Chapter 25: The Hunt Begins
The picture of Ebbe on page 3 is probably my favorite drawing in this whole damn comic.
Also, sheep are way too much fun to draw.
Chapter 24: The Tiger
Sometimes new residents have some difficulties adjusting to life in Harlowe. This one may prove to be a bit tricky.
Chapter 23: The Oldest Man in Town
This isn’t the first time The Midnight Tribe has shown up in my stories, you can see more of them here.
Finding a photo reference for the Titanic’s anchors was weirdly hard, not a lot of images that show them in any sort of details, so I sort of fudged it the best I could. It’s not great.
Chapter 22: The Festival
Trigger warning: This chapter contains the worst drawing of Gene Hackman you’ll ever see.
Caricatures are clearly not my strong suit, but aside from THAT drawing, I am mostly very happy with how this chapter turned out! I really enjoy doing this sort of ‘slice of life’ work in Harlowe, showcasing the day-to-day. It can’t always be monsters and murders, but we’ll be back to that soon enough…
I don’t have any new concept art to show for my sci-fi series, as I’ve put that on the backburner for the time being. My current project is to try and get Harlowe actually published! It’s long been a dream of mine to see my work on the racks in a comic shop or book store, and to that end, I’m working on redrawing the first two chapters. I think MOST of Harlowe stands well enough on its dubious merits, but those first two chapters are ROUGH. I hadn’t found the style for the comic yet, and there are some stylistic choices that make me cringe so hard I’m in danger of inverting.
God, that’s a bad drawing of Gene Hackman. Is he still kicking? I’m worried he’ll somehow see this, and come beat the shit out of me.
Chapter 21: Objects and Artifacts, Part III
Almost immediately after writing this, I became convinced that the Diagetic Music Box is an SCP, it MUST be an SCP. I searched, but couldn’t find anything, so hopefully I did not steal anyone’s idea- I’ve actually forced myself to stop reading SCP after I started this comic specifically to avoid plagarism, I’m still convinced that the music box MUST be an SCP I read years ago and forgot about, and it’s slowly driving me insane.
Chapter 20: New Kids On The Block, Part VI
*So, apparently page 7 was somehow uploaded without dialogue? I assure you, I wasn’t trying anything artsy, I’m just a fucking idiot. It’s fixed now.
This brings our arc to a close!
Definitely went over my target of 2-3 chapters, but honestly, I could have done more. I knew I’d come back to tell Sadie’s story, that there was more to her than the victim we saw before… but I didn’t realize how much more her character had to say!
I was never happy with her simply being a victim of a bad man, hopefully this gave her more agency, and made her a more interesting person in general. Also, Alice is, by far, my favorite Harlowe character to draw, I wish she’d gotten more screen time. Still, our three surviving characters aren’t leaving Harlowe any time soon, so hopefully we’ll be seeing more of them before long!
Still more work on the sci-fi project- trying to get a feel for this world, and how the people in it dress. My goal is Cassette Futurism meets European Feudalism, because I’m never happy with my work unless I can find a way to make it weird, apparently.
Chapter 19: New Kids On The Block Part V
Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians! Seems the kids don’t have much to be thankful for, this chapter, as the Black House fights back.
There’ll be one more chapter for this arc, but I may have to split it into two depending on the length. So much for a quick 3 chapter arc, huh?
Our first look at the cast of my next project.
I wanted the uniforms to be very loose and comfortable looking, and drew inspiration from a lot of medieval articles of clothing, but I may have to bring the pants up a bit- having the crotch of the pants hang so low makes their torsos look super extended. I’ll probably also make Major Samora taller, she’s too petite next to the other human officers.
Chapter 18: New Kids On The Block Part IV
Kids with gas and guns! Certainly this won’t end badly for anyone.
Just two more chapters to go for this arc, and things are ramping up now. Did I delay this chapter by a week just so I could play Starfield?
No comment.
Another piece of concept art here- quick sketches for the Antonov, the hero ship for my upcoming stories:
A VERY rough sketch, trying to nail the shape and feel of the ship- the Antonov is primarily a science and exploration vessel, and as such, she’s not really suited to full-scale combat encounters, but as a ship with a mixed crew- military and civilian- not everyone onboard is trained for hard-g maneuvers and sustained burns, so in a fight, she’s sluggish, relying instead on an overabundance of firepower to deter threats from attacking in the first place.
Despite the look, the decks are arranged along the axis of thrust to provide a gravity analogue for the crew. If you’ve seen The Expanse (and you should) these stories will be a BIT less hard-sci-fi than that. I’m not adhering too closely to realism, skewing instead to whatever seems the most fun, for me as an artist and a writer.
Chapter 17: New Kids On The Block Part III
Things are picking up now, for the kids, but it’s only going to get more dangerous before it’s over!
