Three Years

Today is the third anniversary of starting this WordPress site. I haven’t been active at all since my classes started this semester, and I haven’t drawn literally anything for months. To be fair, college has taken up most of my time, and with taking 4 different programming classes and learning three different programming languages at once, I have been swamped with classwork, and thus my attention to this site has suffered.

I am not abandoning anything, mind you, I’ve just been on hiatus while I focus on classes. I’ve held straight A grades this semester, and I have worked hard to keep it that way. Of course this semester will end at the beginning of next month, and I am hoping to get back into working on my projects during the summer.

Some Stats: 137 Posts, viewed 4,744 times from 1,483 Visitors, with 48 followers.

I hope to get much more active in the months to come, with some progress on my projects with my slower summer schedule.

Thank all of you who still put up with me for all these years, and hopefully more to come,

~Umedyn

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Email: Umedynartist@gmail.com
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November Update #6 – Map v2.0

Sorry for not posting a lot, I’ve been very busy with school, this last month has kicked my ass, add that to the fact that I am too poor to get a new pen (Yes, literally, every cent I have has gone into bill and food) I haven’t gotten much creatively done, in the terms of Kokoro No Kinu.

To be fair, I could have posted more Magicka Mechanica information, and that is a failing on my part. Funny thing about that is that a local gaming store has picked me to DM a weekly D&D 5th Edition Homebrew (self-made) campaign, and I am using, you guessed it, Magicka Mechanica as the world it is set in.

You remember The Map I made for Magicka Mechanica? Well for this campaign, and because I could actually do something creative, I thought “Why not update it? Make it better?” … You guessed what was coming again? Man you all are on a roll!

That’s right, for the Homebrew campaign I digi-arted the old map I had made WAY back then, and after over 18 hours of work, I must say, I am quite proud of the results:

And at 25.9 Mb, it is a lot of map. I only used the art program GIMP and most of the terrain, trees, and other stuff are brushes, textures and other small stuff.

That is the update for right now, I am tired, overslept, and missed an assignment (which REALLY sucks), so I’m just gonna go.

September / October Update #6 – Back in Business! / Inktober

Yes, if you are reading this, then you know Kokoro No Kinu Chapter 4 is starting to roll out! This makes me unequivocally happy, because preparing for it has taken a while. I am currently working on the title page, which will be out later this week… maybe even tomorrow, depending on how much time I have to work on it. The page is colored and intricate and a nice homage to an old childhood movie.

It’s also Inktober! That month where artists try to wear themselves out by drawing something every day, and I’m going to attempt to do that too! I’ll be using Twitter to upload them, so you can find them on my Twitter page (https://twitter.com/umedyn), My comic pages of course will be apart of my Inktober offerings, but I’ll also be doing doodles, sketching and other fun stuff, speaking of, I have one ready today! Since I have been binge watching Hilda, a great new cartoon show on netflix, I REALLY suggest watching it, I decided to do a little drawing in that style, so here it is!

I have also update the Kokoro No Kinu Chapters Page! Now each chapter has its own page in the site, so no more scrolling down the page for the chapter, just click on the chapter’s title page image and BOOM! to the page!

So now onto Chapter 4… This is going to be a hard chapter… I’ll be blunt, it deals with something that has been in the news a lot lately. This chapter will be dealing with sexual assault… (Spoilers… AmIRight?)

Now I designed this chapter before the global attention to sexual assault, before the #MeToo movement (which I fully support, of course, I’m not a monster), before the American Supreme Court hearings, before all of this, years go. This is weird to me because when I designed this chapter, I never imagined this would coincide with such a global movement going on.

I didn’t create this chapter because of the #MeToo movement, and while working on the details, I had thought about changing it in some way, but now that this movement is happening, I hope this chapter might contribute.

I’m not going to be calling it as such, of course, but maybe someone will read it and it will help them go through the troubles they are having, or maybe even give them that extra push to come forward and report whatever monster hurt them, so they might never do it again…

Anyway, for this reason is why I’m adding the “Chapter Update” card to each chapter page post, so that the chapter page is not the first thing that pops up. This is because I know such images may be harmful to those dealing with sexual PTSD, and this way you know what post is a chapter update, without the page being the first thing seen.

