Hi, here is my quick note (as usual now). This episode follows previous episode of the magic challenge and focus on the result one week later. It's the last part of the trilogy. It splits a bit more the relation between Pepper and Saffron. This episode clearly shows now the position of Pepper in regard to the the tactic used by Saffron (and undirectly Spirulina and Camomille) to win the magic challenge.
To compose this story, I worked around the theme of chance, success, effort and merit: how many opportunities did we missed because they did not conformed to our idea of effort? to our idea of merit? Does it make the actions "too obvious/easy path to success" the harder things to spot and grab? It is also a parody of the Deus ex Machina ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina ) in ancient Greek tragedy, and a sweet arc to remotivate our Pepper to go further in her mastery of magic!
Hi, I read it on deviantArt (about adding a warrior boy in the Universe of Pepper&Carrot, if I remember correctly). I receive many ideas and concept; but rarely "stories". In general, if you want to help me and propose story elements in Pepper&Carrot (new character/creatures/magic/etc...) ; it's better to wrap them in a single episode story and propose it here: https://github.com/Deevad/peppercarrot_scenarios
Hey Alex, Thank you !
I don't have any fixed date for next episode 24, I'll try to have something this autumn. Maybe October? The making of an episode usually takes 1,5 month to do mainly because I have pretty heavy constrain with my free and open-sources tools ( eg. no text tool for production in Krita, unstable operating system, huge database of translation hard to maintain ) but also because I like to interact with community during the production and I try my best to produce high quality artworks.
Also, I'm not drawing and painting Pepper&Carrot full time because of money; I never really met the goal I fixed on Patreon; so I prefer to still work for clients, doing Freelance between episodes ( book cover, teaching, conferences, concept art) to keep out of the 'starving artist' area. I hope I'll be able to do full time Pepper&Carrot soon :)
Doing P&C as a part time could be better actually. You are not driven by any deadline like "release one episode every month". Then you can afford release your episode when it meets your quality standards, in other words: "when it is done :)". And I more likely wait a few more weeks instead of having to read comics in some beta stage.
I am from the Isle of Trinidad in the West Indies. I am 39 going on 40 next year, and I am a fan of comics, but recently I have grown fed up with superheroes and have, not so long ago, became a fan of Japanese manga. I have read some French comics, mostly Tintin and Asterix, but it was the English translated version of the wonderful French graphic novel Pyrenee ( original 1998) that I fell in love with French comics.
I am an aspiring writer and artist as well. I used to draw when I was in school, but lost touch over the years. I am trying to regain my artistry, but I am struggling somewhat mostly due to artist's block. I cannot draw from my head and must watch photos to understand body postures. I also would like to draw cartoon like and manga style because I have so many ideas. I have taken some lessons from YouTube, but I want to go further (I cannot afford books or classes)
It is one day (I doubt it) to do my own comics/manga and share it internationally. In the meantime, what to do? Finally, I do enjoy Pepper and Carrot. I think they are popular because most people can relate to them. They mostly lose, are forced to conform to society an sometimes they try to hard. Too bad these are not printed in comic albums. I am sure they will do good if they were printed and sold. Finally, when will the next story come out?
I have also written some short stories (I hope to sell to a magazine) and I am working on a novel set in my home country of Trinidad. Your comics gave me some confidence. Thanks again.
Thank you for your nice words Mark!
Pepper&Carrot is printed by a couple of publisher around the globe, but no version in English yet. You can find this printed project in the "derivation" part of the blog. Good luck with your project!
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the genious of success." ( I like it a lot )
Most artists good at art but no experience at sales and marketing ( business tasks ).
I'm not an pro artist. ( I can't even draw a circle at good shape).
I researched a lot how to make money by do what i love to do. I found a lot of ( really a lot ) magical success maker , blog post, video tutorial, seminar....blah...blah....
They work in following way....
1. You are the one who want to make living by doing what you love , right? ( I agreed )
2. Currently, You can't make enough money by do what you love , right? ( of course, I can't make a penny)
3. You can make a HUGE amount of money by making what you love. ( Wow....interesting...)
4. Mr.Average Joe already did. I'll prove his testimonial. ( Then he prove Average Joe making money a lot by using his methods)
5.Here is some method to make money by your art. ( do blog, post in dribble/behance, make your art great, do time management, blah ....blah...)
6. Do you wanna know more the magical way to make money by your art?
*BUY MY COURSE.* at 999999.9999$
-----------------------
There are very few good blogs but most of them don't work.