I spent a lot of time drawing and redrawing that first panel- first drafts had more recognizable…bits, but I felt it was too graphic. Harlowe is definitely for grown ups, and while I do intend to keep including horror aspects, seeing sheep intestine and eyeballs on the front page felt more like it was going into ‘torture-porn’ territory than the ‘weird fiction’ aspect I like. It’s a weird nebulous line, but I try to stay to one side of it.
Plus, the idea that whatever the Landlord turned into just liquified the lamb is really funny to me, and keeps the Landlord from feeling like a physical monster that can be fought. More on that later.
This chapter also features the first of what will become a standard feature in Harlowe comics: Proper persepective on a building, thanks in no small part to me farting around in Blender! I despise drawing the Black House, and struggle with getting the proportions and angles right, so I just said fuck it, and built it in Blender:
The weird, high-contrast colours help me pick out where the edges are- It’s super low poly, and missing a ton of features, but that’s fine, it’s just there to be a guide, I can get the exact angle I want, take a screen grab, and then slap it in CSP and draw it right every time. I’ll probably do the same with the rest of the houses in Harlowe at some point, so I can stop hiding backgrounds and improve my art.
Finally, another peek at my upcoming project, with some more concept art:
The centauri are the closest allies to the Sol Protectorate (that’s us) both in distance, and in diplomatic ties. Earth and its colonies technically exist in the Centauri Empire’s territory, and the centauri are one of the only species that truly trusts humanity, with the majority of other sapient species considering humanity to be territorial and dangerously aggressive. Centauri culture was previously based around a dominant warrior caste, but in the last few centuries they have become more ‘civilized’, encouraging peaceful cooperation between the various species of the known galaxy. They are, however, still the dominant military force, due in large part to their size- with individuals standing up to 3.5 meters, their ships are large, with commensurately heavy weaponry and armor, few navies can risk going toe to toe with the centauri fleet.
Chapter 16: New Kids On The Block, Part II
Seems this tale is a bit of a prequel, if Amos is still walking around… Perhaps we’ll learn just what he’s doing at the bottom of that well…
Between chapters of Harlowe, I’m hard at work on my next big project, the start of what I’m hoping will be a very long-running science fiction series! The first story will serve as an introduction to the world at large, and I’ve been working on concepts and background material, so here’s a sneak peek at one of the species that populate this future: The sevaar, a pseudo hive intelligence that have only recently joined the galactic community, and have rapidly become an invaluable member due to their ability to share memories and knowledge among members of their hive- having one sevaar serving on your ship gives you access to the skills and knowledge of their entire hive, and in return, the hive can explore the galaxy around them through the vicarious experiences of one of their members.
Chapter 15: New Kids On The Block, Part I
Bringing in some new characters to Harlowe, and introducing a new mystery! I expect this arc to run for 3-4 chapters, and I hope it’ll be a good mix of new faces, and some familiar characters you may not have expected to see again! I specifically chose the halloween costumes to establish a time period for these kids to be from, to try and distance myself from the whole Paper Girls/Stranger Things ‘weird stuff in the ‘80s’ vibe that’s so popular now.
Chapter 14: Scars
Probably the weirdest story I’ve ever written, and definitely the one that’s most likely to get me sued. That said, Gritty is so much fun to draw, and the idea of him going on a murderous, unstoppable rampage just felt so right to me!
Please, Philadelphia, let’s be cool about this.
Chapter 13: Objects and Artifacts, Part II
A short one to get us back into Harlowe, I badly needed a break after finishing Last Rites- the next chapter will be back to the usual length for Harlowe, 10-15 pages or so!
Chapter 12: The Verdict
So here we are- the end of Harlowe’s first arc. Maybe it didn’t go the way Jen thought it would, but stepping up and taking on the role of "Sherriff” was a big move for her.
This run has been a big move for ME, as well- I’ve never stuck with a project this long, and I’ve never really seen a project through to completion like this before. Every chapter had a new challenge, something I’d never done before, something I didn’t know if I could even pull off. The results haven’t always been perfect, this chapter alone has some art I’m incredibly proud of, and some that I really wish I could go back and redo- but down that road lies madness, a black hole of endless revisions and self doubt.
This is a long way of saying that a year ago, I wasn’t sure I had it in me to be a story teller, and telling this story, even to a small group of readers like yourselves is unequivocally the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m proud of it, warts and all, and your comments and viewership mean more to me than I can put into words.
With that said, while this isn’t the end of Harlowe- Jen and Singer will have more adventures down the road, and there are plenty of other folks in town with stories of their own to tell- but this does mark a stopping point, of sorts. The next three months will be devoted to a different work entirely. I’ve talked about it some in my news posts, but it’s a film-noire detective story with a twist I hope you won’t see coming, and a whole new cast of strange characters for you to get to know.
This has been an absolute blast, and I look forward to sharing more stories for as long as you’ll read them.
-Wolfe
