Project Dormancy
2009.10.09 (Fri)
I decided the first thing I'd draw should be a lead-up to a pretty important duel in the line. For a reference I wrote out how it played out to give me an idea of what it'd look like when I drew it, so here it is, Mikasi vs Misae, double keris vs custom keris.
- -
“What the hell is that?”
“That’s my new weapon. When I was overseas I put in the order for it.”
Misae unwrapped what was in the box and there was a monstrosity of a Keris.
“Welp, this thing took up a year’s pay.”
“Amazing.”
“Yep, well, let’s work with it a bit. It’ll help prep you for your next match too.”
“What? A match?”
“Someone from the Vita refuge. Train your hardest for this one”
“Alright. What should I expect?”
“Physically …average, skill far surpasses yours, and likely has a far greater understanding of martial arts. But this person saw your last match and was really interested. You were itching for a match lately, and I thought you'd learn from this one, so I accepted.”
A greater understanding of martial arts; seems like I really will have to be careful here.
“You’ve met this person once before. The weapon we use is fairly similar. Have fun with it, and learn well.”
“Ok.”
Did I meet any fighters in the vita refuge?
“I’ve already had a practice weapon molded, so we can start right away.”
It’d have to be some kind of monster to use a weapon like that well… guy must be strong.
-
“Alright, give it a try.”
I drew my practice weapon. Then Misae took two steps back and pointed the tip of her weapon to my neck. I did the same. The weapon was roughly half an arm’s length longer than mine, and fairly heavy. First thing I noticed about it was that she used two hands to hold it, which gave me an odd sense of unease. I tried to bait a reaction to get a read, as I’ve become accustomed to doing over the years. I tapped one side of her blade. No response. I made a quick step-in and tapped the other side. Nothing. She really was giving me nothing to go on. I have the shorter range, the attack is on me. I’ll have to use force, despite my worries.
I beat the blade down and went in; she circled her blade around while sidestepping, then took a downward cut at me. I redirected it to the side, then went in for a cut to the head. A miss. It seemed my form was off, and I was throwing my cut sloppily and slowly. Perhaps this was a bad day? No…Being close in, I circled my blade around to strike again, but my hand was stopped by Misae’s left.
Then she swung her blade at me, very slowly with her right hand. I released myself from her left and went to block it, I wondered if she wasn’t used to the weapon yet. I didn’t really want to do it this way, but this would be my first victory against Misae. Stop the blade, then make a cut to the arm. It should be simple. As expected, I stopped the attack, and grabbed at her wrist. But I clutched nothing but air, and instead of arm, I ended up beating down her blade. That hit was pretty heavy. That blade has to be at least 4 times the weight of mine. It seems the weight is throwing off my counter attack form, how annoying. On top of this, my positioning is all messed up. The way she’s moving while striking is really getting to me too.
How the hell am I supposed to deal with it…More commitment to my blocking?
A swing came from my left side. I stopped it handily, but my sword would just not listen afterwards. It’s behaving completely different from normal; I can’t predict where it’s going when we make contact. This is really annoying… what’s going on?
I need to calm down. Once my blade is steady I can just run in, her blade is still very close to my body. If I move in now, she’d have to pull away to cut me, due to the weight and length of her weapon. Meaning, the second I go for a strike with my right, I’ll be stopped by her left hand. So the answer is to feign with my right, release the blade lock and cut her left arm as it comes out.
I went for my right, and there was no reaction, but it still stands that the blade on my left could hit her with no retaliation. I went for it. I saw her motioning to lower herself and retreat, but my blade was sure to strike her head. Why would you be doing that? Stepping back would do nothing here. Perhaps this was the first time I saw her afraid of being struck. My blade swiped cleanly through the air, and a hot feeling shot through my body. What the hell happened?
I’d think it was a round kick, but her right foot was towards me, it would be impossible even for Misae to generate that much force, especially stepping back. As I fell over, I had realized I had been hit with the keris. What the hell is going on?
I get it. It’s like against that pike wielder. She stepped backwards and pulled in the weapon, held it steady with her left and dropped her body weight onto it with her right. The combination of the back step, the wave on the blade, and her body weight put a tremendous amount of force through the weapon, much like the technique pike wielder used to throw me off balance.
But… I drew another keris with my right hand.
“Let’s try again.”
