#freeside

some friends said that I should create a 3d character based off of the upcoming CDprojekt Red game Cyberpunk 2077. so here are some work in progress images of the design! I’m hoping to bring part of the character to a finished game ready textured state! 
 It’s gonna be a great learning experience! I’m so excited!!!  
It’s been an interesting project so far! I’m absolutely pumped for Cyberpunk 2077 

How many times have you heard someone say
“if I had his money, I could do things my way?”
But little they know that it’s so hard to find
one rich man in ten with a satisfied mind.
—“A Satisfied Mind,” Porter Wagoner (1955)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’ #21 - Freeside V

Collaborative Issue!
Guest Artist: @tarberrymentats​

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Read IKROAH on Archive of Our Own

Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript

Notes

Okay so here’s the thing. Yes, in-game there are sewers beneath Freeside that you can enter and explore. Yes, as far as dangers go, there are ghouls in parts of the sewer. No, none of these sewer tunnels actually allow you to subvert the Vegas gate via subterranean means, like I very confidently thought they did when I first outlined this volume of IKROAH and scripted this issue probably close to a year ago. Yes, it would have required rewriting the entire outline of Volume 2 to account for this because Agnes would have to get out of Freeside a different way. Yes, I care much more about telling a strong and coherent narrative than I do about what strictly happens in the video game Fallout: New Vegas. Yes, this is very sexy and cool of me.

Everybody give a big round of applause to @tarberrymentats​ for crushing the art again just like they did last December, they’ve been one of my favorite artists since I first ever became a part of this community and it’s been great to become such good friends outside of just the Fallout fandom. I love it so much when I get a guest ink-and-colorist because adhering so close to my pencils creates this really interesting hybrid of our styles that you just don’t get from any other kind of collaboration. It’s an especial honor to have had Halk work on this issue specifically, too; I couldn’t help but get the number one ghoul aficionado to assist with an appearance from of my favorite minor NPCs in the game: Rotface! He was fun to write, and fun to use as a way to show a little bit more of Agnes’ character and history. First that “maniac medic” thing Beth mentioned, now this? What the fuck is her deal? Maybe we’ll finally find out for sure in an issue or two. Maybe.

Also of note: IKROAH has a brand new font! Caveat Brush has been the font for all of the previous issues, but as my lettering has gotten much better and much more attentively professional over time, I started to disagree with it. The new font going forward is “Unmasked” from BlamBot, a possibly generic font that is nevertheless very suited for my purposes here.

Original Pencils (click for full size)

It felt really great to draw Agnes again after so long. With this issue primarily just being a conversation, I wanted to make sure the layout was interesting throughout, and conveyed the emotional beats and narrative focus very intentionally. I’ve included the original thumbnail sketches on the pencils for page 5, because that page had so much empty space anyway due to the way it looked in the final product. You can see a few alternate designs for the fifth page among them, such as a more typical-looking page, a dizzying overhead shot, and a close-up of the Lucky 38, but I went with the sort of “tunnel system” layout for Rotface’s dialogue rather than try to stack a bunch of balloons.

You can also see on the fourth page an original sketch for Agnes’ “flashback” panel (to the very first issue of IKROAH) that wound up getting replaced for old art. It just didn’t look good with the whole page around it, and using the old panel from Issue #1 carried a lot more weight. It was still a pretty cool design, though, so I’m glad you can all still see it in the pencils.

And lastly, there’s the final page, which was actually added after I had already scripted and drawn the entire issue. The issue originally ended just with Agnes walking away, but it felt like it was missing something, and this extra coda with Agnes and Cass entering the sewers was a much better final note. I just want to say, going into this issue, it was probably my least favorite that I had scripted just because it felt far too purely functional as a matter of getting Agnes from Point A to Point B. But it went through many dialogue revisions, especially during the process of lettering it after it was already drawn, that kept the same idea while adding much more emotional depth, and now I’m instead very fond of this issue and what it does for Agnes’ character.

Tumblr was being very difficult with letting these particular pencils be viewed at full size on desktop, so just click here (1),here (2), and here (3) for them instead.

Transcript

EXT. FREESIDE, a street corner. A ghoul known as ROTFACE sits on the sidewalk against the building of a pre-war water filter installation business.

Suddenly, over him, is:

AGNES:Is this seat taken?

ROTFACE:It is if you’reasking, ugly. Take a hike. Unless you maybe care to spare a cigarette.

AGNES SANDS sits down next to the ghoul.

