Chess-Man

Hallome peepul!

So I got to thinking - I keep getting new ideas for this "Kon!" comic, and since I'm kind of on a roll lately, why not try to make it a full blown manga? I've been thinking about reopening my Patreon lately, maybe start taking commissions again, and this seems like a perfect opportunity to do so.

A bit of clarification about Patreon - to me, it's more like a "support a creator" program. I know it has tiers and people usually provide some perks for certain ones, I find that an absolute pain in the bum. With me your experience would be more like "I like this stuff so I'mma throw maybe 5$ a month at him" but that's all it is. There will be no "get art" perks or "see a chapter before everyone else". I'll be dumping a chapter out when it's ready and everyone will see it at the same time. The only difference between tiers is how much you're willing to support me with.

(You might've noticed that I don't like to beat around the bush - what you see is what you get with me)

As for commissions I still need to ponder the prices and what I'm willing to sell. Animations are off since Flash is dead (or maybe? I'm not saying NO, I'm just saying "unlikely"). Figurines are a pain in the bum to make and the stuff I've done is basically for personal satisfaction. So the only things I'll be selling are:

- comics (6-8 panels per page)

- single images

These being divided into lineart/flat colors/full colors.

On a side note, maybe if I manage to save enough cash I'll get myself one of them Cintiq-esque art tablets - it would surely improve the art, since eye-hand coordination is kinda hard when your hand is moving yet you're looking elsewhere. Problem is, these mofos are PRICEY, with 250$ being the cheapest one I think, and that's for 13" tablet. For comparison my Wacom Bamboo is 10" (working surface about 7-8" I think) and it cost around 100$.

But I digress. What I wanted to ask, if I started making more chapters, would you be interested?

So I have a few transformation types that cause legit anxiety for me. Weird seeing as I mainly deal in gender bender stuff. But still, fear is irrational and while I know this stuff can't happen in real life I am genuinely afraid of those. Maybe I'm just being too empathetic towards this stuff, but I usually see TG/TF as "Would I want this to happen to me?" thing. I thought that maybe openly speaking about those will lessen the anxiety, kinda like self therapy. So without further ado:

1) Animal TF: Being stuck as an animal isn't too appealing in my book, especially if the personality gets overwritten by that of the target animal, where you essentialy cease to exist. Fear factor */*****

2) Possession: I'm not a fan of someone invading my body and doing as they please with it. Moreover it's often accompanied by the original owner personality being completely erased, which to me is basically being killed, and this scares me. Fear factor **/*****

3) Reverse TF: Ok this is rather hard to explain so I'm going to provide an example courtesy by Da-Fuze :

See what's happening there? Your hands become feet and vice versa, and your head essentially becomes genitals and what was genitals is now a head, often with their own persoonality. Simillar to possession? Yes. Difference being that you're now someone's junk and usually you're still conscious of it. Fear factor ****/***** I regret knowing this TF genre exists.

4) Inanimate TF: The big daddy of them all in my book. Let's say you get turned into a figurine. There are two options now: one, you're still conscious and now you're immobile and trapped, doomed to slowly go insane. Two, your consiousness gets erased and you basically become an item. This is murder. I am greatly disturbed by this. And I'm really sorry for pointing fingers but the main culprit of this is this animation:

Jesus H. Christ this one seriously made me lose sleep on several occasions. I am f**ked up over this. I can't even look at Splatoon related stuff because I'm immediately reminded of this. I get genuine anxiety attacks whenever I think about this. Fear factor ***************************/***** God I wish I forgot this existed so I can sleep peacefully. How do I get over this? I need help...

DISCLAIMER: Don't get me wrong, this is a good animation. Very good even. It's just that the content itself has shaken me up to the point of anxiety. I don't know why, but it just scares me for some reason.

So I decided to keep a daily journal of my first adventure with hot steel. If you're interested in how it went, enjoy the read :)

Day 1

I decided to keep the daily journal on the progress of my first forged sword :)

Since my heat-resistant cement has set, it's time to finally play with the fire! Or so I thought, because the darn kindling just kept refusing to cooperate. Finally after about twenty minutes I managed to make it catch fire. After a while I added charcoal and waited for it to make embers. At that point I turned on my bellows (aka old vacuum cleaner with the pipe in it's butt so it'll blow instead of succ) and dipped two rebars that were soon to become tongs. Gotta start with the basics, I'm gonna need something to catch the steel bar later.