“Aye, we’re not stopping till you get it.”
I already had a feel for how this was going, I went in. I attempted to move forward and beat her blade down, but she resisted and took large step forward, then turned around, her weapon never letting go of mine once. I couldn’t get a hit in with my other hand, and our distance was now the same as before, to her advantage. My side was starting to hurt pretty badly as well. That thing is much lighter and faster than I initially thought it to be. I’ll probably be wearing out way before she does. Another forward step, I saw her back up and get ready for a downward strike. On reaction my keris shot up, huge mistake. I was going to stop it too early, and very likely miss. Even if I hit my target, there’s no way the tip of my weapon would have enough leverage to stop it. I was going to get hit on the head. Then, I heard the sound of wood.
It stopped. The heavy hit was oddly light. What was going on?
Not enough time to gain momentum? Either way, it was my opening. I stepped in and made a cut.
Shallow, wouldn’t even have made it through the cloth. But at least I now know how to stop her attack. I have to disrupt the movement before it starts, otherwise it’d be likely to break through my guard, or put me at a worse position. Normally this would do more harm than good, but that weapon requires commitment, and its length limits the angles it can take. This means it’s easier to see where the attack comes from, and because of its range I need not worry about a foot or fist when defending.
I put myself back into her reach, and she quickly stepped forward. On reaction I stepped back, horrible decision. She then took a half step forward and made a huge sideways cut, just out of range, maybe the choice wasn’t so bad after all. I rushed, on reaction, then recalled the weapon was a large sword, not a pole-arm. A follow-up swing was coming. I put my left weapon above my head to stop a diagonal cut from above, and readied my right to thrust once I was in reach. But the oversized keris came back from the direction it went, which was luckily stopped by my right. But this was a good position; while her blade was locked I decided to make a full step in and thrust, and missed. I missed? This was really getting to my nerves, but luckily I was reminded I had another move while anticipating hers. I circled my blade around and pulled my arm in for a redondo cut. It was parried, and a clear redondo was made to my shoulder.
“And that’s it.”
“I got what you wanted out of that?”
“I think so at least. At this point, I can’t say you’ll win though. Your use of the keris has improved a lot, and your left handed control of one is just as good as your right. One problem is you’ve a keris in each hand instead of having two keris. On top of that, you don’t have much experience fighting weapons other than a straightsword, and due to inexperience can’t make guesses on how some weapons are used.”
Sounds important. I’ll remember it.
“Any drills I should pay special mind to?”
“There’s no such thing as a drill that will help you now, it’s up to you to piece this together.”
“Alright.”
Seems I’m really in for it this time.
-
I ran the whole picture through my head to get a feel for it, and amusingly that whole writeup takes up a total of 5 pages. Never have I felt so much envy for the folks who can shamelessly put down "She put out her hand and shot a ball of energy that ate the other persons ball of energy"
- -
“What the hell is that?”
“That’s my new weapon. When I was overseas I put in the order for it.”
Misae unwrapped what was in the box and there was a monstrosity of a Keris.
“Welp, this thing took up a year’s pay.”
“Amazing.”
“Yep, well, let’s work with it a bit. It’ll help prep you for your next match too.”
“What? A match?”
“Someone from the Vita refuge. Train your hardest for this one”
“Alright. What should I expect?”
“Physically …average, skill far surpasses yours, and likely has a far greater understanding of martial arts. But this person saw your last match and was really interested. You were itching for a match lately, and I thought you'd learn from this one, so I accepted.”
A greater understanding of martial arts; seems like I really will have to be careful here.
“You’ve met this person once before. The weapon we use is fairly similar. Have fun with it, and learn well.”
“Ok.”
Did I meet any fighters in the vita refuge?
“I’ve already had a practice weapon molded, so we can start right away.”
It’d have to be some kind of monster to use a weapon like that well… guy must be strong.
-
“Alright, give it a try.”
I drew my practice weapon. Then Misae took two steps back and pointed the tip of her weapon to my neck. I did the same. The weapon was roughly half an arm’s length longer than mine, and fairly heavy. First thing I noticed about it was that she used two hands to hold it, which gave me an odd sense of unease. I tried to bait a reaction to get a read, as I’ve become accustomed to doing over the years. I tapped one side of her blade. No response. I made a quick step-in and tapped the other side. Nothing. She really was giving me nothing to go on. I have the shorter range, the attack is on me. I’ll have to use force, despite my worries.
