After a long long pause due to a long list of good reasons I already detailed on the making-of article posted on the blog, here is (finally) episode 37! This episode introduces a giant Phoenix and also sets what it costs to use the super powerful Rea of Dragon. I hope you'll have a good time reading it during this (very) hot summer 2022.
Thank you very much again to all contributors and patrons around the project ❤️
Ha ha, clever. I love it. Beautiful artwork, as always. And thank you for championing free/libre software in such a visible way. I love being able to point to your work as an example of what can be done with non-commercial tools!
I don't speak english
I happy to see a new comic and whit so good art first i read the preview in french and whats like you use a diferent style,a question how you find your own style , i am trying to find muy own but i can't,i work in blender.
Thank you jaldmic for your comment and I hope you'll find a way for your style.
Here I finally decided to "let it go" and don't really think about this research as a problem, even, stop it as a quest. Now, I just push the details of each panel until "the work feels done" and then the style is not anymore something I "art-direct", or decide; but just a byproduct of all my natural mistakes, traces and textures of the tools I prefer to use and result of what I can do when I try my best.
Switching to this mind set really made me be able to finish and post this episode.
I was thinking the same thing, that it is better to take the time to make something good, instead of turning the creation process into a sterile, factory machine-like conveyer belt.
Causes too much stress and that seeps into the artwork.
Thank you Darryl, I always worry one day readers will be able to predict all the "thinking out of the box" trick of Pepper. I hope I'll have the resources to keep writting original and unpredictable funny twists.
Oh... Now you are speaking about it, this would have been great to reinforce the ridicule of the last battle ending. Ah, a missed opportunity! Thanks for pointing it.
Clever ending. Though I was a bit confused how Pepper came down with an ailment, and had to go back to re-read the last chapter. Well, so the dragon did indeed warn her when giving her his "Rea" energy, but I didn't know it would cause her serious problems afterwards. Here's hoping she recover and is back to using her powers as before!
Hi! Thank you, yes, after 8 month not posting, the reference to the previous episode was a bit difficult to remember.
Rea of Dragon was really too powerful, and I knew when I wrote last episode I'll have to setup later a strong counterpart sideeffect to protect the Lore. Yes, Arra the dragon tells Pepper it is taboo, "forbidden", "at her own risk". I still haven't decided if it should also affect Arra. I'll see what I can do within the very restricted page count I have per episodes.
I suppose she came down with an ailment because she messed up too bad. It is like rocking up for a match or a test and being so bad that your opponent or teacher doesn't even care to bother with it.
Either way, I wasn't too worried actually. The Phoenix reminded me of Big Bird from Sesame Street. To my knowledge, he never killed anyone so the skeletons down there where just for bluff.
I too love the story. These must be enough tears to heal all those troops once (if ever) the love-spell wears off. That said, of course I hope the dragon rea is so strong, the spell is permanent :).
Thank you! 😍
But, painting all that panels full of fire for the Phoenix when the weather is so hot wasn't the best idea. 😅
Next summer, I'll have to anticipate and write an episode on ice floe 😆
Thanks Parnikkapore! Yes, I'll try to jungle between 'adventure' episodes (with fun but ending more like clifhangers), and funny lighthearted episodes like this one. I'll see how it works.
Gorgeous artwork, and worth the wait as usual. Pepper's really rocking those braids!
I think this is also the first that I've really noticed the non-human humanoids in the background. I'd love to know more about their history someday, since they seem to be a minority. Are they ensourcelled humans? Are there colonies of other races elsewhere on Hereva?
Thanks! 🤩
Yes, this is an aspect of the world building I would love to describe in the comic. It's not canon yet, but the big picture would be more on the side of ensourcelled humans; a fusion of animals and humans (but also of dragons and animals, eg. dragoncows) that happened at a certain moment of history −and at a world large scale− and also long time ago in their world so it became part of the races and diversity of Hereva. Not easy to explain within a stream of funny short episodes, but may be I'll be able one day.
Comme toujours un épisode superbe qui valait bien qu'on l'attende un peu !
J'aime particulièrement la tête désespérée du Phénix devant les premières tentatives de Pepper pour le faire pleurer.
