1.20.17
on February 1, 2023
at 3:00 am
that first panel is conveniently self-demonstrating, artistically speaking
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
that first panel is conveniently self-demonstrating, artistically speaking
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: who left that matte painting there
Image source: perspective
red holy FUCK
oh my GOODNESS
Ö
There are many ways this answer could be interpreted. Perhaps Life wants Alinua to see things from her perspective. Alternatively, it’s possible that she is, in her fractured state of being, unable to properly see the world, and she created Alinua so that she could see the world through Alinua’s eyes.
Life is currently being all life, everywhere. Fragmented but omnipresent. She’s looking down at a world-sized anthill, able to grasp the large-scale movements but incapable of zooming down to understand the existence of a single ant. Until now. Now she has an ant-sized avatar.
When the Collector woke her, maybe she did say, “Why am I in pieces? I want to be whole again.” But perhaps that was just reflex, id-level stuff and not what she wants after considering it for a minute.
I think Life is just too big to understand the activity on the world it’s an innate part of. Like asking a human to comprehend the complex existence of a single cell, or examine the movement of blood corpuscles in its own retina. Life’s point of view is too huge, too slow, too all-encompassing to see what’s actually happening down at the level of people. It needs a human-scale avatar to make sense of the events that are taking place.
I love how life looks in the first panel. the fair is just perfect.
Aurora Question #32: If there’s one Primordial besides Life who you would want to see in the comic, who is it and why?
Is all of the above an answer?
I think Stone or Lightning
The Lady, absolutely! That’s also the one that I think is most likely we’ll get to see properly.
My theory is that life is the lady (that’s the god the paladins follow, right?)
The problem with this is the color of magic. Life’s magic is always green, when Alinua or Erin uses it. The light magic the paladins are using is a white, but not the purple white of wind magic.
I don’t know. All of them! If I had to pick one, probably Lightning. I’d love to see their character design.
Ditto!
I’m certain Water would be pretty interesting.
I’m particularly fond of the Wind Primordial. Their design seems looks beautiful. Plus, Wind magic seems very versatile, even able to send message borbs.
I think the wind primordial because purple and clouds. I like both of those things.
Life: PERSPECTIVE
Alinua: …on what?
Life: ZA WARUDO
Def primordial water!
Void and Light; I really like dragons.
Another poster worthy panel. Panel 1 is gorgous!
THE SKY. THE EARTH. LIFE
Reminds me of this somehow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imP2MZxoM-s
This life is life that’s life
Sing a song of life
Every heartbeat’s a miracle
Feel the rhythm growing
Day by day as we go
Look inside your body’s humming
With a million drums that are drumming
Fill your lungs get ready
Celebrating the joy
That’s life
This life is life that’s life
This life is life that’s life
Everything is singing
Living a piece of the melody
Smaller bigger biggest
Being a part of the whole
Holding hands we are a chorus
As we follow what’s before us
It’s harmony that binds us
Snappy song happy song
That’s life
This life is life that’s life
This life is life is life
Take the road to wonder
Where the whys and wherefores hides
Join us and discover
Celebrating the joy
That’s life
This life is life that’s life
This life is life that’s life
“PERSPECTIVE.” Many-eyed Life informs
Alinua, in its hand furled.
“On what?” She asks, seeing Life, night sky
And not yet, below her, the world
That is indeed quite an impressive perspective
Hey, I can see Helm from up here!
this whole page is just a masterclass on its own theme
holy gosh damn
is life kinda mirroring alinua’s form (as they were not humanoid in other appearances) or was alinua made in their image?
I think they’ve always been humanoid, we just haven’t seen her zoomed out this much before
I think I will hold on to my thoughts on that until later on in the story. I do agree with @Creature Tamer that Life (the character in this story) has been pretty mysterious so far (Which both an observation and a compliment to Red’s story!)
it kinda looks like everyone’s made in her image
Life utters: “Perspective”, this one quote
Confuses Ali as in space they float
No but really does She mean for Ali to get some perspective or that all of this was for Herself to get more perspective?
Alinua: Hey, I can see my house from here!
Lovely art as ever; Red is right about sharp shadows giving an outer space vibe. The final panel of the world is lovely too, though I’m interested in the state of Life in that frame. She looks more wispy and Kirby dots surround her. Is she less solid down bellow than up above? Is that just reflecting her power and self scattered across the world?
Perspective, eh? Makes sense; Life may struggle to get a good view of the world, or any view at all, in her current state. Her bond with Alinua may be mostly for her to get information about this world she’s a part of and learn from its inhabitants. Maybe she has no long term plan yet, and wants to know more before committing to anything.
I will take a poster, a mouse pad and a mug with this print thank you. Also, perspective on what?
I can show you the world!
YOOOOOOO
Life’s super saturated plant green serves really well to make the effect — it makes Alinua’s purple look almost dusty in comparison (it kind of highlights the sort of difference in terms of their very existence, where Alinua’s highlighted more desaturated colours make her feel (ironically, given we’re comparing her to Life) more natural than supernatural.