When the iron heated up I took to hammering. At first it was going kinda slow because I didn't heat it up enough but once it turned a nice orange everything started to go smoothly. Heating the iron is fun, the environment is nice and cool but I get that high heat from the hearth, it's hard to describe but the blaze felt amazing.

When both halves of the tongs were done I quickly went to my workshop (aka basement) to drill the rivet hole. Turns out my drill was too thin for the iron rod I wanted to use as a rivet so I had to improvise with a screw. I returned to the fire to give the thing a few final adjustments. It came out a bit crooked and wacky looking, but hey, it does its job and that's what matters. I dunked the tongs into water to harden them.

Now comes the real fun. The leaf spring which I shaped a bit has one tricky part which I have to forge first - the handle. I had some problems at first but with sheer stubborness and constant orange temperature I made it, it finally straightened out.

I also started to staighten the spring out since it always comes bent, but at this point the temporary screw rivet in my tongs gave out and they fell apart. Not to mention the fire ate up the entire five kilos of charcoal I bought as the fuel. So since the iron was still red I managed to straighten it out and I left it to cool down while I cleaned up the workspace. I also made a better rivet for the tongs.

Tomorrow I'll go buy more charcoal, maybe three or four bags to make sure I don't run out.

Day 2

Started the day by buying more charcoal at the local hardware store. I bought three bags just to be sure (total of 7.5 kg).

Today making the kindling was way easier than yesterday. I guess I learn by doing. Tried starting the heat with charcoal briquette I bought before since it was cheaper. Now that is a mistake I won't make twice. Briquette as a hearth fuel is total crap, it doesn't produce as much heat and leaves a ton of ash. The only good point is that when I start the bellows (vac cleaner) it puffs into this amazing sparkly mushroom cloud :)

So I heat the iron, smack it with hammer a few times until it loses it heat color, stick it into the fire, rinse, repeat. Had a bit of trouble with one tip because I messed up when preparing the steel bar with grind cutter and I cut it apparently at the wrong angle. No biggie, I managed to power it down to the point I wanted to anyway. Also apparently I totally underestimated the power of my momemade hearth because gosh darnit it seems to do produce enough heat to melt steel. I left the bar a little bit too long and when I pulled it out the tip was slightly melted to my surprise.

Anyways I continued smacking the other tip, this time it was a lot easier. After that I heated the whole blade evenly and straightened it out, checking how straight it was every few smacks. Took a little while but managed to get desired effect. I also noticed a small crack near the tang but I'm going to grind the excess of anyway and it fits in the "removable" portion. Now it just has to cool down and I can take it to the workshop for grinding.

Also I'll have to buy two more bags of charcoal when it's time for heat-treatment. Man this stuff goes down quickly, even when diluted with that piece-of-crap briquette. But I don't have to worry about that for a while.

On a side note, I didn't realize that working at the forge dries a person up so much. Ever since I finished, I've been chugging water like crazy, I'm so thirsty :P

Day 3

The grind begins. I was a bit tired after the previous day so I only ground up the general shape. I still have to level the steel since it has a ton of bumps but I'll leave it for tomorrow. Today is chill time.

Day 4

Went to the store to buy more charcoal and some necessities like sanding belts and few other things. Finished grinding the final shape. I just hope I don't kill my belt grinder because of it. Had to sacrifice a bit of blade length so my weapon can fit in the kitchen oven (that's for tempering, but it doesn't hurt to prepare for future).

Day 5

Noticed that the tang is a bit crooked so I heated up the forge and straightened it out. One bag of charcoal later I'm legging it to the hardware store for 3 more bags. If just a small adjustment eats up almost 3 kilos of charcoal, I'm scared to think how much there'll go during heat treatment.

Decided to take a break for today and work out how I'll make the thickness of this thing uniform...

Also I've noticed a pattern where when I finish the work for the day I kinda don't know what to do with myself, I'm kinda restless...

Day 6

Sunday, rest day.

Day 7

Wanted to start grinding the bevel today, but pops went to some kinda meeting and I just didn't have the will to do anything today... I got no productivity when I'm home alone.

Day 8

Tried grinding the bevel today. Belt sander didn't work for me because I kept messing up the angle. Same for angle grinder. I won't even try the bench grinder. So I made a beveling jig from scraps lying around. It was fun, took four hours but felt like one. The moment I wanted to start making the bevel I noticed it was dark outside. Oh well, I'll start tomorrow.