I beat the blade down and went in; she circled her blade around while sidestepping, then took a downward cut at me. I redirected it to the side, then went in for a cut to the head. A miss. It seemed my form was off, and I was throwing my cut sloppily and slowly. Perhaps this was a bad day? No…Being close in, I circled my blade around to strike again, but my hand was stopped by Misae’s left.
Then she swung her blade at me, very slowly with her right hand. I released myself from her left and went to block it, I wondered if she wasn’t used to the weapon yet. I didn’t really want to do it this way, but this would be my first victory against Misae. Stop the blade, then make a cut to the arm. It should be simple. As expected, I stopped the attack, and grabbed at her wrist. But I clutched nothing but air, and instead of arm, I ended up beating down her blade. That hit was pretty heavy. That blade has to be at least 4 times the weight of mine. It seems the weight is throwing off my counter attack form, how annoying. On top of this, my positioning is all messed up. The way she’s moving while striking is really getting to me too.
How the hell am I supposed to deal with it…More commitment to my blocking?
A swing came from my left side. I stopped it handily, but my sword would just not listen afterwards. It’s behaving completely different from normal; I can’t predict where it’s going when we make contact. This is really annoying… what’s going on?
I need to calm down. Once my blade is steady I can just run in, her blade is still very close to my body. If I move in now, she’d have to pull away to cut me, due to the weight and length of her weapon. Meaning, the second I go for a strike with my right, I’ll be stopped by her left hand. So the answer is to feign with my right, release the blade lock and cut her left arm as it comes out.
I went for my right, and there was no reaction, but it still stands that the blade on my left could hit her with no retaliation. I went for it. I saw her motioning to lower herself and retreat, but my blade was sure to strike her head. Why would you be doing that? Stepping back would do nothing here. Perhaps this was the first time I saw her afraid of being struck. My blade swiped cleanly through the air, and a hot feeling shot through my body. What the hell happened?
I’d think it was a round kick, but her right foot was towards me, it would be impossible even for Misae to generate that much force, especially stepping back. As I fell over, I had realized I had been hit with the keris. What the hell is going on?
I get it. It’s like against that pike wielder. She stepped backwards and pulled in the weapon, held it steady with her left and dropped her body weight onto it with her right. The combination of the back step, the wave on the blade, and her body weight put a tremendous amount of force through the weapon, much like the technique pike wielder used to throw me off balance.
But… I drew another keris with my right hand.
“Let’s try again.”
“Aye, we’re not stopping till you get it.”
I already had a feel for how this was going, I went in. I attempted to move forward and beat her blade down, but she resisted and took large step forward, then turned around, her weapon never letting go of mine once. I couldn’t get a hit in with my other hand, and our distance was now the same as before, to her advantage. My side was starting to hurt pretty badly as well. That thing is much lighter and faster than I initially thought it to be. I’ll probably be wearing out way before she does. Another forward step, I saw her back up and get ready for a downward strike. On reaction my keris shot up, huge mistake. I was going to stop it too early, and very likely miss. Even if I hit my target, there’s no way the tip of my weapon would have enough leverage to stop it. I was going to get hit on the head. Then, I heard the sound of wood.
It stopped. The heavy hit was oddly light. What was going on?
Not enough time to gain momentum? Either way, it was my opening. I stepped in and made a cut.
Shallow, wouldn’t even have made it through the cloth. But at least I now know how to stop her attack. I have to disrupt the movement before it starts, otherwise it’d be likely to break through my guard, or put me at a worse position. Normally this would do more harm than good, but that weapon requires commitment, and its length limits the angles it can take. This means it’s easier to see where the attack comes from, and because of its range I need not worry about a foot or fist when defending.
I put myself back into her reach, and she quickly stepped forward. On reaction I stepped back, horrible decision. She then took a half step forward and made a huge sideways cut, just out of range, maybe the choice wasn’t so bad after all. I rushed, on reaction, then recalled the weapon was a large sword, not a pole-arm. A follow-up swing was coming. I put my left weapon above my head to stop a diagonal cut from above, and readied my right to thrust once I was in reach. But the oversized keris came back from the direction it went, which was luckily stopped by my right. But this was a good position; while her blade was locked I decided to make a full step in and thrust, and missed. I missed? This was really getting to my nerves, but luckily I was reminded I had another move while anticipating hers. I circled my blade around and pulled my arm in for a redondo cut. It was parried, and a clear redondo was made to my shoulder.