Anyway, that is what is going on, I’m working on drawing and creating the pages now, so I’ll get back to it! I hope you enjoy Chapter 4, and If anyone ever needs help, or just an ear to listen to any pain they are going through, I am always willing to listen if it may help you.

You can find me by going to any of these links, I’m on a lot of platforms.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Umedyn/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/umedyn
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpCnXMlrOlIR_X4H4G-WZNA
Tumblr:  http://umedyn.tumblr.com/
Email: Umedynartist@gmail.com
Ask.fm: https://ask.fm/umedyn

If you are hurting, please find someone you trust to confide in, don’t suffer alone.

-Umedyn

August Update #5 – Setbacks

Sooo… I put myself in a bind. Long story short I reset my computer, trying to fix errors and speed it up, using shitty software to try and back-up all my files so I wouldn’t have to reinstall everything… You can see where this is going…

Luckily I was smart enough to do an alternate backup of my most important files (The chapter stuff and others) so my pages are not lost (which would have devastated me, losing all my pages of my manga, besides the ones I’ve saved on this site.)

Because of this, starting Chapter 4 is going to have to be delayed by about a week while I recover, re-download and re-install all the programs, games, and utilities I lost. Thank you all (if anyone is there!) for being so patient with me while I get this fixed.

July Update #4 – Chapter 4 Soon!

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great pride month, and I hope you liked the separate works I did for it! Things are about to get back into full swing for me! I have everything I need to start drawing the pages for Chapter 4 of Kokoro No Kinu!

So what took so long? Well logistics. I write every chapter when I make them, meaning that I don’t start working on the page layout for the chapter until I am working on that chapter. This makes it so the images I envisioned stay fresh in my mind while drawing the pages.

The other reason is a bit obvious to those who know Japanese (or those who follow my Twitter, @Umedyn… enough of the selfish plug) If you haven’t noticed, all of my sound effects  (sfx) are written in Hiragana. This wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but sfx in Japanese (along with a few other things like foreign words, Onomatopoeia, etc) are written in Katakana.

I want to make my manga as authentic as I possibly can (without actually translating everything) to Japanese made manga, so I had to convert my SFX list from Hiragana to Katakana. I have a huge SFX list, so this was a long process. At some point I am going to go back and fix the previous chapters to have Katakana as well.

So with this done, and the page layout/script finished, I have every I need to start working on Chapter 4! So look forward to those starting next week! A bit about this chapter though.

This chapter may get into “trigger” territory… and not just words, but actual PTSD related trigger territory. This next chapter is going to go down a dark path (if you have been following the last chapter, you may guess what is about to happen…) For this I’m going to have to change somethings about how I post (since everything is automatically tweeted out) so I’m going to have a title pic so the page isn’t shown on the home page or on twitter, since the first image is always shown when posts happen.

Anyway, I’m off to start drawing Chapter 4! Hope you all are looking forward to it!

-Umedyn

May / June 2018 Update #3 – The Ball Gets Rolling, Happy Pride Month!

Hello all!

Sorry I didn’t get a chance to put out an update for May. Between finals, of which you’ve seen some of the projects, starving and getting ready for the summer semester, I was surprisingly busy. Still have been.

First and foremost

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

Of course I would celebrate this, as if my main Yuri comic didn’t tell you. As such, I will be doing some pieces specifically for Pride Month. Many of you know I don’t create fan-art, at least on this site. I want my work to stand on it’s own. I am happy, however, to do some Character Cosplay! That is where I dress up my characters (mainly Tomoko and Hitomi) in character outfits from shows, comics/manga and other sources.

So I decided to do that for Pride, featuring some of my favorite yuri and lesbian characters. I already have one lined up, and about to start the digital working process. Each of these character cosplays will be time-lapsed and uploaded to my Youtube channel (Time to dust that relic off). The first couple I have decided to character cosplay is Ruby and Sapphire! I love the show, and these two are adorable! There is another reason I am doing these.

This is to help bring back my skills because I have finally, finally FINALLY finished the chapter 4 script and page layout for Kokoro No Kinu! So look forward to those pages getting done starting this month, in between my “character cosplays”. This summer is going to be a busy one for me!

