Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 79-81

What went before

Morgana has been hoping that Conchobarre, a former fianna and now a nun in Morgana's convent, would be willing to take charge of Gawain's combat training. But Conchobarre refuses to do anything that might benefit to King Lot. As a young woman, she was pushed aside to make room for her younger brother, and the fact that Lot has removed his eldest child, a daughter, hits close to home. What now?

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Next week: Of sons, cows and Saxons.

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 76-78

What went before

Lot and Morgana have plans with Gawain, but none of them will bear fruit unless the boy becomes a decent warrior. Because his current training seems to lead nowhere, Morgana brings in an expert: Conchobarre, a former war leader who has taken the veil. But Conchobarre flatly refuses to become Gawain's tutor. Why? Well, this week she reveals her reasons...

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Next week: The fall-out.

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 73-75

I spent the last few days in Edinburgh. I had a wonderful time - and sunny weather! (Well, apart from the last day, which was very rainy, but I needed that to convince me that I was really in Scotland...). Of course Edinburgh is a little bit magical for me in any case because it is the site of the capital of the Gododdin, and the capital of Lothian - it's Lot Country and Gawain was born there! I rolled my eyes a bit at the shameless commercial exploitation of what is after all Highland dress in the capital of the Lowlands; I was bemused by the existence of vegetarian haggis and Scottish/Mexican fusion cooking yielding quesadillas with haggis; I wandered through the expanse of Holyrood Park pretending not to know that Arthur's Seat doesn't really have anything to do with Arthur; and of course I also drooled over the Celtic exhibits in the National Museum. I also learnt that quite a few members of the Scottish ruling class in the Middle Ages were of Flemish descent, which certainly explains some of the more absurd aspects of life in Scotland ;-).

Naturally I brought back a lot of books, one of which  is a collection of Scottish folk tales. I also (finally) got a copy of the Mabinogion, a small booklet about Pictish fortresses, a history of the Pictish people and a copy of The Last of the Celts, Marcus Tanner's exploration of what is left of the Celtic-speaking world. It makes for gloomy reading. Tanner estimates that one generation from now, all Celtic languages will be extinct. Some of them have been killed off by aggressive government policies (Breton in France, Gaelic in the UK), others are just spoken by people who aren't proud of their language and its heritage (Gaelic in Ireland). All of them have been dealt with in a bad way - measures to preserve the languages have either come too late or have had adverse effects. These things make a Celtophile despair :(.

Well, I'm trying to keep Celtic culture alive in my own modest way (ahem). New pages are below; I hope you enjoy them. Concrit is welcome, as always!

What went before

Lot and Morgana have a problem. They each have their own high hopes for Gawain, but none of their plans are going to come to anything if the boy cannot hold his own in a fight. Gawain is small and not particularly strong. To overcome these weaknesses, he will need the help of an expert - preferably of the female variety. Fortunately, Morgana knows just such a person...

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Next week: Conchobarre gives her reasons. They reveal something about Lot...

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 70-72

What went before
Lot is concerned about the fact that he cannot draw the sword from the stone. Does it really mean he is unworthy of the High King's throne? But Morgana points out that the sword in the stone has Merlin written all over it, and that as such it is as subjective a means to appoint a king as any other. Meanwhile, it turns out that Gawain's martial skills are rather sub-par and that something should be done about that...

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Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 67-69

What went before

The meeting of the kings has not really been a success. Lot tells Morgana of his worries. There is one in particular...

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Next week: We hear something about tiny heroes.

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 64-66

Haven't got much to say, apart form the fact that I have just finished another Arthurian novel, Here Lies Arthur by Philip Reeve. It is one of those YA page turners and I finished it in a few hours. I'll try to write an Arthurian Review about it soon.

I hope you enjoy the continuation of the story. As always, concrit is welcome!

What went before

Taliesin has lulled the bellicose kings of Britain to sleep with the magic of his harp music. The meeting has ended and bloodshed has been avoided - but the kings have not made any progress. Queen Morgause despairs, but Taliesin claims that a new High King is approaching...

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Next week: we find out what's up with little Gawain.

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 61-63

This is what happens if you post in more place than one: sometimes you forget one of them. Eek. Well, the episode is up now. Sorry about the delay!

What went before
It's clobbering time! The kings of Britain roll across the floor of the royal hall of Lothian. Then Taliesin the bard takes his lyre and starts to play...

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Next week: a Lot-and-Morgana moment...

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 58-60

Another full Moleskine journal! That makes four of them so far. Mind you, for The Darkest Hour I cheated and added some loose sheets. Had I known that they would be so many loose sheets, I would just have started a new journal. But I kept thinking the story would be done in, oh, two more pages. As it turned out, I needed 25. One of the four full journals also has sixteen pages with non-comic stuff, simply because - well, I guess that when I started writing and drawing this story, I wasn't sure I would get this far. In the meantime, I know I have barely started ;-).

