Steelblood

[inkhana]

Allow me, some comments:
2) There are some panels that utilize the same screentones consecutively after one another. While it works for certain manga scenes, I suggest using different screentones or background in between panels (you know, alternate them). I was mostly referring to Page 3, middle panels.

Eheh, forgive the lack of green text. That's just too much typing for me right now...XD

Hmm...I'm willing to bet that I remember which panels you're talking about, and if that's the case, you're certainly right. I should probably go back and prepare it...

3) The reunion was sweet. @^_^@ Awwww....*looks for someone to glomp*
4) The Jesus cloak was....shocking, to say the least. Sheesh, I can't believe how ppl would create such stories and become obsessed about the cloak...(and not the person who wore it instead siigghhh.) Don't take my comments negatively, I'll just like to see what happens next. ^^

Nah, I didn't think you were being critical. This seems to me very much like something someone would do...whether they really believed it or made it up as a prank, although I myself don't know which one it is. At this point it isn't really relevant to the story which case is true, although like almost everything since the beginning, that could change...XD

5) wow, Rivalen and Iriel's mum was very pretty.
6) Nice climatic end of the chapter. XD

Thank you...^^ I'm glad you liked it. I think I might be getting better at this stuff...O.o

Melmak, BTW, thanks for reminding me to go back over to Topica and try to resend my newsletter... I tried it last night but it kept giving me this weird error...

[uc pseudonym]

I'd urge you to make it not true... the mythological parphenilia about the life of Jesus always strikes a negative chord with me. Having it is fine. Having it be real would make me frown slightly. Jesus was God-god, not Zeus-god, and I feel that we need to resist the urge to do things of this sort.

I neglected to mention that I liked this chapter. When there isn't fighting, I expect extra quality, and you had it. Background tone would help when they're talking on opposite sides of the tree, but that scene was still great.

[inkhana]

I'd urge you to make it not true... the mythological parphenilia about the life of Jesus always strikes a negative chord with me. Having it is fine. Having it be real would make me frown slightly. Jesus was God-god, not Zeus-god, and I feel that we need to resist the urge to do things of this sort.

Oh oh, I didn't clarify. When I said that, I meant that I didn't know if it were true whether or not the creator of said fable -believed- it were true or not. It's just as Syd said, the cloak's nothing more than a mere scrap of fabric.

Just to make one thing clear to everyone: the only "magic" that occurs in the story is -purely- demon based. There are holy gifts given to certain characters and such (healing in Jesus' name, prophecy, etc), but these are of course not magic in any wise.

[uc pseudonym]

I see; that both makes more sense and is far more comfortable with me.

[skynes]

Ink every chapter I read just gets better and better, you're easily one of the best manga artists I know, I really love the depth you give your characters.

[inkhana]

...No, it's not exactly an update...sorta...well, you'll see.

I've started a Steelblood art contest...you can read the details in the following link. Anyone who wants to can participate... If I get a lot of good feedback on this, I'll try to do these contests more frequently and come up with some better prizes...

http://steelblood.christianmanga.com/contest.html

[inkhana]

Updateness! XD

I'll admit, some of the inks and tones were slapped together on this chapter. I've had more and more stuff to do lately...*sigh* Anyway, enjoy!

YES! It's true! There's an update!

http://steelblood.christianmanga.com/manga/manga.php

Also, an ending date has been set for the SB Art Contest, for anyone who's interested. This date will be 9-1-04 (although this date may be extended). Good luck to everyone who plans to enter! I really look forward to seeing everyone's entries.

For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to look over the contest rules and are still interested, you may read more about the contest here:

http://steelblood.christianmanga.com/contest.html

Also, on a final note, if any of you are working on clean doujinshi/fanfic, or a manga of your own, please drop me a line and I'll include you in my online database (which I'll get around to updating eventually...hehe)

[ShiroiHikari]

w00t!