As people have mentioned, the super harsh shading on both of them is gorgeous, and if you ask me, it also gives life the feeling of almost glowing? But in a harsh way? Idk. Again, I think it really kind of highlights her inhumanness somehow (probably because of the super harsh contrast between Life’s bright natural green vs the super dark shading).
I love the sorta swirl effect made by Life over the world in the last panel (gorgeous, agh!). And, as many jokes as Red made in the alt text about the perspective panel, it is some DANG good perspective (same with either last page or the one before, when Alinua was sitting), and I’m jealous.
Sorry for the wall of text it’s just that this page might artistically be one of my favourites yet because of how it ties into all of that stuff while also, again, just being really pretty
[“Refuses to elaborate” style meme goes here]
Also Life is…….very pretty
I NEED THIS AS A PRINT AND I WILL HANG IT IN MY HOUSE AND IT WILL WATCH ME SLEEP RED WHY IS YOUR ART SO BEAUTIFUL
I think it to due Red’s continuing practice and fiddling with her art. If you practice with as much passion as Red does, you too find find some good work to leave behind. God I hate not being able to help this work financially! This panel is so beautiful it hurts!
I haven’t gotten whiplash from how good a piece of art is since the orchestra did the Ori and the Blind Forest theme. God damn, Red, you’ve outdone yourself again.
honestly that’s such a simple yet meaningful motivation for life to have??
she wasn’t conscious for the longest time, she didn’t have to think about her state of existence because she was too fractured, but when the collector woke her up, she was suddenly bound in a million pieces and likely couldn’t see or understand what had become of her. anything she could experience would be on such a grand level, but being so *much*, Life wouldn’t know what the world was like from a mortal’s eyes. having a vessel, a small fragile mortal body, would allow her to see and experience life and the world as a part of her creation rather than as some omnipotent god bound to every atom and soul
WOW….
There once was a very protective
Goddess who wanted perspective.
But for herself?
Or for her elf?
Who knew what was her objective?
Just realized Life has a 6-eared Macaque thing going on
Life I get it, but I am not falling for the “Look at the bigger picture, lose your compassion and empathy” talk right now.
I’m thinking; judging from how much space Alinua takes up on her hand, I doubt that this is the actual size that Life was in… well, life. She’s certainly enormous in this dream– Alinua’s the size of an insect compared to her– but I was expecting a scale less mountainous and more planetary, since she’s a part of every organism on this planet. Unless it’s a miniscule part of her in each organism, she would need to be a lot bigger than this to cover the mass distribution (though the miniscule parts could also be plausible, since Life’s form is extremely volatile when not tempered by the presence of the other primordials’ materials).
I feel like I’m being overly critical today… To balance it out, I want to say that this whole friggin page is gorgeous. From Life’s expression in the first panel, to Alinua’s expression in the middle, to the orbital view of Helm in the last.
Might I remind you this started as Alinua’s dream sequence on 1.20.15? And in dreams size is relative. I wondered if Alinua can see what Life sees in panel 3? Pretty though!
I know it’s a dream; apparently, not in my dreams is size relative or malleable.
I’m guessing she means that she wants perspective on the goings-on of the planet? I’m honestly surprised she answered at all. I felt like she’d just stare blankly at Alinua until she sighed and gave up on the question.
Absolutely baller panels Red, nice work!!!!!!!!!!!
Hold on, look at the second panel of the story. The light dragon appear in the ancient ones eyes and gives sentience. The light dragon is higher thinking.
Page of the whole comic, not panel
Life, I’m going to give you one page worth of five panels to explain yourself, otherwise I will find a way into your cosmos merely to spit you in all six to eight of your eyes.
Correction, all TEN of your eyes.
Ohhhh my gosh the planet eeeeeeeeEEEEE
Life-Mom art is so amazing eeeeeeeeEEEEE
AND she’s gonna explain herself eeeeeeeeEEEEE
i just really love this page ok
SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE
You mean that all this time, she never looked down?
“PERSPECTIVE…you need to learn how to draw it, Alinua. Seriously, your art skills are atrocious right now so I need you to learn some technique FAST.”
Still not a good excuse
Respect to the madlads that post comments on every single comic.
TL;DR: Don’t worry, this was part of my master plan.
Life: *steeples all 30 of her fingers*
has anyone else been in space in aurora? if not would this mean that alinua would be the first person to see the world from this sort of perspective?
Life looks way more tired on this page. She wants perspective? On life on the planet? Whether or not she’s gonna let them continue to channel her, or… well…, exist?
Or just seeing how things have turned out so far (:
I LOVE the sense of scale here! Absolutely breathtaking.
Going for the frail blue marble effect I see. very clever life I still am questioning the decade of psychological torture.
This makes me wonder if Ali is going to see all the various people doing things and learn about the rest of the storyline.
It seems like a bad storytelling idea, but it could work.
Life looks amazing, love how you can make her look so alien and imposing while not necessarily scary. Your work is getting so good.
I’VE BEEN HAVING QUEER DREAMS AS OF LATE—
ELF! IN! SPAAAACE!
That last panel gives us a look at what Helm is like. Thankfully the maps in story are accurate to the geography.