Day 9

I swear, the more I work on this thing the more I wake up with stiff fingers. Anyway, more grinding today. Today and for the next foreseeable few days.

Day 10

Heyyyyy, I'm retarded. Turns out I've been using the wrong file this entire time. Seems there are three file grades - coarse, medium and fine. I've been using medium this entire time, no wonder it's taking so long. So I went to the hardware store and coughed up some cash on a coarse file.

The result? What took me six hours with a medium took one with coarse. Now the process will speed up considerably.

Hehe, file go brrrrrrrr.

Day 11

Man, I'm really zooming through with this new file! I managed to finish one side today :)

Day 12

Just making sure the bevel is fine and I started the other side today.

Day 13

More grinding!

Day 14

Brain: I have two news: good and bad. The good news is that you finished bevelling the edge!

Me: Yay!

Brain: The bad is that you still have to polish it.

Me: F**K!

Day 15

All polish and no play makes Kris a dull boy.

All polish and no play makes Kris a dull boy.

All polish and no play makes Kris a dull boy.

All polish and no play makes Kris a dull boy.

All polish and no play makes Kris a dull boy.

All polish and no play makes Kris a dull boy.

Oh hey I finally finished polishing the darn thing :D

Day 16

I started on the handle pretty late so I'm making it a break day.

Day 17

The handle was a bit too convoluted so I scrapped the idea and started over. Also my angle grinder died. Hope it's fixable.

Day 18

As usual my ideas begin complex only for me to later find an easier solutiom. This handle is one of these times.

Day 19

Whew, hectic day today.

First, I managed to get a local locksmith to weld the dent I had in the tang (real nice guy, did it for free, also he's getting a power hammer sometime this winter and he'll start to make swords so maybe I'll be lucky enough to get an apprenticeship).

Second, I finished the handle.

Third, and most important, I finally heat treated the blade. The process itself was a pain because I had to normalize the blade three times before I moved onto quenching, and I heated it up a bit too much and the tip and a bit of an edge melted off. But hey, at least the blade didn't warp so all's good.

Day 20

Good lord I have to go back to my bevelling jig and reprofile the blade. Hours upon hours of grinding again.

Day 21

More grinding today again.

Day 22

Finally done with the grinding, and after a few hours I also managed to mostly polish the thing.

Day 23

I did some final touch-ups on the blade and VOILA! Shiny! Also started on the handle and scabbard, former is mostly done, latter needs few more days of work.

Day 24

Sunday, day off. Gotta rest sometime.

Day 25

Handle's finally done, meaning essentially that the blade proper is done. All's left to is a scabbard.

From iron fillings to sawdust, I can't really tell which is worse :P At least wood's easier to work with.

Day 26

Belt grinder self-destructed, I'm forced to shave wood by hand.

Sawdust, so much sawdust.

Day 27

Playing in the sawdust fields~

Day 28

Welcome to sawdust city, population: me.

Day 29

COUGH COUGH HACK! DONE! Finally done! Now al I need to do is lacquer the thing and it's complete!

Day 30

I think I'm turning into an alchemist trying to figure out the best wood stain and lacquer for my scabbard... Good thing I have some shellac after my auntie, I'm experimenting with it too.

Day 31

That shellac/ink combo looks freaking amazing. Black wood stain looks really dull on plywood but thanks to these two the color is really deep, it almost looks like ebony XD

Day 32

I'm gonna let the thing rest for today to make sure there's no complications later.

Day 33

Today I'm putting on the toughest lacquer I could find, four hours between layers for a total of three. All I have to do now is to wait for that thing to dry.

Day 34

DONE! Finally done! Phew, this took a lot of work and there were some mistakes along the way that I had to correct, but in the end I'm treating this as a learning experience. Time for some well deserved rest ^^

Hello there!

It finally happened, by the will of sheer insanity I managed to make myself a forge! I got the hearth I made from old water drum I filled with heat-resistant cement and old vacuum cleaner that works as the bellows, and in the role of anvil I have an old... I honestly don't know what the hell it is, it was in the backyard ever since I was born, but all that matters is it's made of steel and it's long and tall enough to work as an anvil. Also there's a quenching tank & etc.

So I'll finlly be able to make my own sword I made from scratch!

No more constraint by the form of junk I buy from hardware store!

No more soft metal that doesn't hold the edge after hours of grinding!

I finally have a full creative FREEDOM!

Sooo. expect a new custom sword in the near future :)

Good lord the new DA layout looks atrocious.

Nuff said.