10/06/2012 [DMFA# 1316] - Does that mean no moon pies?

[joshofspam]

Does this qualify as Mab and Ducky doing the Moonwalk?

Though I still find it suspicious that the party is happening for a guy who is most likely on the top of a dragons hit list and that said dragon's son is being pulled away from the party by a Fae that we know has her own hidden motivations while a group of assassins hunting cubi are on the loose.

That's quite a distance to cover if the assassins do strike the Inn or if Mab is up to something. I'm beginning to wonder if Mab is truly as innocent as she appears to be here. I guess we'll see if something will happen during or after it.

[AmigaDragon]

If anyone wants to try to redline me where the shadows are likely supposed to be falling, I'd be likely capable of adjusting the comic so that it's more appropriate.

Amber, art of space is like most other arts: light comes from one direction. Just the shading is rather stark (light sun half, black dark half). Multiple suns do make things interesting here, ...

While there's likely one sun (we haven't heard otherwise yet) giving the strongest light and sharp shadows, we do also have the planet and other moons reflecting lesser light from their daylight sides. While standing on the planet side of a moon between planet and sun would put you on the dark side, it wouldn't be totally dark, as you'd have the reflected light of the planet (looking fairly substantial here) giving less sharp shadows in the dim light.

[joshofspam]

Eh, I kind of agree with Icarus  and a few others.

I think it's all good and we have so much more to think about. Like how did they get up here? Is Ducky going to be proved wrong about the cake? Is Mab or Ducky going to have a case of space madness? Will Abel get his cake or a knife in his back? Will Wily trade in her dream for blue wings and go with cookies and cream?

[e_voyager]

Will mab Bring Jyrras a rock from the moon because she knows he likes that kind of thing?
will they find a Fae bakery on one of the others moons?
will they come back without a cake because there were only burger places on the two other moons and no bakers?

For these and other interesting question stay tuned!

[Tylor]

"Oh, hi, Mab! Have you found a moon cake? Too bad you missed the awesome birthday party we had yesterday"
Mua ha ha.

[Lurkie]

I admit lighting in space is not something that is my forte.  If anyone wants to try to redline me where the shadows are likely supposed to be falling, I'd be likely capable of adjusting the comic so that it's more appropriate.

As one or two others have pointed out, lighting in space is pretty much like lighting on Earth or Furrae, except that there is no atmosphere to blur things.  So shadows will be very sharp and very black.  But if you want my two cents worth, here goes:

First, I assume that Furrae is properly lit.  That should simplify things quite a bit, I would think.  Given that assumption, the background moon's lighting needs to be swapped so that it's being lit from the same direction.  I.e., the light crescent should be the dark grey, while the dark gibbous area should be the light grey.  From that we can determine the direction of the primary light source, the sun.  Off panel to the right, slightly down, and behind the viewer.  (If it was coming straight in off the right side, the moon would be equally bright and dark.)  So Pyroduck's shadow should be elongated, and to his back and right (to the left of the panel).  Mab's shadow can be anything she wants.  :-)  The little shadows in the foreground craters should be bright instead of dark, since they're sunlit.

The other main light source is sunlight reflected from Furrae itself.  Given how close to the planet we are in this picture, Furraelight is going to be quite bright.  Not sun bright certainly, but bright enough.  I would guess that it's bright enough for Pyroduck to cast a second shadow, towards his front.  Given the wide angle that Furrae subtends, I would also guess it's going to be a fairly blobby sort of shadow.  (Can you tell I'm not a graphics artist?  My descriptions suck...)  The Furraelight is also going to light the shadows that Mab and Pyroduck cast from the sunlight. so they won't be stark black.

Now, all that said, I would like to re-iterate that I think that your outer-space frames are quite nice; I really like them.  I grew up reading authors like Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and so on, and this sort of thing just makes me all tingly.    The lighting is really the only nit I can pick.  Anyway, there you have my contribution.  I hope you find it useful.

"It is beautiful to watch the colored shadows on the planets of eternal light."

P.S.  It just occurred to me that the background moon should actually be casting a shadow on the surface of Furrae.  But from what I can guess of the angles, it would be off the top of the panel.

P.P.S.  I would dearly love to see the orbital dynamics of Furrae and its three moons, but does anyone really want to try to calculate that?  I sure don't!     (And before anyone else can say it:  NERD!!!)

[Whalefreezer]

First off, I just want to say that this comic has far exceeded all expectations I've had. Just the random threat of the moon from the previous page I just found awesome. But this has put it over the top .
As for the discussion about shadows and whatnot. I thought that I might be able to help with this crude thing I whipped up in blender.

It turns out you have a lot of leeway with how the shadows go depending on where the sun is. I made a best guess of it above.
If anyone else wants to have a go the blend file is here.

[AmigaDragon]

First, I assume that Furrae is properly lit.  That should simplify things quite a bit, I would think.  Given that assumption, the background moon's lighting needs to be swapped so that it's being lit from the same direction.  I.e., the light crescent should be the dark grey, while the dark gibbous area should be the light grey.  From that we can determine the direction of the primary light source, the sun.  Off panel to the right, slightly down, and behind the viewer. 

Going by the (fairly small) visible portion of the planet, there's a wider range of possible locations for the sun.

[Lurkie]

First, I assume that Furrae is properly lit.  That should simplify things quite a bit, I would think.  Given that assumption, the background moon's lighting needs to be swapped so that it's being lit from the same direction.  I.e., the light crescent should be the dark grey, while the dark gibbous area should be the light grey.  From that we can determine the direction of the primary light source, the sun.  Off panel to the right, slightly down, and behind the viewer. 

Going by the (fairly small) visible portion of the planet, there's a wider range of possible locations for the sun.

Oh yes, I quite agree.  Which is why I chose to use the moon's lighting, rather than the planet's, as the guide to the direction of the sun.  Even then, there's a fair range of uncertainty in the direction of the sun.  But the lighting for what we can see of Furrae will be okay if the moon's lighting is okay.  Of course, if Amber decides that Pyroduck's shadow is correct, then everything I've typed is worng.  :-)