-----------------------
Artists are different then normal people. They making money in very different way then normal business.
I do sample photoshop. That's all I can do. I want money ( a bit ). I learnt to sell. I sell my photoshop effects to Advertising company. I got a little bit amount of money. My photoshop effects are look good but not useful in most case. Business man don't buy art, they buy something that will help them.
They buy art when art help them. My creepy photoshop effects help my client's product to get more notice by his customers.
--------------
I saw a lot of woman selling adult content on Patron. I shocked when i saw them.
I don't know Patron before PepperCarrot. I thought Patron is for creative people who wanna make some money by their creative staff. But.......I was wrong....most of them don't make money in good way.
---------------------
Marvel & DC making a lot of money by producing same movies. They also agree they are not making art , they are making money. What about La La Land?
------------------
I agree to David Revoy. There is no magical way to success. Work smart, work hard. You will success one day. No shortcut.
Great story, David! The ending is funny and thought provoking at the same time.
I think there must be a catch to that wish from the Genie of Success. The line, "Limited to available stock" meant that only a certain number of people (and animals) can wish for the "success" marketed by the genie. The clause "Excluding weekends and public holidays" felt suspicious to me too. Does that mean whatever you wish from the genie won't work on those rest days?
I feel the Celebrity poster of Ms. Pigeon's "Faced Paced Life" is a critique on what it takes to be successful in this modern age. Many of us seem to glorify this kind of busyness all in the name of money-making. It doesn't help that society and media feeds us with limited notions of what success means (fashion, fame, instant gratification, get-rich-quick schemes, etc.).
In any case, Ms. Pigeon looks funny rather than fashionable to me. She's not someone I would look up to as a role model, seeing as she made her wish out of jealousy and a desire to get ahead from the other pigeons.
I bet there are very, very tiny printed (and outrageous) terms and conditions somewhere on that contract that have to be examined thoroughly with a magical microscope!
For the list:
- Saffron → Magmah
- Coriander → Zombiah
- Camomille → Hippiah
- Spirulina → Aquah
- Shichimi → Ah
You can find more info about the magic system, and the characters in the menu of the website "Wiki".
I've binged your comic series today. I'm in love with your skill as an artist and story telling. I've picked up digital art recently and you're a great inspiration. I hope to able to support your art one day.
Hi Hajar,
I'll give news soon for my patrons 'heroes' about episode 24, it takes me time because I'm managing a lot of activities in this autumn 2017.
Big and fun side-projects. It will be a surprise. Be patient ;-)
Hey, I went back and started rereading some of the comics and noticed that Pepper was really short in he beginning, almost as if around 10yrs old. In the current last one out, Pepper looks about the average hight of a teen. I want to know, am I looking too far into this? How much time has passed (in Pepper's world) since the beginning and right now?
Hi Alex,
Good question, thank you.
Yes, in episode 1, she still even has her 'Hippiah' dress ; so it's right after getting adopted by the witches of Chaosah. She is around 8 to 10 years-old. At the start she has 13 y/o and turn 14 at the birthday party. In recent episode she is almost 15.
This episode could be that much more powerful, if not the fact that:
1:Pepper had already won the previous contest, with the SAME amount of cash prize (50,000KO!)
2:She does not seem to be financially unstable, and looks to be getting along alright. As far as food or basic necessity concerned.
At this point, she shouldn't have to feel THIS down (She broke down and crying). It kinda make her seem like a... spoiled child just because she cant win this time round, or being hypocritical on criticizing Saffron of her "tactics" (She doesn't actually win by skill last time.)
Now, if she has lost or disqualified on the last contest, or there's a reason that she desperately need that money, we could at least empathize with her better.
Forgive me if this seems negative, but it just nags at me the whole time to see Pepper sulk like that. She might not have won this contest. Yes, her friend use an underhand tactics to win. But she accomplished so much wondrous feat during the past episode!
Story aside, your art, as always:C'est magnifique!
That's a lot of fair points Sergei ; thanks for sharing them. True, Pepper is a spoiled child and it's probably harder and harder for me to manage her anti-heros side after so much micro victories in her recent past. I hope I'll keep surprise for next episodes , feel free to always express your full point of view here ; feedback helps me to get a large picture and take distance with the story. It's very precious :)
Wow, very precise indeed. I did not realize anything like that until I had read your post.
The "spoiled child" + teenage girl age might be truly an explanation for it :)
1) Saffron doesn't need the money. She's already successful and living in the poshest part of Komona. Pepper however has no visible means of support and could use that money.
