All aboard the hype train! · 4:20am Nov 2nd, 2015
It's coming! It's almost here!
What? This? No, no! I'm talking about
Uh huh
Yep
Survivor Shy is coming back.
"But Matta, it has been over two years! There's no way the story can possibly live up to its popularity in the past!"
you might be right, but I never was into writing fanfic for the fame. I wanted to tell a story, and I really, really, want to finish this one.
"But Matta, the last time you drew Survivor Shy you just made a picture and never said anything for eight months until now, how do we know these pictures mean you're writing on a new chapter?"
Oh, I'm not writing a new chapter...
I've already wrote the chapter
All I'm doing now is working on simple illustrations. I'm creating concepts for three new characters as I go and bringing them to life!
Let's talk about one of them, shall we?
This little bundle of cute is Molly. I won't explain how she enters the story as that would be way too spoilery for what I have planned, but I will tell you a little bit about her.
Molly is a young lamb with a wide-eyed curiosity for the world and its inhabitants. She dreams of exploring one day - if she can convince anyone to let her leave her flock when she's older. Molly is fascinated by foreigners and the lands they come from, and doesn't see anything wrong in asking every single question she can come up with. Outgoing, active, and cheery, Molly will often be seen playing and trying to make new friends. It is very difficult to feel sad around her.
Molly has been living in my head for two years with nothing more than a voice and mannerisms. Her design finally gave her an identity that allows her to exist outside of my head. And I'm happy I found a design I was happy with so quickly.
We'll be learning more about Molly when the next chapter of Survivor Shy is released.
Speaking of, "when is the release date", you ask?
Honestly I don't know. I plan to create the designs of the final two new characters, draw their respective illustrations for the chapter, and maybe drew a couple of extra illustrations and release the finished chapter. This might take all week, meaning that the earliest would be next weekend. I'll be aiming for that, not only because I want to share this exciting new chapter with you all, my patient followers, but because when the 10th rolls around. NOBODY is going to be online reading fanfics.
I don't think I need to tell you what's happening on the 10th.
Stay tuned, more updates will be coming over the next week.
:D
The only reason I haven't read this story so far is because its incomplete. THANK YOU
I have no words to express how excited I am that you're so close to updating Survivor Shy. Granted, that's partly because I'm not all that good with words, but mainly because I can't freaking wait for the next chapter to come out!!!
Wait, in the first three images you put up, why do Fluttershy and Molly's eyes look like EKGs? It's bugging the crap out of me like you wouldn't believe...
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The EKG specular is something I do. I liked the idea other artists had with 'wingding' eyes and putting unusual details in eyes, and I wanted a unique way of communicating how a character is feeling in addition to their body language. I settled on the EKG style to represent a character's general emotional state.
Though not accurate to actual EKG readings, the general rule of thumb is that taller peaks and deeper troughs indicate a lot of energy or a strong emotion. Short peaks and troughs indicate lower energy or a mellow feeling, but a flatline means that the character is emotionally dead or too exhausted to emote. Missing specular in a scene that would have it visible is an even more advanced stage of a flatline, and it means that the character feels nothing, physically or emotionally.
Erratic waves are usually scribbled on-demand and are my wrist's interpretation of whatever unusual state that the character is in. I've only ever used this to portray over-excitement or an energy overload (goes great with Pinkie)
Waves that are severely broken up instead of being one continuous line represent shock, horror, and disbelief.
It isn't required to remember this, because I make sure that a given character's pose and expression is portraying their emotion before I add specular. The EKG specular is simply an additional detail and also my signature detail.
I'd put this story on my Read It Later list a long time ago, but since it's coming back, I think I'll check it out right away! Can't wait to read!
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That much was obvious. But I've never seen it in a single one of your Survivor Shy artworks, at least not until now (perhaps I don't frequent your DA account nearly as much as I should?). I think that more than anything put me off. Oh well, something to get used to, I guess.
Hold on, what's happening November 10th?
15 minutes later: Oh, Fallout 4! Oh right, that makes sense... yeah, I don't care.
Oh yes. Oh yes!
Beautiful news. Was sad when the Story seemed dead, it was such an unusual concept with a difficult-for-the-setting to use main character. Looking forward to it!
I don't care about Fallout 4, or that series in general, but I do care about reading more Survivor Shy.
Nae.
Woah, Survivor Shy. Nice to see it back from the dead!