“And that’s it.”
“I got what you wanted out of that?”
“I think so at least. At this point, I can’t say you’ll win though. Your use of the keris has improved a lot, and your left handed control of one is just as good as your right. One problem is you’ve a keris in each hand instead of having two keris. On top of that, you don’t have much experience fighting weapons other than a straightsword, and due to inexperience can’t make guesses on how some weapons are used.”
Sounds important. I’ll remember it.
“Any drills I should pay special mind to?”
“There’s no such thing as a drill that will help you now, it’s up to you to piece this together.”
“Alright.”
Seems I’m really in for it this time.
-
I ran the whole picture through my head to get a feel for it, and amusingly that whole writeup takes up a total of 5 pages. Never have I felt so much envy for the folks who can shamelessly put down "She put out her hand and shot a ball of energy that ate the other persons ball of energy"
Welp. it's colored.
2009.07.19 (Sun)
You can really see the overlap once it's colored. I was a bit indecisive with a few of the colors on the borders, and didn't really feel like drawing a background, so enjoy the blurry blue zigzags.
Because every manga needs a blind swordsman
2009.07.17 (Fri)
Enter Vita Khorijin.
She look a lot like Xeno? Welp, that's because Xeno's design is pretty much Khorijin with a ponytail wearing Misu clothing under the overcoat rather than Vita, my mental image of Xeno sort of just lined up with Khorijin. Maybe I should put a ponytail on her after all, might look nice.
Unlike Xeno Khorijin is actually blind though, rather, has a field of vision the size of a dime, extremely dimmed and blurred sight and constant photophobia. At most she opens up one of her eyes to make sure the person she's talking to is still there. Otherwise she just has a good idea of where everything is I guess. Maybe it's ESP.
I also tried to draw the hair this time instead of just making lines in the direction of the hair. I think it turned out nicely. Coloring it will be a pain though...
She look a lot like Xeno? Welp, that's because Xeno's design is pretty much Khorijin with a ponytail wearing Misu clothing under the overcoat rather than Vita, my mental image of Xeno sort of just lined up with Khorijin. Maybe I should put a ponytail on her after all, might look nice.
Unlike Xeno Khorijin is actually blind though, rather, has a field of vision the size of a dime, extremely dimmed and blurred sight and constant photophobia. At most she opens up one of her eyes to make sure the person she's talking to is still there. Otherwise she just has a good idea of where everything is I guess. Maybe it's ESP.
I also tried to draw the hair this time instead of just making lines in the direction of the hair. I think it turned out nicely. Coloring it will be a pain though...
Hm.
2009.07.10 (Fri)
I ended up deciding what my characters would be using as their primary weapons and came up with a general idea of their attitudes in duels.
Misae: custom 2 hand Kris, 28 " blade 14" handle
Mikasi: 2 standard kris, 20" blade 6" handle
Akando: custom kampilan, 22' blade 6' usable handle, custom straight kris, 22" blade 6" handle
Khorijin: custom kampilan, 23' blade(curved) 10' handle
In other news I did the touhou character sorting thing and here are the results.
Oddly joyful list innit?
On another note, I've been watching a lot of Ippo lately. It's pretty interesting. Also got off my ass for a bit to study a little Japanese. Been a while since I've done that.
Misae: custom 2 hand Kris, 28 " blade 14" handle
Mikasi: 2 standard kris, 20" blade 6" handle
Akando: custom kampilan, 22' blade 6' usable handle, custom straight kris, 22" blade 6" handle
Khorijin: custom kampilan, 23' blade(curved) 10' handle
In other news I did the touhou character sorting thing and here are the results.
Oddly joyful list innit?
On another note, I've been watching a lot of Ippo lately. It's pretty interesting. Also got off my ass for a bit to study a little Japanese. Been a while since I've done that.
Same thing as before
2009.06.27 (Sat)
I also added Marisa related things on the image. But yeah, I didn't have a colored picture of Akando up so I thought I'd do her some justice.
![[YKT]hourai](http://blog-imgs-26.fc2.com/y/k/t/ykthourai/1225958669622s.jpg)