Et sa solution pour y parvenir au final est excellente et tout à fait inattendue.
What I don't understand though, is what happened to all those burned skeletons?
Did they anger the phoenix with their art and paid with their lives?
But Pepper apparently angered the bird even more by coming unprepared, yet she was just shooed and sent home to get ready?
Or witches just happen to have special relationships with phoenixes and quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi?
They probably angered the phoenix (and possibly more than one) more than made them cry. Also if a phoenix dies they burst into flames and are reborn, so perhaps they might have bored it to death. Literally.
And boy, the way she was trying to hold by her tears, funny and classic. Love the world building with an equally fine balance of characterizations. What is more, I think most fantasy as well as steampunk is much too dark (not to mention too much save the world from the forces of darkness and all that cliché junk) At last, a fine, lighthearted, silly, slice of life genre with heavy themes.
Toujours un plaisir de lire une nouvelle histoire de Pepper et Carrot, le twist est génial !
J'adore ton style graphique mais je trouve cet épisode particulièrement impressionnant. La fumée dense qui sort du centre du volcan, et la fumée légère/vapeur qui s’échappe le long du chemin de la lave sur un des versants, Les reflets de l'eau sur la coque du bateau(1ier et 2ieme case), le style de la tenue de Pepper, la façon dont sa cicatrice rayonne, les expressions subtiles de son visage (puis moins subtile sur la dernière case ^^), la teinte des larmes du phoenix qui rebondissent sur la tête de Pepper... C'est magnifique.
Puis il y a un tas de choses que j'arrive pas à identifier mais qui rendent le tout immersif, la preuve : c'est qu'en voyant l'île, on a chaud, mais pas trop, on a un peu envie d'aller se baigner, envie de gouter les brochettes, de croquer dans un fruit (sous les avis de recherche), on comprend que grâce au volcan la terre est riche, la nourriture est abondante, etc... Tu poses une ambiance et une atmosphère hyper établie en très peu d'images.
Je sors la boite magique à humour, histoire de déformer localement la matrice.
Oh, ce n'est pas bien grave, plop, mais tu t'es trompé(e) dans l'orthographe de ton pseudonyme. Que je sorte ? Attends, j'ai remarqué d'autres incongruités.
Moi aussi, j'ai trouvé remarquable, et même magnifique, la façon dont la cicatrice de Pepper rayonne, lorsqu'elle attrape sa chemise du côté droit et l'entre-ouvre. Cependant, qui n'a pas été déçu qu'à la case suivante elle ne l'ouvre pas carrément plus ? D'une part j'aurais été vraiment très surpris (or j'aime parfois les surprises), d'autre part nul doute que ça m'aurait un peu émoustillé (cette sorcière est désormais une belle plante dont on devine la généreuse poitrine sous ses vêtements), enfin, en tant qu'agent (auto-improvisé sur le pouce) de David Revoy, je déplore qu'il n'ait pas sorti cette botte magique pour accroître son lectorat. Il faut vraiment qu'il se forme aux pratiques capitalistiques modernes.
[/humour]
Un dernier mot plus sérieux : je m'étonne qu'il n'y ait pas déjà une équipe un peu motivée qui ait réalisé une animation fluide de Pepper & Carrot en s'appuyant sur la désormais vaste collection des images de son corps habillé et de son visage (sous de nombreux angles et avec une grande variété d'expressions) et sur des algorithmes d'IA à base de réseau neuronaux, un peu à la manière dont sont construits les "deep-fake". Mais non, je ne pense pas à un détournement salace.
Il pourrait s'agir de partir d'un film avec des acteurs réels, d'appliquer un filtre (une IA) pour transformer le film en simili dessin animé, puis, de remplacer automatiquement le corps ainsi que visage d'un personnage dessiné par ceux de Pepper. Si besoin, avant d'intervertir les personnages, pour créer une scène difficile à tourner (comme un vol complexe sur balai magique enchainant boucles et tonneaux), un peu de 3D grossière aura fait le job.