2) Eight Pumpkin Stars = 60 Ko. One pumpkin star is around 7 Ko. So unless Pumpkin Stars are really expensive (which they might be) that's likely around $10 - $20 USD for eight of them. So figure that her winnings of 50,000 Ko are likely around $5,000 - $10,000 USD. That's not a whole lot of money to tide her over between contests.
3) The potion contests are also about prestige for the school. That she wasn't able to compete in the competition meant that Chaosah couldn't demonstrate their skills. Pepper hasn't been able to show what she's learned yet in a public forum. So to the rest of the world she's just a lucky hick from Squirrel's End who hangs out with some evil witches.
It's not about the money, so much as it's about the recognition that seems to elude her. Pepper isn't as motivated about money (Saffron is); she's motivated about being the best witch she can. And this latest contest showed her that noteriety is not something that's earned, it's something that happens to people who are lucky or somehow game the system.
And Pepper doesn't like that game so she's trying to change it as best she can. :)
Recognition and Prestige!! Thank you for pointing that aspect out... Arghh... How did I not realize THAT before?! Now I can fully empathize with her situation :D
The only thing I wanted to see now is someone to go up to her, show her all the previous episode and say: "Uhh Pepper? See all the wonderful things you've done on your adventures before? Don't feel this down, cheer up!" XD
@David Revoy
My apologies, David. Calling Pepper a "spoiled child" might be too strongly a word. There are other, better words to describe her attitude, it was the only word that first came to my mind when I read this episode.
In the end, you are more familiar about your own characters and story to come in the future, far than I will ever do, and you might have already planned something awesome to offset Pepper's failure. And that, I am excited to see ;)
Thank you Craig & David, for taking the time to read and reply to my comment! Cheers to you both!
P.S: In hindsight though, Corriander and Shichimi never gets lucky with the contest, I'm sure they are both decent magician, but circumstances always let others win. And I find that hilarious XD
I can't say what's in store for Pepper but she may very well get that sort of recognition sooner than later.
And in some ways she is a spoiled child. She's still learning what it means to be a responsible adult. She's also learning what her role as a Witch of Chaosah is, and how she can help form that. It's a huge responsibility and I'm sure she will still throw fits and tantrums along the way. And her godmothers are going to be very cross with her when she does and will try to discipline her as best they can. That's how children grow.
Seeing Saffron's face all over the place can be a huge self-confidence destroyer. Pepper constantly gets told by the Chaosah Witches that she isn't measuring up to their expectations so going to Komona and seeing Saffron's face everywhere is just another dagger in Pepper's self-confidence.
It doesn't have to make logical sense: She's a young girl who know that she's being denied the glory that she feels Saffron got wrongfully.
Who knows? Perhaps Pepper's photo was up in Komona for a hot minute for the potion contest and Saffron felt the same way about it being an undeserved win? :)
Thank you Craig Maloney , you wrote good point too about this thread. True, Pepper as a "spoiled child" can't explain everything; and your answer help me to connect to Pepper again even more : she is of course very driven by recognition.
Nice episode! I really like her expression in one of the last panels (when she says there's no point in being jealous). I wonder if she'll visit Saffron anytime soon, since it seems she used to turn to her in times of crises...
By the way, I have a question about the wiki I didn't know where else to ask. Who wrote the entries in it? About the magic system and the history of Hereva and all that? The username of most of the edits is <i>craigmaloney</i>; does he make derivations of Pepper and Carrot, or does he just write entries in the wiki?
Do you plan to incorporate the info in the Wiki pages in the comic, or is it more of a background thing that will not necessarily be relevant to the plot itself?
Oh, I see now that his name is Craig Maloney and that he's working on an RPG for P&C. So the only question which is still relevant is whether you plan to incorporate his ideas from the Wiki into the comic :)
Hi Plon!
Yes, I am lucky to get the contribution of Craig for the wiki. A lot of changes added to the wiki are discussed on our IRC channel ; and Craig also helps me on polishing the scenarios of the episodes ; you can find often his name on the credit.
Having a wiki with more information than the comic was necessary to keep an harmony between all the derivative ; video-games project, board game, etc... Sometime, we decide to add information when the contributor of a derivation ask something about usual mechanic of the universe. That's why we have a Timeline, Time system, magic , etc... Craig made a fantastic work on writing the wiki.