What went before

If you bring the Kings of Britain together for a debate about who is supposed to be the new High King, you can bet that some nasty fighting will ensue. And so it does. Two little boys are watching as their fathers roll across the floor of the great hall...

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Next week: More! ;-)

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 55-57

What went before
The Kings of Britain are debating uther's succession. Lot and Uriens both lay claim to the throne, as they are both married to one of Uther's adopted daughters. The Irish and the British are not mincing words. This cannot end well!

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Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 52-54

What went before:

The meeting of the Kings is underway. Gawain and Owain, running around the royal hall, meet a strange character who claims to have become the most talented man in the world after Merlin has put him in the way of a magic potion. Gawain and Owain are a little bit sceptical about Merlin's habit of taking children away from their parents...

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Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 49-51

I struggled a bit through this episode and the next; I hope it doesn't show too much. The trouble here is that I want to show, not tell, and that can be a bit troublesome because I have lots of exposition to share with you. So if it seems like I am introducing characters and stories for no good reason - trust me, there is a reason. It is because I don't want to pull rabbits out of my hat later in the story.

-Anyway, that shouldn't stop you from giving concrit if anything bothers you :-).

What went before:

Lot has managed to soothe Agravain, but is confronted by his wife, who touches upon his harsh treatment of their ... daughter? With the Kings gathering in Lot's hall, his family has to stick together and present a united front to make a bid for the High King's throne. Right now, the meeting of the Kings has started.

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Next week: The Kings of Britain start to do what they are good at: quarrelling!

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 46-48

Lookit! We're drawing close to page 50! Yes, I'm really into short stories. (Actually, I really am. It's just when I start drawing comics that things tend to get out of hand...)

What went before:

Lot and his brother Angus are debating about how best to take power in Britain. Meanwhile, Lot has to deal with some domestic problems as well. Agravain is angry because his elder brother is given special treatment, and Queen Morgause has some criticism of her own to level at her husband...

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Next week: Gawain and Owain meet a strange character.

Finally, my first test strip for the definitive version of the comic. In case there was any doubt about this, nobody should ever hire me as a colourist ;_;. Maybe the next try will look a bit more promising... Line art and speech bubbles have, I think, passed the test, though.

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 43-45

I like Lot, which is probably very, very, very obvious. Ah well. Too bad I know what fate has in store for him ;_;. For the time being, at least, he and his very long red hair are doing very well.

And that's a lot of 'very' for you. I sound like Niniri in A Distant Soil.

What went before:

The Kings of Britain are meeting in Lothian and the feast is about to start. Queen Morgause has just broken up a fight between her two eldest sons, and Agravain expresses his irritation at the fact that Gawain seems to be treated differently from his brothers. As they go to their quarters to get changed for the feast, the boys walk in on a discussion their father and uncle are having...

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Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 40-42

I'm really sorry about the lack of update last week. If all had gone as planned, I would have posted early, but as it turned out, I had more work to do than I anticipated, so I didn't get round to assembling a post. Today we return to our regular programme.

What went before:

We have caught a glimpse of the relationship between Gawain and his brother Agravain. The two boys don't exactly get along and pick fights with each other. Their mother interferes, not without a snide remark about the boys' Irish ancestry.

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Next week: you get to see more of King Lot and his gorgeous red hair ;-).

Gawain Project: Sunrise, Chapter 1: Brothers & Sisters 37-39

Can I say again how much I enjoy sketching these pages? I know they have mistakes, and though I try to avoid making any, I'm not too bothered when they do appear, because I know these are just sketches. So I just move on and draw new pages and simply enjoy telling my story.

Whenever I sit down to draw one of the definitive pages, things get kind of stressful. Well, no, not really - drawing those pages is fun, too. But I don't often feel like sitting down to start drawing them in the first place because the pressure is so high. Those pages have to be correct. So when I've drawn one, and it's not entirely correct, I put it aside to iron out the mistakes. But seeing how slow I am to begin with, I never get round to finishing the thing. Because I'm scared of it. At the moment, I tell myself I'm laying out the rest of the story, so I'm doing something productive. But I really do need to find a way to bring the process of the final pages closer to that of the sketch pages. I need to find a way to make myself comfortable. I think I also need to eliminate one of the stages (maybe do the pencils directly on watercolour paper?). I'll produce pages that are far from being perfect, but I'll be producing pages.

Thoughts?

What went before:

Owain, son of Uriens and Morgana, is visiting Lot's stronghold together with his father because the kings of Britain are having a meeting. Having met Owain in the woods, Gawain has guided him back to the house, where the two boys are met by Gawain's tyrannical brother Agravain. And Gawain doesn't need much in order to start fighting...

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Next week: Agravain asks a pertinent question.