Oui, je sais, c'est plus facile à dire qu'à faire, mais il faut voir où en est rendu l'état de l'art en matière de production, de retraitement et de modification d'images par IA, cf. par exemple la chaîne Youtube "Two Minute Papers" : https://www.youtube.com/c/K%C3%A1rolyZsolnai/videos
Sadly I missed the comic, when it was postedand I thought, it's probably not up yet. Glad I checked.
What can I say, your landscapes are so cozy and free, I feel like i just wanna be there. I like the continuity of the story, it adds some connection and world building. Hope you don't run out of ideas, not easy with slice of life serials.
That onion cutting trick, as soon as i saw Pepper dumping stuff and having the knife I knew it! Haha this was perfect!
Can I ask, how come you chose to make longer episodes, posting after months and not like say 1-2 pages per week? :)
Hey, thanks!
About the choice to post longer episode, it's because of two things. First, I personaly dislike following webcomics with release page after page. It feels a bit like watching a movie and get a two day long pauses for every minute of movie. I understand why other authors does this, but I just prefer to post episodes that all contains a start and a ending. My second reason is technical: translation and proofreading is a big process on Pepper and Carrot, and involves many contributors. If I had to launch a review for each pages, it would probably slow down (even more) the process.
All in all, I know it's not really well adapted to modern social media to produce a content that require monthes without releases, especially for small indi authors. The 'page per week' model is certainly more adapted to stay in touch. Hard to find a right balance between flattering social media algorythm and keeping a production of quality that require time. Thank you for asking about this topic.
Yeah, I understand. I guess, when you have little, self contained stories and not a long graphic novel, then it is better to have many pages as one episode. You get to have the setup at the start and the joke at the end. And yeah the translations is a big deal I get that. But as long as it works out for you, it's all good. :)
There is not much one can do against algorithms, unfortunately, except maybe advertise more.
I noticed that the Hungarian (Magyar) translation is a bit lacking in some instances (grammar mistakes, wrong names called etc.). If you need a Hungarian translator, let me know. I would be happy to help :) Got professional background in it.
Originally, I was thinking that Pepper would pepper the phoenix's eyes with pepper.
Well, it turned out to be onions.
Hmm... At least both are angiosperms.
Muito bom final surpreende-te, e adoro sua forma artística, gosto de como as coisa saem do comum com ela rsrsrs.
Vai ser muito bom ver mais tirinhas dela e de com o mundo funciona e melhor ainda jogar neste local ^^
Very good ending surprises you, and I love her artistic form, I like how things go out of the ordinary with her rsrsrs. It will be great to see more comic strips of it and with the world works and even better play in this place ^^
>This episode introduces a giant Phoenix and also sets what it costs to use the super powerful Rea of Dragon.
I think it'd have been much better for the plot if the dragon rea had caused addiction and dependence with psychosis in the case of absistence, and so it'd be nice to see Pepper fighting her permanent desire imprinted into yer mind to get a dose of this rea again.
And sharing dragon rea is prohibited, as the dragon has said, exactly because of the same reasons dealing stimulant drugs is prohibited.
Ouais, c'est comme ça qu'on fait pleurer un Phoenix xD.
La cité est magnifique. J'adore tes peintures. J'étais tellement concentré sur la beauté des images que j'ai pas encore lu tous les épisodes. Mais je continue dessus. Une adaptation en animation serait superbe.
Tu as (au moins) une fan au Mali :)
Episode 37: The Tears of the Phoenix
45 comments
After a long long pause due to a long list of good reasons I already detailed on the making-of article posted on the blog, here is (finally) episode 37! This episode introduces a giant Phoenix and also sets what it costs to use the super powerful Rea of Dragon. I hope you'll have a good time reading it during this (very) hot summer 2022.
Thank you very much again to all contributors and patrons around the project ❤️
Ha ha, clever. I love it. Beautiful artwork, as always. And thank you for championing free/libre software in such a visible way. I love being able to point to your work as an example of what can be done with non-commercial tools!
Thank you very much Dave!
I don't speak english
I happy to see a new comic and whit so good art first i read the preview in french and whats like you use a diferent style,a question how you find your own style , i am trying to find muy own but i can't,i work in blender.