The official webcomic main mission is to storytell the story of Pepper and Carrot ; under the format of short and funny sample and scene of life. I can't use 4 pages on it to make a long discussion or develop a long plot with this format. I think Pepper&Carrot is still more of a "extended comic-strip with narrative element" more than "a full narrative story compressed under the shape of a comic-strip" ; so I'm not sure I'll be able to storytell all the Timeline of Hereva and explain the historical issue between the school ; but for sure I'll do my best for using them (showing, not explaining) and making it look consistent within the official episodes.
That's all the complexity of writing Pepper&Carrot episodes :-)
Thanks again for the feedback!
Thank you for the elaborate answer!! I really appreciate it!
Do you think you might consider in the future getting into more complex narratives, spread over a sequence of episodes? I really loved the strips ending with a "to be continued...", it'd be cool to have more of them, and perhaps even spread over more than two episodes :)
In any case I would like you to know I adore your comic, and that your art really inspires me and made me want to learn how to draw myself. Pepper and Carrot are two of the loveliest characters I've seen basically anywhere :) Keep going!
In some ways the Wiki has influenced the direction of the comic. But more often than not the Wiki is realizing all of the little tweaks and nods that David put into the comic. :)
The wiki is a sort of "show bible" for the various bits of Pepper & Carrot. They're not canon: the comics are considered "canon" and anything in the comics will make its way back into the wiki (eventually). Part of the work on the wiki was to tease out some of the ideas that David had about the origins and "how we got here" for Hereva. The rest is based off of discussions and other "wouldn't it be neat if..." pieces that got added along the way.
Thank you David, your answer makes things clearer to me. The wiki is obviously very useful even if at times, the readers of the strips may be a little frustrated by being told by the wiki rather than by the episodes themselves.
Well, we have to be patient, all will be revealed — in due time
This episode is very fine.
Just this: is there something strange about Carrot’s mouth and the broom stick? as if Carrot simply pushed it with his muzzle? Is he supposed to be holding it in his mouth like a dog would do? Sorry if I’m dumb.
Pepper and Carrot always takes me to the world where I can never be. At the age of 36, I still dream of a world where I have friends like pepper and carrot. We play and dance and sing together... Do mischief together...
I thank you for your gift to the world. David...I really thank you ...I wish we could one day sit and drink coffee or tea together :D
Hehe ; thanks!
Who knows? We have all a life to get a Tea/coffee; It's far from being impossible ! Also, I 'll try to answer positively in the next year to many invitation I receive for conferences across the globe. So, who knows; I'll probably land one day in a city nearby to you. Just right now I'm fighiting on another topic: I have a production issue to solve. I'm speeding up Pepper&Carrot release of episode, because everyone noticed: I'm too slow. ^__^
- I changed all the structure of Pepper&Carrot: the infrastructure for sharing source and exposing source code , merging commit, discussing with contributors was asking me almost full day job for doing maintenance only. This was the biggest part.
All in all, that was a very good period for a finding new energy. Sorry for having this break !
HD
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Hi, here is my quick note (as usual now). This episode follows previous episode of the magic challenge and focus on the result one week later. It's the last part of the trilogy. It splits a bit more the relation between Pepper and Saffron. This episode clearly shows now the position of Pepper in regard to the the tactic used by Saffron (and undirectly Spirulina and Camomille) to win the magic challenge.
To compose this story, I worked around the theme of chance, success, effort and merit: how many opportunities did we missed because they did not conformed to our idea of effort? to our idea of merit? Does it make the actions "too obvious/easy path to success" the harder things to spot and grab? It is also a parody of the Deus ex Machina ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina ) in ancient Greek tragedy, and a sweet arc to remotivate our Pepper to go further in her mastery of magic!
Did you see my earlier comment and what did you think of it?
Hi, I read it on deviantArt (about adding a warrior boy in the Universe of Pepper&Carrot, if I remember correctly). I receive many ideas and concept; but rarely "stories". In general, if you want to help me and propose story elements in Pepper&Carrot (new character/creatures/magic/etc...) ; it's better to wrap them in a single episode story and propose it here: https://github.com/Deevad/peppercarrot_scenarios
Hey David, any idea when the next episode might be out? I really love these.
Hey Alex, Thank you !
I don't have any fixed date for next episode 24, I'll try to have something this autumn. Maybe October? The making of an episode usually takes 1,5 month to do mainly because I have pretty heavy constrain with my free and open-sources tools ( eg. no text tool for production in Krita, unstable operating system, huge database of translation hard to maintain ) but also because I like to interact with community during the production and I try my best to produce high quality artworks.