As always, you can find me at these locations at an internet near you:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Umedyn/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/umedyn
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpCnXMlrOlIR_X4H4G-WZNA
Tumblr:  http://umedyn.tumblr.com/
Email: Umedynartist@gmail.com
Ask.fm: https://ask.fm/umedyn

Now onto working on my first Character Cosplay for Pride Month!

-Umedyn

April 2018 Update #2 – I Am A Lazy Procrastinator / Second Year Anniversary of My Site

So continuing my new tradition of a monthly update, especially because I have so much stuff going on that really has no showing power, meaning that most of what I am doing does not really warrant a post. Technically I have not been lazy, but to the few of you who actually follow me, it seems that way.

First, on the state of Kokoro No Kinu, I am still working on the script and layouts for Chapter 4, so hopefully I’ll get the actual drawing phase started soon. This chapter is particularly hard to do right, because of the subject material the chapter will be covering, so I have to portray and get this right, taking up more time than the usual “drama” fluff.

Second, schoolwork has kept me very busy, taking up the majority of my time. Though you all will get a treat out of that. As I have previously stated, I am working on a VERY small platform game for my Multimedia class project, when the final version is finished, after the 24th (when the project is due) I will upload it somewhere and give a link for all to play. I am using all borrowed assets (because creating my own JUST for this one class would be WAY too much work) Mainly from Maple Story (sprite sheets) and RPG Maker (sounds, mainly), so look forward to that! It’s not the best, and won’t be the best by then, but It was more to show off what Adobe Animate (the program we are using) can do.

Lastly, if you have noticed in the title, today marks my Second Year Anniversary on WordPress! Like the first year, the people I have met and talked to because of this has amazed me. There are so many great people in the… I guess indie Yuri comics(?) area, including all the amazing reviewers, artist and creators that I have had the great fortune to meet even in my very limited circle, so thank you to everyone who I have met over the past two years.

And now for the stats of my two years on WordPress!

As you can see, I’ve created 124 posts, and have had 4,202 views from 1,262 visitors, so than you for those that have seen what I do and came back for more! This, of course only covers my WordPress site, and not my comic views on Tapastic, Batoto, Becomics, or my Tumblr (all shameless plugs to read my stuff BTW!)

Thank you everyone for making these past two years a truly great experience, and hopefully there will be many more years to come!

Now back to what I have really been doing, playing Ark, modded so instead of dinosaurs, it has Pokemon (so much fun!)

-Umedyn

Magicaka Mechanica Cultural Studies – The Altynadyn

The Altynadyn are considered, by the Elves, to be races the Elves did not have a hand in creating. The Altynadyn generally mean either Gnomes or Halflings, but Dwarves also fall under this category. Dwarves, of course, resent this classification, being grouped with, to quote: “Those durn lazy hairy toes and fancy long beards.” The Dwarves would be highly insulted to be considered created by anything but the stone of mountain incarnate. Gnomes and Halflings average around the same height, about three and a half feet tall. In the early years of human discovery, the Gnomes and Halflings were mistaken for being the same race. It was clear that this is not so, seeing as the lifespan of the average Gnome is nearly six times that of the average Halfling. Physically, the Halfling and Gnomes are not that different, both usually having light tan skin and copper to dark brown hair. Gnomish men seem to favor long, sometimes sculpted beards, while Halflings often wear what is fashionable at the time.

Lifestyles and the general location is also what separates the Altynadyn races. During the Age of Discovery, or more commonly known as the Age of Human Expansion, the Halflings were one of the first races found by human explorers. The Halfling population at the time was threaded throughout the areas today of Westmar, Caus De Leis and the lower plains of Thorance. At the time, Halflings lived in small, partially subterranean villages, and were almost overlooked as small, steeply raised hills. Some villages still have these relics of the middle ages, such as Yalin, Ganford and Walice Jump. The Gnomes, however, were discovered along with the Dwarves. Only rumors told about the little men in the mountains during the Age of Discovery, seeing as the Altynadyn did not take part in the Mortal Wars between the Elves, humans and Bystalkyn. The Gnomes had lived mainly in Dwarven cities, being priests, healers and general tinkerers for the Dwarves. In modern times, the Halfling and Gnome population is found all around civilized society. Halflings reside in cities for the relative comfort, and most have made savvy business owners. Gnomes are drawn to the cities for technological and mystic discoveries the humans have been making, and most Gnomes reside in places like Bruton, Mayfield and Bethnul for this very reason.