Thank you jaldmic for your comment and I hope you'll find a way for your style.
Here I finally decided to "let it go" and don't really think about this research as a problem, even, stop it as a quest. Now, I just push the details of each panel until "the work feels done" and then the style is not anymore something I "art-direct", or decide; but just a byproduct of all my natural mistakes, traces and textures of the tools I prefer to use and result of what I can do when I try my best.
Switching to this mind set really made me be able to finish and post this episode.
I was thinking the same thing, that it is better to take the time to make something good, instead of turning the creation process into a sterile, factory machine-like conveyer belt.
Causes too much stress and that seeps into the artwork.
Géniale la chute ! Tellement inattendue et tellement logique à la fois.
Merci Stemy!
What a crafty and funny solution! A Perfect Pepper way of solving the problem.
Thank you Darryl, I always worry one day readers will be able to predict all the "thinking out of the box" trick of Pepper. I hope I'll have the resources to keep writting original and unpredictable funny twists.
This was great. I was originally thinking Pepper was going to make the phoenix laugh with something funny, but this is even better.
I was thinking that too, and that she might get it to laugh by telling it about the embarrassing battle in the last episode.
Oh... Now you are speaking about it, this would have been great to reinforce the ridicule of the last battle ending. Ah, a missed opportunity! Thanks for pointing it.
Clever ending. Though I was a bit confused how Pepper came down with an ailment, and had to go back to re-read the last chapter. Well, so the dragon did indeed warn her when giving her his "Rea" energy, but I didn't know it would cause her serious problems afterwards. Here's hoping she recover and is back to using her powers as before!
And nice artwork, as always!
Hi! Thank you, yes, after 8 month not posting, the reference to the previous episode was a bit difficult to remember.
Rea of Dragon was really too powerful, and I knew when I wrote last episode I'll have to setup later a strong counterpart sideeffect to protect the Lore. Yes, Arra the dragon tells Pepper it is taboo, "forbidden", "at her own risk". I still haven't decided if it should also affect Arra. I'll see what I can do within the very restricted page count I have per episodes.
I suppose she came down with an ailment because she messed up too bad. It is like rocking up for a match or a test and being so bad that your opponent or teacher doesn't even care to bother with it.
Either way, I wasn't too worried actually. The Phoenix reminded me of Big Bird from Sesame Street. To my knowledge, he never killed anyone so the skeletons down there where just for bluff.
I too love the story. These must be enough tears to heal all those troops once (if ever) the love-spell wears off. That said, of course I hope the dragon rea is so strong, the spell is permanent :).
That cleverness has Pepper written all over it. I love the art for the city and for the Phoenix too. Awesome work!
Thank you! 😍
But, painting all that panels full of fire for the Phoenix when the weather is so hot wasn't the best idea. 😅
Next summer, I'll have to anticipate and write an episode on ice floe 😆
So *that* is why dragons are not allowed to give Rea to witches!
I see that, after the Dark Pepper arc, P&C is back to being a lighthearted comic with a touch of existential dread :D
Thanks Parnikkapore! Yes, I'll try to jungle between 'adventure' episodes (with fun but ending more like clifhangers), and funny lighthearted episodes like this one. I'll see how it works.
Gorgeous artwork, and worth the wait as usual. Pepper's really rocking those braids!
I think this is also the first that I've really noticed the non-human humanoids in the background. I'd love to know more about their history someday, since they seem to be a minority. Are they ensourcelled humans? Are there colonies of other races elsewhere on Hereva?
Thanks! 🤩
Yes, this is an aspect of the world building I would love to describe in the comic. It's not canon yet, but the big picture would be more on the side of ensourcelled humans; a fusion of animals and humans (but also of dragons and animals, eg. dragoncows) that happened at a certain moment of history −and at a world large scale− and also long time ago in their world so it became part of the races and diversity of Hereva. Not easy to explain within a stream of funny short episodes, but may be I'll be able one day.
Comme toujours un épisode superbe qui valait bien qu'on l'attende un peu !
J'aime particulièrement la tête désespérée du Phénix devant les premières tentatives de Pepper pour le faire pleurer.