Also, I'm not drawing and painting Pepper&Carrot full time because of money; I never really met the goal I fixed on Patreon; so I prefer to still work for clients, doing Freelance between episodes ( book cover, teaching, conferences, concept art) to keep out of the 'starving artist' area. I hope I'll be able to do full time Pepper&Carrot soon :)
Doing P&C as a part time could be better actually. You are not driven by any deadline like "release one episode every month". Then you can afford release your episode when it meets your quality standards, in other words: "when it is done :)". And I more likely wait a few more weeks instead of having to read comics in some beta stage.
True Hagus! I also like to keep experiences outside of doing only the comic. It's good food for inspiration. Thank you for your encouraging words!
I am from the Isle of Trinidad in the West Indies. I am 39 going on 40 next year, and I am a fan of comics, but recently I have grown fed up with superheroes and have, not so long ago, became a fan of Japanese manga. I have read some French comics, mostly Tintin and Asterix, but it was the English translated version of the wonderful French graphic novel Pyrenee ( original 1998) that I fell in love with French comics.
I am an aspiring writer and artist as well. I used to draw when I was in school, but lost touch over the years. I am trying to regain my artistry, but I am struggling somewhat mostly due to artist's block. I cannot draw from my head and must watch photos to understand body postures. I also would like to draw cartoon like and manga style because I have so many ideas. I have taken some lessons from YouTube, but I want to go further (I cannot afford books or classes)
It is one day (I doubt it) to do my own comics/manga and share it internationally. In the meantime, what to do? Finally, I do enjoy Pepper and Carrot. I think they are popular because most people can relate to them. They mostly lose, are forced to conform to society an sometimes they try to hard. Too bad these are not printed in comic albums. I am sure they will do good if they were printed and sold. Finally, when will the next story come out?
I have also written some short stories (I hope to sell to a magazine) and I am working on a novel set in my home country of Trinidad. Your comics gave me some confidence. Thanks again.
Mark Munroe
Trinidad, West Indies
Thank you for your nice words Mark!
Pepper&Carrot is printed by a couple of publisher around the globe, but no version in English yet. You can find this printed project in the "derivation" part of the blog. Good luck with your project!
Ahhh... finally its up! :)
Honk :o)
AnOtHeR mIrAcLe StRiKeS aGaIn :o)
Well done, good job! :D Longue vie à Madame Pigeon :P
👏👏👏👍
its awesome! i love the way you painted the rain and water! i see your awesome rain brush!!!
Beautiful: simply beautiful; I love the way you showed her not giving into temptation even though it was the worst time for her...BEAUTIFUL !!!
Ever so beautiful, David ! That drawing of Pepper crying in the rain is really amazing. Keep up the good work, l'ami. La bise.
Haha, j'aime beaucoup le design du génie
Really feeling this right now. Love the artwork and the story. :)
Bravo Clap-clap beau travail.....sourire assuré.....offre cumulable sans limite de stock! :-) j'aime.Bisous Dad (clap-clap)
Nice episode! Also funny to see Pepper showing some serious genre savvyness <3
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the genious of success." ( I like it a lot )
Most artists good at art but no experience at sales and marketing ( business tasks ).
I'm not an pro artist. ( I can't even draw a circle at good shape).
I researched a lot how to make money by do what i love to do. I found a lot of ( really a lot ) magical success maker , blog post, video tutorial, seminar....blah...blah....
They work in following way....
1. You are the one who want to make living by doing what you love , right? ( I agreed )
2. Currently, You can't make enough money by do what you love , right? ( of course, I can't make a penny)
3. You can make a HUGE amount of money by making what you love. ( Wow....interesting...)
4. Mr.Average Joe already did. I'll prove his testimonial. ( Then he prove Average Joe making money a lot by using his methods)
5.Here is some method to make money by your art. ( do blog, post in dribble/behance, make your art great, do time management, blah ....blah...)
6. Do you wanna know more the magical way to make money by your art?
*BUY MY COURSE.* at 999999.9999$
-----------------------
There are very few good blogs but most of them don't work.
-----------------------
Artists are different then normal people. They making money in very different way then normal business.
I do sample photoshop. That's all I can do. I want money ( a bit ). I learnt to sell. I sell my photoshop effects to Advertising company. I got a little bit amount of money. My photoshop effects are look good but not useful in most case. Business man don't buy art, they buy something that will help them.
They buy art when art help them. My creepy photoshop effects help my client's product to get more notice by his customers.
