xylia

[Strange Ian]

How I love to be around to see a story developing!
And there's all these fun questions you ask yourself, like why is Claude being taught by Dr Ambrosia, doesn't he go to school? And who are his parents? Are they important at all? Has Dr A personally met many of Claudes reincarnations, or are there some kind of records kept? And why does he keep a bowling ball in his book shelf?

Also:Admit it, Barb, you have Christopher Lee come in and model for you twice a week. Wearing nothing but a tiny towel.
Next up on Xylia: In Dr Ambrosias bathroom!

[Silvara_Dragontear]

I knew it, Barb has a secret stash of Christopher Lee clones in her closets.
Erhm ignore that, I think there was something in my icecream. But the clone thing could be right, well we all wish it where so we could all clone our favourite celebs, like Johnny Depp or Mr Lee.

[Elle]

All this chatter about Christopher Lee lookalikeisms is making me believe some may find this bad?

NEVER!

If anything it only improves the awesome stat of the ol' Prof's nose. MAN he has an awesome nose. I know I forgot to mention that in my bland, fangirly dribble of a comment earlier, Barb, but I love his nose. I love fun noses. His nose is fun.

COULD I RAMBLE A LITTLE WORSE? Let's not find out.

[KEZ]

I had to go google Christopher Lee to find out who he was.


(don't hate me).


By the 12 Holy Pineapples, I love this page. Claude's eyes are just so darn enveloping. And that OFFICE. I developed an eye twitch thinking about how much time that took to make.

I also paused for like, 5 seconds, on Dr. Ambrosia's line about the watch starting back up again. Talk about MYSTERY. Claude's lines are absolutely adorable. As are the shots of the dog.

Wonderful!

[canterrain]

Here are the comments I gave straight to Barb (note, I -have- edited certain parts out, to hide spoilers I know about). Have fun with them.

Ok, neat neat page.

(this line edited out)

Ok. I really really really want to know. Is that claude's helm? >> I mean sure it's extremely unlikely. But then, so are all the exploits of Dr. Ambrosia. (Who I swear.. I keep trying to call Nicodemus. No idea why.)

I recognize the painting in the corner as the shot you've shown us as claude being beneath the tree. I rather get the feeling that tree has some significance more than we might have initially thought.

And I LOVE the dog (who's name escapes me sorry) in the dog basket. Such a ... perfect touch.

And I want to know more about the watch. (something edited out here)

And Doctor Ambrosia surprised me! To be honest I pictured him ALL different. So the first few moments I was blinking. Then examining. And he very very very quickly grew on me. I think he's the character to watch. yes yes I do.

Are his eyes black???

The closeup in panel two is just great though. No detail looks really off. And it gives us such a good look at this new mysterious character. I think it's going to have a lot people wondering, guessing, saying the things I have said and more.

A skeptic huh? So there are lives where he is more likely to believe? Where his personality changes some? That's interesting. A tidbit of info I didn't expect. And gets me really thinking. Which is what I think you wanted to accomplish.

The dog panel is great too. She (liz?) has a look of intelligence in the panel. I think the bold line around her right (our left) ear might be a little too bold. But I like the expression. Which reads so many things. Intelligence, almost an annoyance? understanding. I'd swear she read Dr. Ambrosia's mind and was annoyed by the comment. Or maybe just inquisitive about what he's saying.

The last panel with young Claude (*edited out*) is nice. There's a certain innocent about him. You can tell it's claude, yet a young version of him. And he doesn't' just look like a shorter version of himself. You've done a great job of making him look years younger. I think the tie looks weird. The way you did the colors or something. Kinda reminds me of those old cartoons where plaid was done by just putting it in the background and stayed the same no matter how the person moved.

I love his expression though. Those big eyes that look like they want to drink everything in, hear more, even if he is skeptical.

So Ambrosia -is- telling this story? Interesting. And it makes sense. So much learned with this page. But I want to know more about the stuff in the roooom... not fair putting out all those little details for me and not giving me every little tidbit I want. >>

Excellent page. People will love it I think. It does a good job of propelling the story forward even without being a lot. I imagine having less panels than Tally is doing wonders for being able to keep up. And you're getting creative with keeping it moving even with less panels.

(what's next to that helm? huh huh?)

So many questions... so many things I want answered... poo... I guess I have to wait...



So, hopefully you've caught now (those of you who were asking) that the painting in the corner is the background scene to another concept that Barb has shown us, with adult claude and liv sitting under it.

Details to look to, the weird purple ball, the claudius like helm (and object next to it?) and the package like object at the corner of the table. I didn't mention these too much because I mentioned them in a preview of that particular panel Barb had shown me. Unfinished without the good Doctor in it.

[BarbJacobs]

Thanks you guys. (I'm glad that CT decided to share his comments with you all- he always catches stuff I dont know if anyone else will see. NOrmally he's a little more hard on me too, but he's being nice I think becuase Im such a mess. )

-You will get a better shot of the painting in the next page.
-Not saying nothing about the helmet.
-LIVY. THe dog.
-Ambrosia has very dark eyes. But they arent ALL black.

Thank you Kez. ^_^ The watch is going to get explained a bit coming up.

SI - No cloning going on here. Just honoring a fave actor. ^_^
No towels though. NOt this time. DId that with another story...

Since you asked, and this may not come up directly in the webcomic until later - Claude attends Wellsford school- while there, he meets this Dr. Ambrosia.

Claude is an adopted child. Of course.

Elle, you do have a thing about noses. I will say nothing else about that. ^_^ sniff.

Thank you again everyone for your interest and for looking at the art!

~B

[Strange Ian]

SI - No cloning going on here. Just honoring a fave actor. ^_^
No towels though. NOt this time. DId that with another story...

Ah yes, good times...
So, no towels this time, eh? Sounds... well, naked, I guess...

[Krozam]

So, no towels this time, eh? Sounds... well, naked, I guess...

LOL!

It's beyond my ability to find anything to say that hasn't already been said, so i'll just say this: your art is as good as ever, Barb, and your storytelling - despite the shortage of evidence at this point - seems very promising. I'm eager to learn more about this story.

[Hagar]

I agree with korzam & add two thumbs up! I'm really looking forward to Mondays lately...
Now that I've finished Harry Potter & the Deathly Hollows, & Inverloch has ended as well, I have no more mysteries to solve but Xylia's. So don't give away anything! I love guessing (wrongly usually).
Thanks Barb for this wonderful page