Syconium
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December 11th, 2017






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45 . by: 33 December 12, 2017, 1:21 pm

Zack, reguardless of audience size, your work is a success in the eyes of those who read it. I'm certian my work will not reach far, and may only upset or disgust. But, if it makes just one person think about something they would have never though of before... it will be enough.
44 . by: Dani December 11, 2017, 8:41 pm

I find that the NofNa universe inspires me to write my own stories that use animals to explore human concepts :).

Also, Syconium has been timely in my personal life, and it has had the largest impact on me of all the NofNa stories I've read so far.
43 . by: Zack December 11, 2017, 3:05 pm

Hi, and thank you.

Commentator 33, Fig might look odd in the last panel, because I realized that she is not casting a shadow. I have now corrected this (and added whiskers, to boot).
42 . by: December 11, 2017, 3:45 am

Zack, of course NofNA is a good role model! Even if it isn't well known, its a unique, frequently beautiful and thoughtful piece of work that provokes passion in the people who do get to read it. I look forward to seeing more webcomics striving for that.
41 . by: December 10, 2017, 11:33 pm

I think the thing might be ledger? Like at the beginning?

URL : http://www.nofna.com/?T=1-1-58-25
39 . by: Dani December 10, 2017, 11:23 pm

I didn't notice that a) the red streak could be a sunrise (thought it was a weird lightning streak initially), or b) that the message to Smoothie was a multi-piece thing.

The optimist in me wants to think that the first panel is a pathetic fallacy to the last one, i.e. XX really is smiling there.
39 . by: Dani December 10, 2017, 11:23 pm

I didn't notice that a) the red streak could be a sunrise (thought it was a weird lightning streak initially), or b) that the message to Smoothie was a multi-piece thing.

The optimist in me wants to think that the first panel is a pathetic fallacy to the last one, i.e. XX really is smiling there.
38 . by: Zack December 10, 2017, 11:06 pm

Dear commentator 36,

Thank you for your kind words. I do not know if NofNA is a very good role model in that respect, as it has only achieved a modicum of success across its 10 years of operation, but if you are able to express your dreams, then that may be just enough.

Best of luck,
Zack
37 . by: December 10, 2017, 10:54 pm

@Botany
Fig's body of work is full of sexual symbolism AND she's a sex worker, so they're not likely to let her teach impressionable young minds. This is a very common occurrence in our world, and considering the setting, it's likely she wouldn't even be able to get a foot in the door.
36 . by: December 10, 2017, 6:18 pm

Zack, I'm finally following my dreams to be a comic artist. Albiet, I imagine few people will like my stuff... but thanks for being an inspiration. I love your work so much and look forward to seeing every new page.
35 . by: December 10, 2017, 5:47 pm

I think it’s silly to assume it’s been weeks because the mail gets plopped on the floor now. Heck, when I’m not home, the mail starts to get left on the floor on day 1, lol
34 . by: Kaidona December 10, 2017, 4:42 pm

Plum valued family, so with Cherry gone, she's probably latched onto Lemon. That would explain the panel with them sitting so close.

URL : http://kaidona.deviantart.com
33 . by: December 10, 2017, 1:45 am

i kept thinking fig looked slightly odd somehow in the last panel, but i finally just realized it's because her whiskers are missing?
32 . by: Witticaster December 9, 2017, 6:38 pm

Wow, panel 1 is just stunningly beautiful. The light glinting off the snowflakes is so ethereal. You have an incredible skill at color and pixel art, Zack.

Smoothie's picture looks like light shining out from behind prison bars... maybe he channeled his memory of embryo-XX to make this one.

I wonder if they're letting her see clients again?
31 . by: December 9, 2017, 1:21 pm

After reading the page a few times I do see panel 1 as a landscape with some dramatic sunrise/set light, but the first time I didn't. Right after the last page, it looked like a stray beam of the pink lightning Streaks used on the last page, crackling out of the brothel. I'm sure it's at least supposed to be a bridge between the pink lighting and a symbol of time passing.
30 . by: Juna December 9, 2017, 5:17 am

I'm interpreting it as a ray of sunlight along the edge of a mountain, with an overcast sky. The thin band of light the two create is making the snow or the sleet glow a little. An anticipation of a rainbow? Now that I look at it, the dots are faintly colored, and in the last panel, as XX glances back at Smoothie's letter, the highlights in her curtains range in color. Were they always like that?
29 . by: Tenka December 9, 2017, 4:44 am

That's definitely not a smile in the last panel. Some time has passed, it doesn't feel like anything has improved for the workers. I'm glad Lemon and Plum are still around, Lemon at least doesn't look broken but I don't know what Plum is holding onto in this place.
I'm sad that it seems like this is the first word Fig has gotten from Smoothie in long time; I think many readers were relieved when he and Fig walked away from each other physically unscathed, but him leaving Fig alone after looking out for her for so long is an ache. I hope this message will mean that he's found a way to recover and become strong again.
The painted backgrounds feel still and cold, unperturbed by anything anyone drawn in front of them can ever do. I'm comfortable with them, but can someone tell me what that wavering magenta line in the first panel is?
28 . by: Bluefan December 9, 2017, 3:07 am

Lol sorry for the typos, I'm writing with my phone
27 . by: Bluefan December 9, 2017, 3:04 am

The picture on the chip that RG's placing on the ground in panel 7 looks very different drom what we see in panel 9. I think I can see a little ehite stoat with a big blsck tail there. Maybe it has two sides?
26 . by: Botany December 9, 2017, 2:02 am

God damn, get your feet out from the crease and know you can teach somebody.

If you could teach that damned smooth fool, you can teach.