[TheMelodyMaker]

*speaks through tissue* Yay! (Suffering allergies today; needed something to cheer me up. ^_^ )

[inkhana]

Poor Melmak...;__; I'm glad it brightened your day. *offers medication*

[Gypsy]

INKHANA!! How dare you leave off on a cliffhanger like that!?

Now that I have that scream of fury out of my system, way cool job with Sydonia! That was so awesome when she ... *laughs* there's no safe way to word this ... I'll have to spoiler-ize it - [spoiler]rips off her skirt to fight[/spoiler] and excellent job on the action sequences. That should make even our highly selective UC happy.

So how long as she been hiding these skills? (I'd say a little while since she was "rusty") Did Rivalen know she could do that? Oh, and do the Kailasa have normal life-spans?

[inkhana]

INKHANA!! How dare you leave off on a cliffhanger like that!?

Yeah, I'm terrible, aren't I? XD

As far as said spoilerized comment...did anyone else think of Meryl Stryfe when they saw that? O.o haha I realized after I'd laid in the panel "gee...that looks familiar somehow...oh."

As far as her ability...she's probably done that to a degree most of her life, especially considering what happened to her when she was young (that'll be covered in another issue, haha!) She probably taught Rivey to a degree (such skills are actually quite useful in their line of work) so yes, he did know. I was a little concerned that Sydonia and Liselie's skills would appear subpar. They're both actually good fighters, I'm just not so good at making it look that way! hehe

Kailasa, if they are fortunate enough to survive without, say, a massive injury that would cause a lot of bloodloss, will actually survive a little longer than humans because the symbiote can repair their bodies a little bit. However, natural aging doesn't trigger the "emergency" response (ie, the one that saved Rivalen's life) so the benefits are only mild. And there was something else I was gonna say but I forgot...^^;;

[Gypsy]

Hmm, I didn't think Trigun at all, I was just thinking "Alright, she's gonna fight!!"

Alright, I may be overlooking something major, but I've read Steelblood a few times over (people waiting for updates do weird stuff like that ) and I'm not sure what you mean by the "emergency" responce that saved Rivalen's life. And I was just wondering, since you've mentioned in the manga a few times how fragile and dependent on the symbiote they are if it actually affected their life span, but that's neat that they live a little longer.

And yes, the cliffhanger was mean. Oh, and one more question, but don't answer if it's a spoiler - are we going to see a new character in chapter 7?

[inkhana]

Well, the emergency response (which is really only shown off in the first part when Rivey is a kid) is a part of the symbiote that is a self-protective reaction to shock in the host. It causes the symbiote to respond quickly to injury rather than "idle" and hopefully cure problems before the symbiote is lost along with the blood. (That's why the sudden bloodloss is disastrous...the body becomes reliant on the symbiote rather than its own healing abilities). This, too, will be covered in more detail later on, but actually with another character entirely. (This will probably be Issue 4, if things go as I currently have them planned)

A new character? Well, technically speaking, no...well, I guess it depends on your viewpoint. In the sense that you probably mean it, no. There will, however, be a bunch of new characters introed in Interlude Alpha and Issue 2.

[Gypsy]

You're making interludes? Yay! Ok ... I think that was all my questions so far. Maybe I'll go spam up your guestbook again or something.

[uc pseudonym]

This is not what I need when I'm busy and short on time. But I doubt I can resist reading it, especially after commentary regarding fighting...

[shooraijin]

Whee! I think I'll spam the guestbook too.

[Mave]

Ahhh Inky, you've been working hard. Good job! *pats her on her back* It's refreshing to see fighting scenes...you're inspiring me to draw action scenes now.

Must. Resist. Shonen. Action.

[Ashley]

INKHANA! I can't believe you stopped there! Aaaah! I'm going to go insane! What happens?! WHAT HAPPENS?!?!?!?

[Gypsy]

[quote="Mave"]Ahhh Inky, you've been working hard. Good job! *pats her on her back* It's refreshing to see fighting scenes...you're inspiring me to draw action scenes now.

Must. Resist. Shonen. Action. ]
*Laughs* Tell me about it! I read that and started thinking how I could include action in my manga .. but, alas it won't fit. I'll have to save it for Pilgrim's Progress.

