Thumbnails & Script | Episode 17 (Patreon)

Where he once took pleasure in the attention, in the easy power he held over others, now her stare felt cheap—hollow. It gnawed at him in a way he couldn’t quite understand. Icy was an attractive witch, anyone would say as much. But her touch, her closeness, left him cold.

His mind flickered—unbidden—to a smile, not Icy's, but hers. Her wide, innocent blue eyes. The way her presence, so unlike Icy's, unsettled him in an entirely different way.

The sketch in front of her felt like a cruel joke. The more she tried to deny him, the more vivid his presence became. She felt engulfed by him, completely and utterly drowning in the memory of his touch—like the tide pulling her under, relentless and inescapable.

But Bloom made a silent vow to herself, gripping the edges of the sketchbook until her knuckles turned white.

I won’t let it happen again. Never again.

Quite the episode right! I remember truly loving working on episode 17, from designing the Trix's pyjamas, to creating a new interior for Cloud Tower, it was all so fun!

The script gave me some trouble at first, mainly because I didn't know which path to take after episode 16, but I feel like having the 2 separate POVs was a good decision in the end! I know I always enjoy reading the aftermath of the main character's internal struggles after something big happens between them. Seeing Valtor and Bloom fight for their life will never not be fun 😌 Take a look at the script for more internal struggles! 👀

For Cloud Tower I wanted to design something completely new. As you all know I don't like the interior of the building that much, it feels a bit too 'on the nose' evil haha. I know it's not in line with what I drew in previous episodes, like episode 11 🥹 At first I wanted to keep everything the same as in the show, but after reading Almost Magical from Dawn, I realized changing some things isn't bad at all! It made me love certain places in her webcomic even more, so I ended up going for it despite what I drew in previous episodes. Perhaps Valtor did some redecorating in his time there? 😂

They mention Cloud Tower is a castle quite often so I went with that concept for the hallways, and staircase. I wanted to make it feel a bit more ominous, but also regal.

I do really suck at drawing backgrounds though, but I found a way around it haha! I found a picture online of what I wanted the staircase to look like and I painted on top of it 😆If it works it works! It ended up looking pretty cool so I've been using this method a lot now. Especially for getting perspective right, an example for this is the Alfea dorm. I wanted a top down view but I have absolutely NO idea how to even start drawing that, so I found a completely different room with the perspective I wanted and used it as my guide. Hours go into finding references each episode ngl😭

I hope I can one day be a bit better at these things, I really want to learn perspective but every time I start a tutorial I am so lost 🥹

It's important to find little tricks like this for creating a webcomic though! Can't spend 10 hours on one panel after all 🙈 3D models, using pictures, photobashing, etc. can help with making these backgrounds go a little faster 🥰