to be? I was just going to update the links and it didn’t have an image. You know you’re allowed to tell me if I screw up, right? I promise I won’t be mad.

I researched what blood loss does to a person, and among other things, it’s (obviously) very dehydrating. So that’s what’s going on here. We have three more pages of this chapter, so bear with me.

The full page is below (I definitely checked this time):

Continue reading “Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 37” →

Song of the Week

Llunr, “When the Walls Come Down”

Good morning! When I woke up, it was snowing sideways. Now it’s snowing sort of diagonally.

I’m ordering inventory today for the markets coming up! Otherwise, I’ll be working on Last Watch Before Dawn. We have four more pages of our protagonist suffering before we finish this chapter and things start looking up.

Wisconsin folks: make sure you vote April 7! I will continue reminding you.

Some petitions for today:

Via National Campaign for Justice: Investigate the Minab school strike and Stop ICE from arresting and deporting children

Via Public School Strong: Protect students protesting ICE

Thanks for being here. Stay warm and safe this week.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 36

Thumbnail of Panel 5, described below

I’m prepping ramen today (the softboiled eggs need to marinate overnight), so here’s this page really quick. It’s got some blood in it, and is largely depressing, but nothing too bad.

Also I forGOT HIS QUIVER AGAIN LAST PAGE, ARGH

The page is below the cut to save your RAM:

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Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 35

Thumbnail of Panel 3, described below

I ended up taking a panel out, so this page was only six panels.

I’m not super happy with the rendering of the fire. It was too dark without the yellow, but looks a little too technicolor with it. Maybe I should have just stuck with regular orange and yellow?

Fire, dead things, and an unhappy protagonist below. This chapter will continue for five more pages, and then things will be less unhappy.

Continue reading “Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 35” →

Song of the Week

Parker Millsap, “Hades Pleads”

Good morning! If you’re reading this, I’m happy to see you.

After Friday’s eight-panel page, I’ve somehow given myself a seven-panel page to finish by tomorrow, so that’s what I’ll be working on. I’m hoping to get outside sometime today also.

So, a couple new comic pages this week, and not much else. It looks like I’m going to start heading out to markets again in May!

Some petitions I’ve gathered:

Via Demand Progress: Stop war on Iran

Via National Campaign for Justice: No ICE at the polls

Via Just Foreign Policy: Block the $50B bombs bill

That’s what I’ve got for today. Take care and have an excellent week.

Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 34

Thumbnail of Panel 4, described below

Important safety lesson: leave the object of a puncture wound inside the wound until you can get to a surgeon. The object is holding all your blood in.

Eight panels in one page is far too many, but past me (who planned out this page) is a scoundrel and a villain. I cross-hatched as fast as I could.

As expected, there’s some blood in this one. You can find the whole thing below the cut:

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Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 33

This is a thumbnail from Panel 1, described below.

I’m trying out some new brushes. I think I like them better?

As you can probably tell from the thumbnail above, there is blood and violence on this page. We’ve got a few more pages of suffering before things can start looking up.

The full page is below the cut:

Continue reading “Last Watch Before Dawn: Volume 1, Page 33” →