A Stray to Botaram updates on Tuesday and Thursday.

Transcript

Title: Pinned
(The scene shifts to Yme, who stands still and silent in apprehension on the other side of the ridge, holding the sharp stick she found.)
Yme: It’s been quiet for a while.
I know that Oistrem feed very differently from Strasmin; they slay smaller animals and assimilate their essence in a crass manner... Very unlike extracting the pure spirit of Chimmer!
I’ve never seen one eat, but I expect it would make noises while working to incorporate the Yaoc.
It must be waiting because it knows I’m here.
I am pinned here in a sense by the presence of my frenting rod... Neither of us can safely feed, caught as we are in this miserable situation.
I search through all the memories of my teachings but find nothing analogous.
Is there any path forward that reason can reveal?
1618

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Pinned
Posted on July 16, 2026 by JJA

Razing and Rebuilding

Posted on November 7, 2025 by JJA

Another State of the Author post. The story is still being produced in Inkscape on my new art computer; the process is still generally working despite finding new ways to annoy me here and there. These are mostly technical issues that should not affect the flow of the story.

My health this year has seen much improvement. My partner Hamachi came across a weight loss study which we both joined, and the effect has been dramatic for both of us. I’ve shed over 50 pounds so far and am feeling better about life overall. The study will call for a minor medical procedure later this month and the strip may go on hiatus briefly during the recovery period.

Behind the scenes there is much turmoil. There’s been a wooded lot behind the house where I live, untouched for decades. It was recently bought by a development company and has been torn away. Apart from the loss of habitat for local wildlife, the constant noise and vibrations are not providing the most ideal environment for artistic meditation. I am getting along as best I may, but the next entry needs a bit more thought from me before it can go up. I will shoot for next Monday at this point

Thank you very much for reading!

Export Duties

Posted on September 30, 2025 by JJA

The last two strips were produced using Inkscape only. There are still some issues relating to color management and grayscale gradient rendering but these do not strongly interfere with storytelling so I am forging ahead while working to resolve that in the background.
The next page requires some retrospection so I have moved the process of exporting the old Illustrator artwork to SVG format ahead in the queue. I located a script to do the conversion and an auto key presser to tap ‘enter’ for me when the process hits an occasional confirmation box. It seems to be proceeding as planned.
Next page will go up tonight or tomorrow if things are less than optimal. Thanks for reading!

Inkstantiation

Posted on September 23, 2025 by JJA

It has crossed The Divide.

The current Botaram working file is now ensconced in Inkscape, with fonts installed and layers separated properly. I can now move forward to the task of accustoming myself to Inkscape’s ways and peculiarities, and all else going well, the next story page should appear by end of day, Tuesday.

There are some remaining font issues, which I can work around for now. As a SVG file is a text file at heart, I may be able to resolve this with a simple search and replace. There will also be the issue of continuing the remastering of the old strips, and their possible arrangement into graphic novel format. I will likely want to use an Illustrator macro to try to export the 600+ old files into SVG format so Inkscape can handle them properly.

That’s an issue for future me to address. On to the next page!

Technically Progressive

Posted on September 20, 2025 by JJA

As is often my wont, I got sidetracked again.
I’ve mentioned that one goal I need to achieve is to be able to produce the art on a different computer than my aged laptop. At the same time, I want to be independent not only from the Windows platform, but also Adobe and its demands for infinite money.
I figured another way to transfer the Botaram working file into Inkscape (exporting from Illustrator to SVG gives promising results), and decided that the best way to make sure I solved the remaining technical issues was to set a goal to produce the next entry using Inkscape, or at least prove that it wasn’t feasible so I could locate another tool.
I was perhaps a trifle overoptimistic. I did get further but the troubleshooting mindset required wasn’t entirely compatible with a compositional mindset needed to instantiate another story page.
I’m having another go and will look to resume the story one way or the other by the coming Tuesday. Thank you for lending your attention to this strange journey of mine.