I really wanna do more with Eda, so I’m snatching up what Asks I can with her that I have answers for. One concept I’ve been holding onto with her is a series of pics where she attempts to rise up the ranks in the Studio by getting on camera with other prominent names, though I haven’t gotten around to ironing out how that’ll work if I do it. This Ask seemed like a good place to introduce the concept, though, and also allowed me to bring Arella back in for a quick cameo.
So here is the image for “April” on the first Near Hentai Studios Calendar. For those who don’t know, the premise of this project is to create twelve random pairings out of the Studio’s top performers (which just means the characters with the most appearances in my work). This is a great example of a crossover that I think would only happen randomly. Raven and her mother were put into the randomizer as one entry, and collectively they ended up paired with the Space Emperor Slut himself, Frieza. I kinda like this pairing aesthetically, Frieza’s white and purple color palette pairs well with Raven and Arella, I think. Outside of that this pairing is complete nonsense, of course, but that’s part of the fun of a project like this.
The next entry in this little series of pics is Raven’s mother, Arella. Arella’s become a bit of a staple in my work ever since One Night in Azarath, and I feel any mother-based series I did wouldn’t be complete without her. I also wanted to do her next because she’s got another pic coming up eventually down the line, though it could be a while before that’s ready.
So I had two minds about how to answer this. Beast Boy is of course closer to Raven than her mother, but Raven’s also not one for enthusiasm or the like. In thinking of how Beast Boy would answer, I figured he’d be less sentimental and just go with who felt better, and in this case the experience and passion of Arella would probably give her the edge over Raven, even though Raven’s the one B.B.’s more in a relationship with.
So awhile back (around the time I did the Raven/Arella MomSwap pic) I did a handful of Arella sketches ’cause I was really feeling in the mood for her. This is one of them, which I decided to ink and color. After his one night in Azarath, seems like Beast Boy’s made a few more trips to visit Raven’s mommy.
In the weeks approaching Mother’s Day, Raven found herself without any clue what to get her mother back in Azarath. Their relationship had been forever changed since she and Beast Boy had visited her a while back, but that only made her desire to get her mother something special even stronger. She had tried talking to Beast Boy about it, but he was predictably unhelpful. Then, with only a few days left before the maternal holiday, Raven and B.B. sat down for a movie night. They popped some popcorn and sat down to watch Requiem for a Dream, a movie Raven had been meaning to watch for a while, but Beast Boy had never heard of. They both had different reactions to the bulk of the film, but they clicked on one scene at the end. As Jennifer Connely found herself surrounded by screaming business men, throwing dollars onto her sticky, naked body, Raven looked over to Beast Boy. He looked back, a wry smile on his face as he’d had the same idea. Arella’s Mother’s Day gift was decided.
So for this Ask, the choice was obvious to me. Arella’s interest in Raven was my favorite element of One Night in Azarath, and probably something I’ll focus on again for future Arella projects. I just love mother/daughter stuff, so that’s how Arella’s own tastes have skewed. Nothing much more to say about this one, other than I’d like to try and draw Arella again sometime soon if I can.
So here it is, the final page of One Night in Azarath. It’s been a fun ride, and hope you all enjoyed seeing this story that was written by my supporters. We’re already under way with a new ongoing comic, the first page of which will become publicly available some time next month. Like this one, each page will be written/selected by my supporters.
Things are winding down for these three as day breaks outside. This is the penultimate page of One Night in Azarath. Next month the comic will publicly finish as you guys get to see the comic page sponsors got to see recently. After that, we’ll delve into a new ongoing comic written by my backers.