[uc pseudonym]

I'll place my true commentary here. It could be somewhat extensive. I hope that I do not sound harsh, but shonen oriented scenes are the one area in which I am capable of critiquing.

The most important factor in any fight scene (even more than coreography) is clarity. When the action is defined, it appears much better to the reader, even if it really isn't that great. Not everyone understand this, including professionals. CLAMP, by large, does a terrible job with it (that opinion being based on X/1999 and a few things read in bookstores).

Now, page by page, focusing only on action. Forgive me if my sentence are less than perfect English.

2: The background panel is a very, very good touch. But the fourth and fifth panels aren't clear at all, in regard to actual action.

4: Cool pose, effective use of the skirt. But in this case I think the all-white style hurts the impact just a bit.

5: In-air face off done well. Same with eye/demon of lightening effects.

7: The third panel is an example of a lack of the clarity I mentioned earlier. In general, I find that using long action lines works primarily in scenes in which the characters are fairly heavily shaded. Otherwise, I suggest thin lines, no more than a half inch.

This page also uses a great many shots of just a character's eyes. I would suggest using these rarely. Shots of a fair portion of the head work just as well (unless there is extreme focus involved) and make it much more clear who is being focused upon.

10: The transition from nine worked well, but the fifth panel breaks this slightly. The clearer you could make who is who the better.

13: Analysis of top half: very, very nice. Analysis of bottom half: somewhat unclear.

14: Again, not so clear. Though good use of SFX action lines (in general this is very good).

15: Cliffhangers are good.

Please, rest assured that the prior stems from a sincere interest in the manga.

[TheMelodyMaker]

*trips over thread* Oh, uh... hi! I just happened to be in the neighborhood and I bumped into this thread... ^_^;

Seriously -- are you making any progress, Ink? (Even if you don't have any updates yet?) Just wondering.

[inkhana]

There has been a little progress made into the next chapter, but unfortunately I haven't been able to work too much on it. However, there's something going on behind the scenes in ref to it...so...with any luck pretty soon I'll have some interesting news regarding SB for you all... (for anyone who cares, anyhow...) Just can't say anything about it right now, and being evil, I won't answer any theories, either... XD

[Esoteric]

Truly most impressive. The sheer volume of what you've drawn and colored... I'm envious! Make time to finish, don't be like me...

<Gets home from work> "Maybe I should do some artwor... naw, too tired." <loafs in front of TV>

Again, nice work!

[TheMelodyMaker]

Just can't say anything about it right now, and being evil, I won't answer any theories, either... XD

I see... I could say the same about The Traveller's Guide.

By the way, did I mention that Chapter 1 looks great in issue 3 of Mangazine? It really does! ^_^ Are you going to put Chapter 2 in for issue 4?

[Psycho Ann]

Oooh ooh! I know what the good news is! I know what it is~! I know what it is~! I know--*Inky whacks Ann out of the thread*

[Mave]

Oooh ooh! I know what the good news is! I know what it is~! I know what it is~! I know--*Inky whacks Ann out of the thread*

LOL!

Inky, when do you think you'll announce the news? (it's all Ann's fault, now I'm curious XD) The end of the year? hehe I want to know what's going on!

[inkhana]

:evil: Now see what you did Ann? You made my three fans curious! bahahaha...XD

Thank you Melmak... I'm glad to hear it came out nicely. I'm afraid I won't be putting SB into the mangazine anymore though.

I'm not sure when I'll be announcing what's going on, tbh...XD I wish I had a rough idea myself. At this point, I'll leave it at "as soon as possible." Sorry...^^;;

[TheMelodyMaker]

I'm afraid I won't be putting SB into the mangazine anymore though.

Aw, too bad... I was kind of looking forward to it. But that's your decision. ^_^

[inkhana]

<gravedig>

A little bit of news for anyone who still remembers this manga XD

http://steelblood.christianmanga.com/

I already explained it all on the site, so go have a look...