Stephanie O'Brien's Blog

Poll: What Patreon Rewards Would You Like Me To Offer?

29/6/2018

As you probably know, I’m currently working on building an income through my Patreon channel so I can spend more time creating stories and art instead of doing other things to support myself.

That being the case, I’d love to know what you’d want to see if you were supporting me on Patreon.

Even if you don’t have the money or desire to become a patron, your feedback will still help me get an idea of what people are interested in, so I'd appreciate it very much if you could take a minute to give me your opinion.

If you want to know what I'm already offering, you can see a list of the available rewards in the right-hand sidebar of this page.

Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

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The WIP for Page 34 of "Just Cause" is Ready, and I Have a Question

28/6/2018

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The Patreon work-in-progress preview for the 34th page of my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause, is ready, and I've got a question for my readers.

I've been fiddling with Alphys' head shape, as viewed from the front. The way I originally drew her made it look like someone had taken bites out of her head, but when I switched to having the spikes more centered and mostly hidden behind her head, it didn't quite look right, and one of my most dedicated readers missed the visible head spikes.

I think this new design is an improvement on the previous two, and I'd love to get your feedback. Thanks in advance!

Commissions Physical merch

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Undertale Handplates Fan Art: "You Shouldn't Have! ...No, Really, You Shouldn't Have."

20/6/2018

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One of those lucky instances where even though this is fandom-specific, there are no spoilers, and the joke requires no context to be understood.

Be nice, Gaster. I know this isn’t the best thing you’ve ever come home to, but he’s trying so hard, and he did it for you.

This is based on the “Babyplates” version of Zarla's Handplates AU. They aren’t babies anymore, but they’re still young enough that “I made (insert life form here) pretty” is automatically bad news, haha.

I wasn't sure whose style to use for this one, so I ended up doing a hybrid of my style and Zarla's.

Since some of her readers will probably be wondering, this wasn’t inspired by the printer incident. I thought of it when one of my siblings told me about a parent who discovered that their child had painted the kitchen with butter. BUTTER, of all things. >_<

The animal suits, on the other hand, were totally based on this Handplates comic and this Handplates side comic.

I probably should’ve drawn this in time for Father’s Day, but I didn’t. :( Oh, well.

If you want to get early access to art like this, and exclusive access to WIPs, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

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Page 33 of My "Undertale" Comic, "Just Cause", is Ready!

16/6/2018

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The 33rd page of Just Cause is ready! Enjoy the emotional pain.

Uh-oh. Frisk is slipping, in more ways and more timelines than one.

For extra sadness, try listening to "Remember Me" by The Birthday Massacre after reading this comic.

I've seen a few stories that explain Frisk's choice to repeatedly reset the timeline by saying they were curious, or bored, or just enjoyed their journey through the Underground so much that they wanted to relive it.

Some of these stories were really good, and I'm certainly not bashing their creators. But to me, the "resetting for pleasure" explanation seems to come from a very player-centric point of view, and it ignores a few key differences between the in-game protagonist and the player:

1.

For the player, Undertale ends when you leave the Underground. The only way you can continue to interact with the story and characters is to reset to the beginning of the game and replay it.

But for Frisk, that isn't the case. After they leave the Underground, life goes on, they can continue interacting with their friends, and there are endless new events and experiences to discover.

If they had to choose between Undertale's happy ending and reliving their journey through the Underground, the former seems like the less boring and more enjoyable choice.

2.

The whole Undertale experience is probably a lot more fun for the player, who is sitting comfortably in their home, than it is for the protagonist, who gets stabbed, burned, beaten, and otherwise hit with various magic attacks on a regular basis, depending on the player's skill level.

Depending on their backstory, their trip through the Underground might very well have been the most brutal and traumatic experience of Frisk's life.

I doubt they'd repeat that experience for fun, unless they like pain, and it would take a powerful and twisted sense of curiosity for them to choose to endure that just to see what happens when their loved ones die.

And speaking of their loved ones...

3.

When Frisk resets, they possibly lose EVERYONE.

While player-created backstories vary, there are signs - such as the bandage that's been used multiple times, the fact that you can flirt with Toriel AND call her "mom", and the fact that you can choose to go live with Toriel at the end of the game - that suggest that Frisk's home of origin may have been neglectful, abusive, both, or simply nonexistent.