As it stands, Halflings do not have their own gods, or organized religion, a general consensus between the Halflings is that divine entities tend to get in the way of their relaxation and businesses. The Gnomes, on the other hand, have their own god, Cogdura, who they see as a general patron to all things knowledge, but technology especially. Still, most Gnomes worship, or at least give notice to the Dwarven patron-god Jornthurar, or possibly to one of the elven god/goddess, or Pery, depending on their field of study.

The origins of the Altynadyn is unknown and is even less speculated as the other races. Some scholars state that the Altynadyn share the same ancestors as the Dwarves, much to Dwarven distaste. While Dwarves claim that they were created from the stone of mountains themselves, Halflings have the general notion of not particularly caring where they came from, preferring to live in the present, and Gnomes, if they know, are particular to keeping such knowledge to themselves, mostly liking the mysterious aspect to their creation, while finding the humor in other race’s puzzlement in their origins.

Magicka Mechnanica Cultural Studies – The Duskoralun

Even though the Duskoralun are a variation of the Elvydyn, their exile of over three thousand years has turned them into a race in their own right. Duskoralun have very little difference with other Elvydyn physically, the most prevalent being their dark, near black coloration of the skin, which can be anywhere from a dark navy blue to a pure midnight black. The Duskoralun’s hair can range from a light silvery grey to a pure white, with their eyes ranging in many colors, but mainly in the reds and purples. They have also adapted to their underground living, being able to see in almost perfect darkness. As it is written, this exile occurred because their goddess, Lylothyl, one of the original Elvydyn Gods, protected her people and drove out the invading human army from the southwest island of her namesake Lyryalun, by destroying it. Despite on who you listen to, the effect was still the same: Lylothyl was transformed into a Curydyn, and her people were transformed as well, at least in physical appearance, to the coloration they are currently known for. Condemned by both Elven and Human societies at this point, the Duskoralun fled to the Undyrcar, where they remained hidden from civilized notice until the elven calender 4140s E.C., or around the 1750s T.C. in the human calendar, when tales from converted Undyrkyn told of the Duskoralun cities, hidden in the Great Spine depths.

The Duskoralun live in subterranean cities under the Great Spine. Prideful in their autonomous society, the Duskoralun have accomplished what the upper world had no need to, becoming completely self-sufficient. The Duskoralun have excelled so much in their self-sustaining cities, that even trade or contact between the underground Duskoralun cities is considered very rare. Though very few and far apart, each Duskoralun city boasts impressive defensive capabilities. The Duskoralun have very secretive societies, for a very understandable reason. Duskoralun culture is run by Matriarchy, but is mainly assembled from family clans. One clan is usually at the head of the city-state, with the matron of the clan the head leader of the city. Clans in position of power are generally in control of either a service or trade that is detrimental to Duskoralun society. All clans, however, have their own police force that takes care of family matters, and ensures the peace of the neighborhoods under the clan’s protection. As such, there is no central police or military force in Duskoralun cities. They have never needed it before, and crossing a Duskoralun family can be very dangerous to one’s health.

It is well known that the Duskoralun worship Lylothyl, the Goddess-cum-Curydyn. In reverence towards Lylothyl, and to celebrate her sacrifice, they have taken to calling themselves the Lylothyladyn. As in the old days, only females are permitted to be priestess, and the priestesses of Lylothyl are above any law in Duskoralun culture, only answering to the church. They are the most determined and zealous of any known priesthood, including those of the Thumakyn’s Wobar-Dom. Breaking the laws of Lylothyl in their eyes are usually punishable by death, torture, or worse, sometimes being warped into Duskalukyn, or mindless half-spiders almost like centaurs, but are under the complete dominion of their priestess mistresses. There are male members of the Lylothyl religion, but they are mere servants and helpers of the priestess. Many of the male servants of Lylothyl are eunuchs, retained as punishment for crimes against Lylothyl. It is well known that Lylothian priestesses need no bodyguard, or protection. The priestesses have the final say in any matter, and even matrons of Duskoralun clans are under their scrutiny, when they are not priestesses themselves, as many are. Being a priestess of Lylothyl is the ultimate honor in Duskoralun society.