God damn, turn around now and manifest that destiny.

URL : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Fx1yq3A8M
25 . by: Kaidona December 9, 2017, 1:55 am

X, the fuck. You don't treat someone else's art that way, even if you are mad at them. What the hell kind of artist are you? > : (

URL : http://kaidona.deviantart.com
24 . by: Trustthapo December 9, 2017, 1:46 am

Fig's somber walk in panel 4 reminds me of little dreamy XX's own sad walk of defeat on panel 23 of page 103, right after Estrus steals away her color.
Also, I wonder how much time has passed. It can't be too long given Plum's winter coat and the snowy opening scene, but RG's comment of "where they keep the mail now" hints that it's been weeks, probably, since Greenie took command. Who knows what else has transpired since Greenie zapped Battery.
...Heh. Battery. Lightning alembic. Electricity joke.
23 . by: 21 December 8, 2017, 11:12 pm

here, i've tried to highlight what i see going on (in the link). it looks to me like some kind of think hollow case opening as she throws it? maybe i'm reading too much into it though

URL : http://i.imgur.com/k8GaOpm.png
22 . by: Furrama December 8, 2017, 9:21 pm

I think it's just a chip, like her Plum painting. Too thin to be a case, looking at it in the RG panel. I think that thing "coming out" in 11 is just color/motion blur.
21 . by: December 8, 2017, 8:59 pm

@20

OOOOOOH now I see it. You can see it split open in the panel where she chops it
20 . by: Someone Kewl December 8, 2017, 8:34 pm

It's a fig-shaped case.It broke open when she threw it on the ground. There's something inside it. ;D
19 . by: Furrama December 8, 2017, 8:33 pm

I think it was a fig shaped wood chip. The painting kinda looks like an abstraction of the interior of a fig.
18 . by: hazard December 8, 2017, 8:21 pm

@12 HA!!

I think the canvas broke but it also has a letter attached on the back that she didn't see before?

I also like that we're getting hints that the running of the brothel is changing. Everything's changing. Hmm hmm hmmmmm.
17 . by: Kanya December 8, 2017, 7:48 pm

Ooooh, you know what, I think in that 11th panel, it's bouncing off the ground, so it's already broke. It's probably canvas
16 . by: Kanya December 8, 2017, 7:44 pm

She looks upset to me in the last panel, like regret.

And I figured there was only color in the gallery cause RG was with them, and it was used to show the misrepresentation of color he was seeing.

Another thing I'm wondering is what Plum and Lemon are whispering about or why they are avoiding her.

URL : http://Fourfires.deviantart.com
15 . by: December 8, 2017, 4:24 pm

I can't tell what's going on with the shape of this thing. Did she throw it down and break it, or is there something else attached to it? It doesn't look like it in RG's panel, but as she's throwing it down it looks like it's either already in pieces or there's something else with it. Guess we'll find out next page.

It's cute though that Smoothie made some non-representational art and gave it to her. I wonder if we'll see Fig do a painting of him akin to her paintings of the brothel girls before she stopped.
14 . by: December 8, 2017, 4:17 pm

Is Fig smiling in the last panel or is that just an outline of her face?
13 . by: Furrama December 8, 2017, 3:54 pm

On page 171 you can get an idea of what most of her work actually looks like in color.

I'm convinced his work is under the same "rules" as hers.

URL : http://www.nofna.com/?T=1-1-58-171
12 . by: Furrama December 8, 2017, 2:25 pm

Panel 11

URL : http://youtu.be/gAYL5H46QnQ
11 . by: December 8, 2017, 2:10 pm

? when fig painted RG he commented on the red text “mixed in with the other colors”. fig’s paintings are in color, they’re just greyscale because that’s how she is being expressed in the comic, and now smoothie and the paintings he makes will be too. this one is very likely in color, we just haven’t had specific verification so i guess it’s POSSIBLE it’s greyscale, but i doubt it, personally.

fig does definitely have one greyscale painting, the one of plum in a snowstorm. although even that might have color, we just don’t know yet. i’m hoping we’ll see them all at the end in color
10 . by: December 8, 2017, 2:06 pm

I can't tell if she's coming back and smiling at the painting, or if she broke it when she threw it, and is now frowning and feels guilty that she damaged it.
9 . by: December 8, 2017, 1:30 pm

Maybe he actually painted in grey. Fig used the bird vision thing, right?
8 . by: December 8, 2017, 12:34 pm

when they were in the gallery you can also see that the other paintings are in color. greyscale paintings are an affliction of the colorless, alas
7 . by: Kanya December 8, 2017, 11:34 am

@Downhill

I thought their art was grey just from their perspective because they couldn't see certain colors? Like what RG said about them not being able to see colors, but they paint in them anyways, when they were in the gallery?

URL : http://Fourfires.deviantart.com
6 . by: Downhill December 8, 2017, 11:13 am

Woah, does this mean Smoothie's art is getting greyed out too?? He really has taken on a lot of her aspects. I'm not sure if that's sinister or not.

Based on the assumption this is Smoothie's artwork, anyway. That would make the most sense to me.
5 . by: Dani December 8, 2017, 11:01 am

Aww :)
4 . by: Kanya December 8, 2017, 10:34 am

Did she break it?

URL : http://Fourfires.deviantart.com
3 . by: Kai December 8, 2017, 10:17 am

Looks like XY made nonrepresentational art, just like Fig hoped! I love that she comes back to look at it and smiles. She wants to be mad, but she can't, her first student is producing his own work.
2 . by: December 8, 2017, 10:15 am

Did Smoothie just give back her painting?
1 . by: December 8, 2017, 10:15 am

Fig and Smoothie make an art?