Et sa solution pour y parvenir au final est excellente et tout à fait inattendue.
Bravo et merci !
I realy like how do it look Pepper in this episode. it turn out right.
What a lovely episode, thank you!
What I don't understand though, is what happened to all those burned skeletons?
Did they anger the phoenix with their art and paid with their lives?
But Pepper apparently angered the bird even more by coming unprepared, yet she was just shooed and sent home to get ready?
Or witches just happen to have special relationships with phoenixes and quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi?
They probably angered the phoenix (and possibly more than one) more than made them cry. Also if a phoenix dies they burst into flames and are reborn, so perhaps they might have bored it to death. Literally.
> they might have bored it to death. Literally.
Brilliant!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
Man, Pepper, that...was...clever.
And boy, the way she was trying to hold by her tears, funny and classic. Love the world building with an equally fine balance of characterizations. What is more, I think most fantasy as well as steampunk is much too dark (not to mention too much save the world from the forces of darkness and all that cliché junk) At last, a fine, lighthearted, silly, slice of life genre with heavy themes.
Hope to read more. Thanks David.
Thank you!
Toujours un plaisir de lire une nouvelle histoire de Pepper et Carrot, le twist est génial !
J'adore ton style graphique mais je trouve cet épisode particulièrement impressionnant. La fumée dense qui sort du centre du volcan, et la fumée légère/vapeur qui s’échappe le long du chemin de la lave sur un des versants, Les reflets de l'eau sur la coque du bateau(1ier et 2ieme case), le style de la tenue de Pepper, la façon dont sa cicatrice rayonne, les expressions subtiles de son visage (puis moins subtile sur la dernière case ^^), la teinte des larmes du phoenix qui rebondissent sur la tête de Pepper... C'est magnifique.
Puis il y a un tas de choses que j'arrive pas à identifier mais qui rendent le tout immersif, la preuve : c'est qu'en voyant l'île, on a chaud, mais pas trop, on a un peu envie d'aller se baigner, envie de gouter les brochettes, de croquer dans un fruit (sous les avis de recherche), on comprend que grâce au volcan la terre est riche, la nourriture est abondante, etc... Tu poses une ambiance et une atmosphère hyper établie en très peu d'images.
Merci pour ton taf.
Super merci pour avoir remarqué tous ces détails ! 🤩
@ mlop
Je sors la boite magique à humour, histoire de déformer localement la matrice.
Oh, ce n'est pas bien grave, plop, mais tu t'es trompé(e) dans l'orthographe de ton pseudonyme. Que je sorte ? Attends, j'ai remarqué d'autres incongruités.
Moi aussi, j'ai trouvé remarquable, et même magnifique, la façon dont la cicatrice de Pepper rayonne, lorsqu'elle attrape sa chemise du côté droit et l'entre-ouvre. Cependant, qui n'a pas été déçu qu'à la case suivante elle ne l'ouvre pas carrément plus ? D'une part j'aurais été vraiment très surpris (or j'aime parfois les surprises), d'autre part nul doute que ça m'aurait un peu émoustillé (cette sorcière est désormais une belle plante dont on devine la généreuse poitrine sous ses vêtements), enfin, en tant qu'agent (auto-improvisé sur le pouce) de David Revoy, je déplore qu'il n'ait pas sorti cette botte magique pour accroître son lectorat. Il faut vraiment qu'il se forme aux pratiques capitalistiques modernes.
[/humour]
Un dernier mot plus sérieux : je m'étonne qu'il n'y ait pas déjà une équipe un peu motivée qui ait réalisé une animation fluide de Pepper & Carrot en s'appuyant sur la désormais vaste collection des images de son corps habillé et de son visage (sous de nombreux angles et avec une grande variété d'expressions) et sur des algorithmes d'IA à base de réseau neuronaux, un peu à la manière dont sont construits les "deep-fake". Mais non, je ne pense pas à un détournement salace.
Il pourrait s'agir de partir d'un film avec des acteurs réels, d'appliquer un filtre (une IA) pour transformer le film en simili dessin animé, puis, de remplacer automatiquement le corps ainsi que visage d'un personnage dessiné par ceux de Pepper. Si besoin, avant d'intervertir les personnages, pour créer une scène difficile à tourner (comme un vol complexe sur balai magique enchainant boucles et tonneaux), un peu de 3D grossière aura fait le job.
