[Public] Mark of the Wild - Commentary & Re-release! (Patreon)

Hello, hello, my supporters!

First of all, I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has been here with me for so long, and a warm welcome to all the new faces! It’s amazing to see new people supporting my work and joining us for the misadventures of our dear night elf, Lulusa Wildmist.

I know many of you found me through commissions or the Lulusa Long Nights events, but today’s post is especially for those of you who love the Mark of the Wild comic, particularly if you joined recently and missed how Lulusa’s journey actually began!

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be just a simple repost of the old pages. I want to take this opportunity to share some of the thoughts I had while working on them, what I was trying to accomplish with each chapter, and a few little behind the scenes bits from the whole process. And, of course, I’ll be sharing some extra animations along the way too!

The uncensored post comes with a nsfw extra gif and a video with the voiced version of the first part. So if you’d like to hear what the first part of the comic sound like, it’s there for you to check out! uncensored post:

https://www.patreon.com/darkra/posts/copy-of-public-171153322/

Uncensored post:

The very beginning

The first tense situation in the comic. The very beginning of it all.We first meet Lulusa at rock bottom: captured, bound, and about to be sold as a slave. A mysterious buyer purchases her, seemingly intending to take advantage of the situation. But during his “inspection,” Lulusa realizes that this mysterious man is actually someone she recognizes...

From there, we jump back in time to see how she ended up in this mess.Lulusa was sent on a mission by her boss, Talmat. She needs to convince a large mercenary army stationed strategically in Durotar to join the Alliance. Not exactly a safe mission for a lone, proud Night Elf. But in an attempt to save a few coins by avoiding the cost of hiring some skilled bodyguards, Lulusa ignored some very good advice and hired the wrong crew instead... Which led to a chain of events far worse than she could have ever imagined, and this is where things start getting interesting in the first part of the story. (͠≖ ͜ʖ͠≖)

How did the comic start?

Great question. The short answer? The pandemic, way too much free time, someone who was noticeably addicted to Warcraft and its aesthetic at the time (>_>), and a strong desire to just sit down and create something fun in that universe.The original idea was supposed to be smut and relatively short. See? What could possibly go wrong with making something short? XD

The idea also grew with a lot of help and encouragement from my husband, Crisisbeat, who saw some potential in that short, direct, and slightly heavy beginning for an H-story. So I thought, “Well, let’s give it a try!”And here we are, all these years later, and I’m currently working on page 166. I haven’t regretted taking that first step for even a second.

Let’s talk about the characters

Since this is where everything started, it feels appropriate to begin with the characters themselves.

LulusaFor those who only know her as she appears in the comic, Lulusa was originally my WoW character. She was a Night Elf from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (I played on a private server back then), with pinkish skin, blue hair, a moon-shaped tiara, and bright blue eyes.Her name is simply a little variation of my own. My name is Luisa, so... Lulusa. :P

Lulusa was born in 2017, when someone commissioned me to draw my OC. And, for the most part, she has remained physically the same ever since. There haven’t been any major changes to her design, aside from the natural changes that have happened as my own art style has evolved over the years. As for her personality, I think many of you have already gotten to know her through the comic, and eventually through some of the other stories I’ve created with her over the years. She's guided by a deep sense of duty and compassion, but she’s also a little chaotic on the inside. And yes, she’s inevitably a bit of a pervert, even if she doesn’t show it very often. We all know it. :P

KelsierKelsier was a character Crisisbeat and I created together in 2018. He’s basically Cris’s OC, created purely for fun!We both had a very clear idea of what we wanted Kelsier to be, both physically and personality-wise. He was heavily inspired by Flynn Rider (Tangled): arrogant, cynical, funny, and absolutely fucking foul-mouthed.

Once the idea for the comic came up, we thought it would be fun to have him start his journey alongside Lulusa and make her life as difficult as possible. And, well... I think part of that is happening .Fun fact about him: yes, his name was inspired by Kelsier, from Mistborn. ^^And contrary to what many people seem to think, he’s actually a Void Elf, not a Blood Elf or a Night Elf (⊙.⊙).

And don’t forget that you can also find lots of sketches of Lulusa with different OCs in the Lulusa’s Long Nights collection!

https://www.patreon.com/collection/540989?view=expanded

Let me know in the comments: what else would you like to see in these commentary posts? I’d love to know what you’re interested in hearing about, whether it’s the characters, the story, the creative process, or random little bits of trivia from along the way.

Thank you all so much for supporting this project, whether you’ve been here for years or joined just yesterday!

In the attachments, you’ll find the first part of the comic in higher quality (censored)