--------------
I saw a lot of woman selling adult content on Patron. I shocked when i saw them.
I don't know Patron before PepperCarrot. I thought Patron is for creative people who wanna make some money by their creative staff. But.......I was wrong....most of them don't make money in good way.
---------------------
Marvel & DC making a lot of money by producing same movies. They also agree they are not making art , they are making money. What about La La Land?
------------------
I agree to David Revoy. There is no magical way to success. Work smart, work hard. You will success one day. No shortcut.
Great story, David! The ending is funny and thought provoking at the same time.
I think there must be a catch to that wish from the Genie of Success. The line, "Limited to available stock" meant that only a certain number of people (and animals) can wish for the "success" marketed by the genie. The clause "Excluding weekends and public holidays" felt suspicious to me too. Does that mean whatever you wish from the genie won't work on those rest days?
I feel the Celebrity poster of Ms. Pigeon's "Faced Paced Life" is a critique on what it takes to be successful in this modern age. Many of us seem to glorify this kind of busyness all in the name of money-making. It doesn't help that society and media feeds us with limited notions of what success means (fashion, fame, instant gratification, get-rich-quick schemes, etc.).
In any case, Ms. Pigeon looks funny rather than fashionable to me. She's not someone I would look up to as a role model, seeing as she made her wish out of jealousy and a desire to get ahead from the other pigeons.
"excluding weekends and public holidays..."
lol
"what's up with this deus ex machina?!"
lol
maybe if she signs the contract she would become an magic girl?
(i hope you get the reference)
this end was funny too.
btw, one question, pepper will ever get older?
Great job as always! I love the way your comics are always so meaningful and visually stunning. Keep up the great work! :)
This is one of the best articles I have come across. Keep up the good work.
I bet there are very, very tiny printed (and outrageous) terms and conditions somewhere on that contract that have to be examined thoroughly with a magical microscope!
Can these comics be considered a fandom yet?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fandom ? No idea :) I guess it's something up to fans to decide.
I know how Pepper is a student/witch of Chaosah, but what are her friends and Saffron students of?
For the list:
- Saffron → Magmah
- Coriander → Zombiah
- Camomille → Hippiah
- Spirulina → Aquah
- Shichimi → Ah
You can find more info about the magic system, and the characters in the menu of the website "Wiki".
Thanks
Dear Deevad,
I've binged your comic series today. I'm in love with your skill as an artist and story telling. I've picked up digital art recently and you're a great inspiration. I hope to able to support your art one day.
Thank you for the comment, and good luck in your training as a digital artist!
Any news for episode 24 ???
Is it going to be out soon ??
Hi Hajar,
I'll give news soon for my patrons 'heroes' about episode 24, it takes me time because I'm managing a lot of activities in this autumn 2017.
Big and fun side-projects. It will be a surprise. Be patient ;-)
Hey, I went back and started rereading some of the comics and noticed that Pepper was really short in he beginning, almost as if around 10yrs old. In the current last one out, Pepper looks about the average hight of a teen. I want to know, am I looking too far into this? How much time has passed (in Pepper's world) since the beginning and right now?
Hi Alex,
Good question, thank you.
Yes, in episode 1, she still even has her 'Hippiah' dress ; so it's right after getting adopted by the witches of Chaosah. She is around 8 to 10 years-old. At the start she has 13 y/o and turn 14 at the birthday party. In recent episode she is almost 15.
Haha, this is cute. Nice work, made my day :)
This was a charming episode. You are very talented.
This episode could be that much more powerful, if not the fact that:
1:Pepper had already won the previous contest, with the SAME amount of cash prize (50,000KO!)
2:She does not seem to be financially unstable, and looks to be getting along alright. As far as food or basic necessity concerned.
At this point, she shouldn't have to feel THIS down (She broke down and crying). It kinda make her seem like a... spoiled child just because she cant win this time round, or being hypocritical on criticizing Saffron of her "tactics" (She doesn't actually win by skill last time.)
Now, if she has lost or disqualified on the last contest, or there's a reason that she desperately need that money, we could at least empathize with her better.
Forgive me if this seems negative, but it just nags at me the whole time to see Pepper sulk like that. She might not have won this contest. Yes, her friend use an underhand tactics to win. But she accomplished so much wondrous feat during the past episode!
Story aside, your art, as always:C'est magnifique!