It should be noted that on the subject of social freedom, the Duskoralun are not the most progessive, to say the least. It is common knowledge that almost any race in a Duskoralun city, that isn’t a Duskoralun themselves, is usually not there by choice. Many of these are Undyrkyn from the Undyrcar, and many families have breeding programs to keep their stables well stocked. Undyrkyn make up most of the Duskoralun labor force, and are often used as foot solders, basically enemy fodder, when at war with another family, city, or outside threat. It is safe to say the life expectancy of a race under Duskoralun rule who is not one themselves, is a very short one. The exception to this are usually favored servants, pets, or specialized workers, usually with technological skills. The Duskoralun is another reason why the Undyrcar is an extremely dangerous place, though they are certainly not the most dangerous things under the Great Spine. It is said that any visitor to a Duskoralun city without a family’s protection is up for grabs, both figuratively, and literally.

Magicka Mechanica Cultural Studies – The Undyrkyn

The Undyrkyn are commonly known as the “lesser” races, mainly comprised of “monsters”. These “monsters” decided to turn down their tribal ways and coincide with civilized rules and structures. The Undyrkyn are commonly made up of the three of the more intelligent “monster” races, the Goblins, also known as the Gyblakyn; the Minotuars, or Donmyrkyn; and the Orcs, or Urukyn. This change came around during the beginning of the industrial age of man, and they are the youngest group of races to conform to civilized life. The Undyrkyn have only been a part of society for the last two hundred years, ever since the United Countries Civilities Act of 1634, but would not be considered complete citizens of cultured races until the Undyrkyn Civilities Act of 1802. Because they are so new to society, the Undyrkyn are often looked at with disdain by some of the older races. The Elcarikyn and the Duskoralun are more accepting of the Undyrkyn. The Undyrkyn got their name from the Undyrcar, where the largest of the tribes has been found, after being driven underground after the fall of Undyr Thorymyr and the end of the Age of Terror.

The Undyrkyn are often known as the races who have turned their backs on the old tribal and general barbaric behavior that was so prevalent during the times before human industrialization. The number of Undyrkyn tribes were decimated with the invention of the handheld firearm. Instead of being slaughtered as a people, the three Undyrkyn races declared themselves civilized and worked to make a place for themselves in society. Most Undyrkyn serve as craftmen and laborers, the goblins finding a niche in household domestics mainly, but the most prevalent of jobs for Undyrkyn have been aboard ships, docks and other naval vessels. This does not apply to Minotaurs, who are naturally unfit for sea life. Most Undyrkyn also make up a large portion of the military, with Orcs and Minotaurs making great foot solders and city guards, while the goblins excel at scouting and informants.

Despite the turning from their barbaric lifestyles of the past, there still remains bands and tribes of Undyrkyn who refuse to conform to civilized life. Many of these tribes have been pushed into the Undyrcar, but there still are groups of them that ransack the land, though above ground are the most noticeable in the Serylyn Forest and in the Great Spine. While the Undyrkyn are no longer tribal, there are two major established colonies of Undyrkyn on the islands of Minos and Uru. Minos and Uru was the last major hotspots of tribal activities, before a group of Undyrkyn established colonies on those islands, and transformed the last major tribes into towns, but have kept tribal traditions. Once colonized, Minos and Uru were found to be rich in metals and fertile land that have sustained the Undyrkyn economy on the islands.

The first mention of the Undyrkyn appear near the last hundred or so years of the Mortal Wars between the humans and the elves. Lore states that the sorcerer Undyr Thorymyr used them as foot solders and slaves until the end, and he was driven into the Undyrcar for his crimes against “humanity” and basic morality. It is unclear whether Undyr created the Undyrkyn, as he had claimed, or just controlled them during the mortal wars, and the Age of Terror when he returned. The Undyrkyn claim they were created by the Curydyn Mog’Roth, but because of their average short lifespans, records do not show definitive proof of the Undyrkyn creation. The next major appearance of the Undyrkyn is during the Age of Terror, when the then lich Undyr flooded the United Human Empire with waves of his undead and Undyrkyn solders, leading to the fall of the spread of human expansionism, and the war that lasted nearly two hundred years until he was defeated by human hero Thoran Hallar, the first King of Thorance.

To learn more about the Undyrkyn struggle for recognition, please read “A Brief History of the Undyrkyn Struggle for Recognition as Civilized Peoples“.