I got a lot to say about this page, but first, I need to give you the December schedule: I've decided to take a little Christmas break this year. Draconis Wicked will be on pause until January 6th. I'll still post some art blogs and things, so keep visiting the website now and then to see what's new.

Okay, now here are my thought on the latest page:

For awhile, I wasn't sure if I was going to keep this scene. For one thing, I was afraid it would be too derivative of Jester's other sad moment back in Chapter 10, when he left the festival in Feta. I tried to lampshade that similarity by having Draconis reference the festival incident on the previous page. (The lampshading helped, but may not have completely cured the problem.)

More importantly, I really wanted to keep this chapter moving. I didn't want to stop the progress for one more little moment.

But this scene had to play out. It would be a disservice to the characters if it didn't. Jester would not be Jester if he was able to just take his mind off his troubles when they became inconvenient. And Draconis has been ignoring these kinds of problems, but things have changed and he can't tune out his team mates anymore. If I didn't stop and show these characters reacting and responding as themselves, it would feel like parts of them were missing.

Besides, a lot of you tell me you like these little moments. So maybe I shouldn't worry so much about rushing ahead without stopping to breathe.

By the way, Draconis' line, "I don't believe I'm going to lose," was something I used to say about video games when I was a kid. Back then, I would sometimes wonder how characters like Mario or Sonic could just have moments of fun on their adventures, even knowing that their kidnapped loved ones were counting on them. But if they were confident that they were going win, it would be much easier to enjoy the journey.