That's a lot of fair points Sergei ; thanks for sharing them. True, Pepper is a spoiled child and it's probably harder and harder for me to manage her anti-heros side after so much micro victories in her recent past. I hope I'll keep surprise for next episodes , feel free to always express your full point of view here ; feedback helps me to get a large picture and take distance with the story. It's very precious :)
Wow, very precise indeed. I did not realize anything like that until I had read your post.
The "spoiled child" + teenage girl age might be truly an explanation for it :)
I'd like to address the points brought up:
1) Saffron doesn't need the money. She's already successful and living in the poshest part of Komona. Pepper however has no visible means of support and could use that money.
2) Eight Pumpkin Stars = 60 Ko. One pumpkin star is around 7 Ko. So unless Pumpkin Stars are really expensive (which they might be) that's likely around $10 - $20 USD for eight of them. So figure that her winnings of 50,000 Ko are likely around $5,000 - $10,000 USD. That's not a whole lot of money to tide her over between contests.
3) The potion contests are also about prestige for the school. That she wasn't able to compete in the competition meant that Chaosah couldn't demonstrate their skills. Pepper hasn't been able to show what she's learned yet in a public forum. So to the rest of the world she's just a lucky hick from Squirrel's End who hangs out with some evil witches.
It's not about the money, so much as it's about the recognition that seems to elude her. Pepper isn't as motivated about money (Saffron is); she's motivated about being the best witch she can. And this latest contest showed her that noteriety is not something that's earned, it's something that happens to people who are lucky or somehow game the system.
And Pepper doesn't like that game so she's trying to change it as best she can. :)
Recognition and Prestige!! Thank you for pointing that aspect out... Arghh... How did I not realize THAT before?! Now I can fully empathize with her situation :D
The only thing I wanted to see now is someone to go up to her, show her all the previous episode and say: "Uhh Pepper? See all the wonderful things you've done on your adventures before? Don't feel this down, cheer up!" XD
@David Revoy
My apologies, David. Calling Pepper a "spoiled child" might be too strongly a word. There are other, better words to describe her attitude, it was the only word that first came to my mind when I read this episode.
In the end, you are more familiar about your own characters and story to come in the future, far than I will ever do, and you might have already planned something awesome to offset Pepper's failure. And that, I am excited to see ;)
Thank you Craig & David, for taking the time to read and reply to my comment! Cheers to you both!
P.S: In hindsight though, Corriander and Shichimi never gets lucky with the contest, I'm sure they are both decent magician, but circumstances always let others win. And I find that hilarious XD
I can't say what's in store for Pepper but she may very well get that sort of recognition sooner than later.
And in some ways she is a spoiled child. She's still learning what it means to be a responsible adult. She's also learning what her role as a Witch of Chaosah is, and how she can help form that. It's a huge responsibility and I'm sure she will still throw fits and tantrums along the way. And her godmothers are going to be very cross with her when she does and will try to discipline her as best they can. That's how children grow.
Another point:
Seeing Saffron's face all over the place can be a huge self-confidence destroyer. Pepper constantly gets told by the Chaosah Witches that she isn't measuring up to their expectations so going to Komona and seeing Saffron's face everywhere is just another dagger in Pepper's self-confidence.
It doesn't have to make logical sense: She's a young girl who know that she's being denied the glory that she feels Saffron got wrongfully.
Who knows? Perhaps Pepper's photo was up in Komona for a hot minute for the potion contest and Saffron felt the same way about it being an undeserved win? :)
Thank you Craig Maloney , you wrote good point too about this thread. True, Pepper as a "spoiled child" can't explain everything; and your answer help me to connect to Pepper again even more : she is of course very driven by recognition.
Lord knows she doesn't get recognition much at home. She's constantly trying to prove herself. :)
Nice episode! I really like her expression in one of the last panels (when she says there's no point in being jealous). I wonder if she'll visit Saffron anytime soon, since it seems she used to turn to her in times of crises...
By the way, I have a question about the wiki I didn't know where else to ask. Who wrote the entries in it? About the magic system and the history of Hereva and all that? The username of most of the edits is <i>craigmaloney</i>; does he make derivations of Pepper and Carrot, or does he just write entries in the wiki?
Do you plan to incorporate the info in the Wiki pages in the comic, or is it more of a background thing that will not necessarily be relevant to the plot itself?
Oh, I see now that his name is Craig Maloney and that he's working on an RPG for P&C. So the only question which is still relevant is whether you plan to incorporate his ideas from the Wiki into the comic :)
Hi Plon!
