Petrichor: I love, love, LOVE the expressions you do, they're so much fun!! And I love the action poses you do, there's a real sense of motion throughout the comic! However, one thing I noticed throughout was that a lot of times Catador's sword kind of ended up being lost amid the motion lines--most notably on page 5. I think this would've been easily fixed by slapping some gray onto the sword, so it stood out from the motion lines. I also agree that the impact on page 8 was a bit downplayed because the focus moved up to the sky and the "explosion" was just down in the corner. Also, thank you for the lil Zhanic cameo!! Guts definitely has a new fan

Arts: While I really appreciate you trying out the infinite scroll format for this battle, I don't think it really works for this particular comic; it's fast and action-packed, which imo would work better in a traditional format to make the action a bit snappier? Either that or cut back on some of the negative space... That said, I do love the fight you've presented, there was some good action and some good movement, and I really enjoyed the storyline! It was a neat look into how the Endless Ember arena works Also, while I agree with what the others have said about the texture not working, I do really like the shading/lighting you've done!

Petrichor: This was super cute, and I adored all your action! Especially for some relatively thin line-art; I feel like you conveyed a lot of impact in every panel just with composition. You draw REALLY GOOD faces, I love the way you handle asymmetry! The ending was a very precious denouement, and did you take that announcer from where I think you did? :eyes: I think I only had one main point of criticism, and that was that the explosion on page 8 didn't have that same impact: it takes up very little of the frame and is almost covered up visually by the edge of the arena, plus that sound effect is highly divorced from it. It almost feels like you're trying to make the explosion feel insignificant <.< Everything else in this was excellent, though!

Arts: I thought this was in general pretty weak, sorry. A good fight sequence is punctuated, accentuating certain moments between slower periods, but the endless comic format - I throw shade on it constantly, but it's for good reason! - it makes your comic feel like five run-on sentences, devoid of punctuation. Things just feel like they're twirling around without any particular impact at any point. Yeah, some sequences can really work off an elegant sense of constant motion, but it still needs to read as a fight, and this doesn't to me. It also really works against your flow at points, like on page 4 when Guts' foot is landing. The motion line forces me to read her foot as bouncing off Catador's head, but I can barely fit the two on my pretty large screen at the same time, so it's incredibly awkward to read it any way but a plummet.

So the action doesn't really work for me, which is unfortunate, because this comic is mostly action. I do like the concession that the arena just undos people's deaths or whatever, I think that's super neat, but that's really that's all that's here for me! Granted I didn't see it as a twist, I kind of figured that was the case when you first posted the title page :v

Thank you all for your crits and comments!
I appreciate the time and consideration you put into them, and will remember them to try to improve in my next comic!
I really wanted to color the comic but i didn't managed my time right so i was only able to add some gray spots lol.

Also Arts, Thank you for challenging me! i feel that i improved a lot while making this comic (and i also had lots of fun heheh)

Petrichor - OMG. That cover looks amazing and your comic is so fun to read. I enjoyed every page and every scene. I love Catador in your style. He looks so adorable lol. Normally I'd say add more shading for depth but I didn't feel like your comic is lacking anything in particular overall. But yeah if you can afford it with time , more shading will def help!

Arts - Superb improvement from the last comic you did and I love this little twist you added about these arena battles. I internally screamed NOOOO when I saw both combatants fall but phew, I am glad they are not truly death. My crit is that I am not a big fan stringy brush you used to denote some of the moves. I always had to second guess what it was trying to do and what direction it's supposed to go (though I know it is pretty obvious but it didn't feel as intuitive).


Congratulations on both sides for showing us such a wonderful battle between these two very different but lovable characters

Thanks for the crits everybody. Also for story clarification the endless ember arena has always had this figure. But one of my many fuck ups of my last battle was not including the tagline “where death has no consequence”

Petri - Okay, I gotta admit, that title page was hilarious.

Arts - Okay, so what's with the shadowy figure towards the end of the comic?

Great action from both of you

Petrichor: Ok you win the award for Best Title Page. Yours has very well done, dynamic action, which suits the agile Catador, and you did a god job of rendering the expressions and mannerisms of very different characters.

