Page Commentary No. 329 (Patreon)

Gunwild: It can seem a little odd to denote grief with the stuff you'd expect, black clothes and a cemetery, when we're trying to make it clear that this family has its unique aspects and traditions - but that's meant to contrast with the next couple pages. Besides, we wanted to do it in one image, and in the little time we had it seemed like the right call. The thing that we decided would help a bunch too is Wrenn taking care of one of her younger relatives a bit, because that's admirable and I wanted the girl to seem likable, if a tryhard.

Psu: I think I also didn't want to make it like... a space funeral. We've mentioned this a lot before, one of the weird quirks of Cassiopeia Quinn is that we just willfully use modern day imagery despite it being the big space future. We shouldn 't change it here.

Gunwild: Yeah, and honestly, sticking people in the ground when they die and all getting together to make a day of it has stuck around for millenia, and seems to serve many people well. It could indeed last into the space-future.

Psu: You do bring up a good point though, like the other option would be to imagine a whole lot of traditions that would be self explanatory in a page. But we've established Xerrans as having been acclimated to human culture so much that like... the idea of Xerran culture rarely comes up. We'd have to invent a lot for one panel, when the page isn't about that. It's about Wrenn. Can you explain how you wrote this one?

Gunwild: I was never very much for journaling, the only times I would reliably want to do it were when I was mad about something a person did, and I wanted to vent about how angry it made me. Wrenn's definitely more positive in her journaling, but it is more or less writing down something a person has put her through because she's not sure how to process it! So I have experience with that.

Psu: Maybe I should have journaled more. I don't have the strongest memory of things I've done, and it would be nice to revisit more of the moments I liked.

Gunwild: Your regular sketches have been a nice window into what's captured your curiosity for as long as I've known you.

Psu: Oh jeeze... it's just been butts. Butts for the past year.

Gunwild: Then you're saying you've been inspired by the classic subject of the female form, that makes it sound arty!

Psu: I can think of a different word that rhymes with arty.

Gunwild: Party! 🥳

Psu: Woo!