Yes, I am lucky to get the contribution of Craig for the wiki. A lot of changes added to the wiki are discussed on our IRC channel ; and Craig also helps me on polishing the scenarios of the episodes ; you can find often his name on the credit.
Having a wiki with more information than the comic was necessary to keep an harmony between all the derivative ; video-games project, board game, etc... Sometime, we decide to add information when the contributor of a derivation ask something about usual mechanic of the universe. That's why we have a Timeline, Time system, magic , etc... Craig made a fantastic work on writing the wiki.
The official webcomic main mission is to storytell the story of Pepper and Carrot ; under the format of short and funny sample and scene of life. I can't use 4 pages on it to make a long discussion or develop a long plot with this format. I think Pepper&Carrot is still more of a "extended comic-strip with narrative element" more than "a full narrative story compressed under the shape of a comic-strip" ; so I'm not sure I'll be able to storytell all the Timeline of Hereva and explain the historical issue between the school ; but for sure I'll do my best for using them (showing, not explaining) and making it look consistent within the official episodes.
That's all the complexity of writing Pepper&Carrot episodes :-)
Thanks again for the feedback!
Thank you for the elaborate answer!! I really appreciate it!
Do you think you might consider in the future getting into more complex narratives, spread over a sequence of episodes? I really loved the strips ending with a "to be continued...", it'd be cool to have more of them, and perhaps even spread over more than two episodes :)
In any case I would like you to know I adore your comic, and that your art really inspires me and made me want to learn how to draw myself. Pepper and Carrot are two of the loveliest characters I've seen basically anywhere :) Keep going!
Aw, thank you. *blush*
In some ways the Wiki has influenced the direction of the comic. But more often than not the Wiki is realizing all of the little tweaks and nods that David put into the comic. :)
The wiki is a sort of "show bible" for the various bits of Pepper & Carrot. They're not canon: the comics are considered "canon" and anything in the comics will make its way back into the wiki (eventually). Part of the work on the wiki was to tease out some of the ideas that David had about the origins and "how we got here" for Hereva. The rest is based off of discussions and other "wouldn't it be neat if..." pieces that got added along the way.
Thanks for noticing! :)
Thank you David, your answer makes things clearer to me. The wiki is obviously very useful even if at times, the readers of the strips may be a little frustrated by being told by the wiki rather than by the episodes themselves.
Well, we have to be patient, all will be revealed — in due time
This episode is very fine.
Just this: is there something strange about Carrot’s mouth and the broom stick? as if Carrot simply pushed it with his muzzle? Is he supposed to be holding it in his mouth like a dog would do? Sorry if I’m dumb.
Thank you !
yep for the broom stick; I admit it could be better ;-)
This is so cool! I love how funny it is!
Pepper and Carrot always takes me to the world where I can never be. At the age of 36, I still dream of a world where I have friends like pepper and carrot. We play and dance and sing together... Do mischief together...
I thank you for your gift to the world. David...I really thank you ...I wish we could one day sit and drink coffee or tea together :D
Hehe ; thanks!
Who knows? We have all a life to get a Tea/coffee; It's far from being impossible ! Also, I 'll try to answer positively in the next year to many invitation I receive for conferences across the globe. So, who knows; I'll probably land one day in a city nearby to you. Just right now I'm fighiting on another topic: I have a production issue to solve. I'm speeding up Pepper&Carrot release of episode, because everyone noticed: I'm too slow. ^__^
I love your books David I want to see more of this creations of this book thanks btw I am only 8 and I love the books thanks
Thank you for the nice words Nicolas !
Why are there no new episodes for 4 months now?
Hey No.
Next episode is for .... this week-end ;-)
What I did during 4 month? :D
- I made all the artwork for Contributopia:
https://contributopia.org/
- I made the concept-art for a future open-movie with Blender Foundation:
https://cloud.blender.org/p/spring/59d6 … 16b16ae075
- I participated to Inktober and released a open book about it:
https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/article … r-in-a-pdf
- I taught Krita at university:
http://www.davidrevoy.com/article335/kr … y-pontoise
- I changed all the structure of Pepper&Carrot: the infrastructure for sharing source and exposing source code , merging commit, discussing with contributors was asking me almost full day job for doing maintenance only. This was the biggest part.
All in all, that was a very good period for a finding new energy. Sorry for having this break !
Oh, I had no idea! Nice work :D
I really liked this episode, pepper keeps getting prettier and more relatable in every episode....you're doing an amazing job David :D
Every comic makes me laugh!😂
LOL
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