Oui, je sais, c'est plus facile à dire qu'à faire, mais il faut voir où en est rendu l'état de l'art en matière de production, de retraitement et de modification d'images par IA, cf. par exemple la chaîne Youtube "Two Minute Papers" : https://www.youtube.com/c/K%C3%A1rolyZsolnai/videos
Bisous.
So glad to see a new comic. Brought me great joy. I love the twist at the end, very clever.
☺️
La esperanta titolo sur la bildo ŝajnas esti skribita kiel «Pipro ⳤ Karoĉjo» kun «ⳤ» por «kaj» <3
Sadly I missed the comic, when it was postedand I thought, it's probably not up yet. Glad I checked.
What can I say, your landscapes are so cozy and free, I feel like i just wanna be there. I like the continuity of the story, it adds some connection and world building. Hope you don't run out of ideas, not easy with slice of life serials.
That onion cutting trick, as soon as i saw Pepper dumping stuff and having the knife I knew it! Haha this was perfect!
Can I ask, how come you chose to make longer episodes, posting after months and not like say 1-2 pages per week? :)
Hey, thanks!
About the choice to post longer episode, it's because of two things. First, I personaly dislike following webcomics with release page after page. It feels a bit like watching a movie and get a two day long pauses for every minute of movie. I understand why other authors does this, but I just prefer to post episodes that all contains a start and a ending. My second reason is technical: translation and proofreading is a big process on Pepper and Carrot, and involves many contributors. If I had to launch a review for each pages, it would probably slow down (even more) the process.
All in all, I know it's not really well adapted to modern social media to produce a content that require monthes without releases, especially for small indi authors. The 'page per week' model is certainly more adapted to stay in touch. Hard to find a right balance between flattering social media algorythm and keeping a production of quality that require time. Thank you for asking about this topic.
Yeah, I understand. I guess, when you have little, self contained stories and not a long graphic novel, then it is better to have many pages as one episode. You get to have the setup at the start and the joke at the end. And yeah the translations is a big deal I get that. But as long as it works out for you, it's all good. :)
There is not much one can do against algorithms, unfortunately, except maybe advertise more.
I noticed that the Hungarian (Magyar) translation is a bit lacking in some instances (grammar mistakes, wrong names called etc.). If you need a Hungarian translator, let me know. I would be happy to help :) Got professional background in it.
Originally, I was thinking that Pepper would pepper the phoenix's eyes with pepper.
Well, it turned out to be onions.
Hmm... At least both are angiosperms.
Muito bom final surpreende-te, e adoro sua forma artística, gosto de como as coisa saem do comum com ela rsrsrs.
Vai ser muito bom ver mais tirinhas dela e de com o mundo funciona e melhor ainda jogar neste local ^^
Very good ending surprises you, and I love her artistic form, I like how things go out of the ordinary with her rsrsrs. It will be great to see more comic strips of it and with the world works and even better play in this place ^^
>This episode introduces a giant Phoenix and also sets what it costs to use the super powerful Rea of Dragon.
I think it'd have been much better for the plot if the dragon rea had caused addiction and dependence with psychosis in the case of absistence, and so it'd be nice to see Pepper fighting her permanent desire imprinted into yer mind to get a dose of this rea again.
And sharing dragon rea is prohibited, as the dragon has said, exactly because of the same reasons dealing stimulant drugs is prohibited.
I love your comics and I did start using Krita beacuse of you!!!! I've been learning a lot from you every episode.
Thanks.
Ouais, c'est comme ça qu'on fait pleurer un Phoenix xD.
La cité est magnifique. J'adore tes peintures. J'étais tellement concentré sur la beauté des images que j'ai pas encore lu tous les épisodes. Mais je continue dessus. Une adaptation en animation serait superbe.
Tu as (au moins) une fan au Mali :)
No, no, noooo! She must be granddaughter of LeClerc from "Allo, allo" (…it's mee, poor o…n seller)
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