If they don't have friends or family on the surface, then the monster friends they meet in Undertale are all they have.

Imagine a world where all your friends have forgotten about you. You remember loving them and being loved, and you still care about them, but to them, you're just another stranger. To some of them, you're even an enemy to be destroyed.

Sure, you can repeat the experiences that created your relationships. You can go through the motions. But interactions and experiences that came from your authentic emotional reactions will never be truly recreated, because this time you'll be faking it, and observant people will pick up on that.

You aren't completely the same person anymore, and the people who remember the events that made you who you are are gone forever.

All in all, resetting the timeline would probably be a miserable experience. It certainly is for Just Cause's version of Frisk. To them, time travel is a blade without a hilt: useful as a last resort, but it will inevitably hurt them.

To support me as an artist, and to get exclusive access to works in progress, advance viewing of completed chapters, and discounts on commissions, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon!

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Undertale Fan Art: Do You Remember Me?

14/6/2018

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The 33rd page of my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause, is 5 panels away from being done! I just finished one of the more challenging panels late last night, and I liked it so much that I decided to share it on its own, without any dialogue to obstruct it.

If you want to see the full 20-panel work-in-progress, and to be the first to see the completed page when it's published, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

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Arkham City's Beautiful, Deadly Glitch

5/6/2018

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Sometimes, the mistakes of video game designers and players combine to create beautiful, deadly accidents. Here are the chronicles of the prettiest death I've ever experienced in Batman: Arkham City:

It all started when, while riding the elevator down from Wonder Tower, I decided to ride on top of the cab instead of inside it.

Apparently the game translated that as me being outside the building, and as a result, I was treated to this beautiful, surreal view.

Arkham City meets Alice: Madness Returns.

Once my descent below the city was complete, I dropped into the elevator, hoping that would convince the game that I was back in Wonder Tower's foundations where I belonged.

No such luck. When I stepped out of the elevator, instead of loading the appropriate room, the game plunged me into a dappled void.

The swirling yellow you see above me is the sky over Arkham City. Below is the snowy, starry abyss that lurks beneath the prison, waiting to claim the life of anyone impertinent enough to misuse the city's elevators.

When I looked up, this is what I saw:

As the plunge continued and the prison's underbelly shrank into the distance, it began to look as if the world had been cut in two. I suspect the dark side and its offshoots are the water that encloses one side of Arkham city.

Then I looked down, and saw nothing. Nothing but blurry patches of snowy mystery, with no hope of a safe landing in sight.

Eventually, just as I was starting to think I'd have to exit the game, it pulled me out of the underworld and into a generic "your mission has failed" message.

It seems there are some enemies even Batman can't defeat, and beautiful bat-eating glitches in his virtual world are one of them.

Want to get early access to posts like this, and exclusive access to works in progress?

If you enjoy the stuff I share and want to see more, and you'd like to support me, please consider becoming a patron on my Patreon!

Click the button below to find out what kinds of rewards are available to my patrons:

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Poll: What Patreon Rewards Would You Like Me To Offer?

If you were supporting me on Patreon, what would you want to see?

The WIP for Page 34 of "Just Cause" is Ready, and I Have a Question

Undertale Handplates Fan Art: "You Shouldn't Have! ...No, Really, You Shouldn't Have."

Page 33 of My "Undertale" Comic, "Just Cause", is Ready!

Undertale Fan Art: Do You Remember Me?

Arkham City's Beautiful, Deadly Glitch

Want to get early access to posts like this, and exclusive access to works in progress?

Author

Categories

Archive

Poll: What Patreon Rewards Would You Like Me To Offer?

​If you were supporting me on Patreon, what would you want to see?

The WIP for Page 34 of "Just Cause" is Ready, and I Have a Question

Undertale Handplates Fan Art: "You Shouldn't Have! ...No, Really, You Shouldn't Have."

Page 33 of My "Undertale" Comic, "Just Cause", is Ready!

Undertale Fan Art: Do You Remember Me?

Arkham City's Beautiful, Deadly Glitch

Want to get early access to posts like this, and exclusive access to works in progress?

Author

Categories

Archive

If you were supporting me on Patreon, what would you want to see?