Artsandgoodies: Interesting... Has death always had no meaning in these matches? All of a sudden Catador is either not as cruel, or even crueler for not using this before. Your combat is improving. I think you  intended to convey motion with that hatching brush, but it just comes up messy. Are you using a program with a curve/parallel line ruler that you could use to draw speed lines?

I learned new things from both comics and the fights were entertaining, great job both of you on this

Petrichor: This is pretty solid for pencils, with more shading/colors it would look great, keep it up you have strong enough fundamentals that you just need to keep drawing and you're gonna get better and better

Arts: Storywise this is one of your best comics congrats on that, and your panels are easy to read with your anatomy improving. I think this asphalt texture you're using is a mistake though, and you need more work with your motion swipes. Don't neglect the walls of the arena either, it makes the difference of the floor more emphasized. Also your panels are a little too large/spread apart from each other slowing the pacing unnecessarily for these action scenes. Bring the images in closer/making them a bit smaller to give a sense of fast paced action

@Petrichor: I enjoyed looking at your line art. My favorite panel was Panel 1 Page 7 because the gray shadows made it pop more and added more drama and impact to the scene. Throughout the comic you had a lot of funny dialogue that was very enjoyable to read. You did a good job of showcasing Gutsmasher's moveset here. It was fun to see her in action.

@ArtsandGoodies: Your shading and lighting was good in this. I particularly liked the glowing lighting effects on the first and last pages. The last panel on page 1 was a good way to show how fast El Catador is. I like the concept of death being impossible in the arena. It makes me wonder if there is a fate worse than the arena that goes even beyond death.

Both of these had good action. I enjoyed both!

Petrichor - I really love how you draw expressions, especially on non-humans like Gutsmasher and Catador. Your style is kind of soft but you still manage to portray motion and impact well. Comics with actual fighting can sometimes confuse me, but I never had to think about who was where and everything read very clearly to me. Enjoyed this a lot

Like others have said, it does seem bare without colours. You used some... spot greys (idk what u call them lol) for the sky and for dramatic shadows, I’d like to see more of that throughout the comic, or maybe even full colours. Gutsmasher has a fun colour scheme and it’d be fun to see it more.

Arts - I’m loving all the wild poses here, this is a really dramatic and flamboyant fight and it shows. I’m liking Catador more and more with his audience-pleasing feints, and also his shock when Gutsmasher bites the sword made me snort irl. Que?!

Page 4 threw me a little, I knew what was happening but the motion wasn’t very clear even with lines. Also I think you could have gone with a different texture for the floor - I don’t think this one gelled with the style of this comic.

Petrichor- your art is lovely, its so expressive! Your grasp on drawing bodies in motion wither thats simple gestures or action is also fantastic! I would absolutely love to see a comic from you with colour or some sort of tonal shading. I feel like thats the next step for you art-wise.

Arts- I think your artwork has improved a ton! The action is still slightly stiff but I feel having such a fighting-orientated character will help you make strives in that department. The brutal "deaths" at the end caught me off-guard quite a bit, things were light-hearted up until that point, so tonally it felt a bit weird- and then you established the twist about the arena and I felt oddly relieved.

Agree with Elyan. I really like both of these comics. Arts, aside from the aforementioned speed lines, I think you accomplished exactly what you were aiming for with this comic. Petrichor, yours was a lot of fun. I would echo the critique on the bare line art, but while it would be nice to have a more polished appearance here, the clean lines would be great for coloring.

First said I liked both entries. Story wise they are similar so i guess you agreed on a setup.

Petrichor, I love your dynamic drawings. Expressions and poses were so entertaining to me. Great were your supporting cast additions. Malbyte, Gut´s boss and the referee added some meat to your comic that was worth the work. Big thumbs up!
My only drawback would be the simple lined drawings... some more contrast or blacks to guide the eye would have been nice.

Artsandgoodies, you definetely improved on your writing part here. I like the concept of the respawn concept of your arena. It added a nice twist in the end in addition to the double KO/death. I would like to see some cleaner solution for speedlines from you. whereever you used them there was this rough brush in use. That can work but with the crossing lines its a bit sloppy in comparission to your overall clean comic.

Good job both of you!