AGNES (sitting down): Thanks, Zeke.

ROTFACE:Don’t mention it. How’re you doing, Agnes? S’been a while.

AGNES:Yeah, I was, uh…shot in the head.

ROTFACE:You’re fine otherthan that though, right?

AGNES (weakly smiling): Yeah. Yeah, just peachy.

ROTFACE:Y’know,Iheardyou were back in town—well, figured, because what I heard specificallywas that you killed Dixon.

AGNES (removing two cigarettes from a box): Oh.Well…there was, uh, well, it was this whole thing with the Followers*—

CAP:*Last ish. -Lou

ROTFACE:Oh, I’m wellaware, ha ha. Grecks said he could hear Dr. Farkas chewing you out from four blocks away.

AGNES (handing cigarette to Rotface): Zeke, I really don’t want to talk about it.

ROTFACE:Alright, sorry. Tough break, Ag. I mean it.

AGNES:Um…nicehat, by the way.

ROTFACE:Aw, thanks! You think so? Cost a lotta caps, but man, worth it. Really brings out my eyes.

AGNES:Wait—where’d you get the money?

ROTFACE:Just because I’m a beggardoesn’t mean I can’t save up for stuff. something nice every once in a while. The last time I really got anything nice for myself was that steak dinner after my surgery.Besides, this is more of a long term investment. I spend my caps on food, that’s gone as soon as I eatit, right? But this hat? Bought it three weeksago.

AGNES:Iworryabout you…please don’t buy hats instead of food.

ROTFACE:Bury me in it, then. If you worryso much, why don’t youbuy me something to eat?

AGNES:Iwould,Zeke, but…I can’t.Iliterallycan’t. I’m broke.

ROTFACE:Get your own corner to beg on, then.

AGNES:I’mserious, Zeke, come on. I’m only here at all because I need to get on the Strip.

ROTFACE:For business or pleasure?

AGNES:Uh…no, it’s…I…I…

A memory of blinding light from the barrel of a pistol, a gunshot, and then the silence and darkness of the grave.

AGNES:There’s someone I’ve been trying to find.

AGNES:But I blew the last caps I had herejust trying to scrounge enough for the gate.

AGNES:…I’m worried I’ve really fucked up.

ROTFACE frowns sympathetically.

ROTFACE:Y’knooow, I heard that security has been kind of lax at Mick and Ralph’s lately—

AGNES:No.I’m not going to stealit, Zeke. And not from them.

ROTFACE:Not gonna steal from Dixon either, or did you at least loot his corpse?

AGNES glares fiercely at ROTFACE.

ROTFACE:…eheh. Sorry.

ROTFACE:Well…alright, fair. I’d be a bad friend to make you go back to that shit, anyway. So let me be a good friend. Maybe Ican get you onto the Strip.

AGNES is stunned. She leans toward ROTFACE urgently.

AGNES:You’ve got enough cash for the gate check!?

ROTFACE:Ha! Good one. If I didthen I sure as hell still wouldn’t be in Freeside.No, what I dogot for you is a damn good tip:you want to go in?Gounder.But it’s dangerous.

ROTFACE:What you do is pry open the manhole on east Fremont and take the old sewer tunnels. It’s gonna be miles of maze-like bullshit, sure, but all the pre-war stuff’s still connected. The first ladder you’re gonna want goes up behind the Ultra-Luxe, I think. Squattersused to sneak onto the Strip this way sometimes, but it’s been a while, might be sealed off by now…might be. I’m not sure. That’s not why they stopped.

ROTFACE:No…that’d be because of the ghouls. And notthe kind capable of a pleasant conversation like moi.

AGNES:Huh. If it is sealed, would you know with what?

ROTFACE:Probably nothing that you couldn’t pick apart in your sleep. Shit’s gotta flow somewhere, and sewers need maintenance, so it shouldn’t be all tombed up with concrete like what Mr. House did to that one vault hotel.

ROTFACE:But yeah, that’s it. Fuckthe gate check. Get a little messy, or just a whole lot lucky—and Agnes Sands is on the Vegas Strip for free.

ROTFACE:Reallygotta watch those ghouls, though. Get caught, and you may not spend any money, but it still might cost an arm and a leg. Know what I mean?

AGNES:Thanks. It’s, uh…at least I know what to expect.*

CAP:Wouldn’t be the first time. See IKROAH #11.-Lou

ROTFACE:No problem, friend. And I’ll sell my hat for a nice grassy plot if you don’t come back.

AGNES (standing up): You really mean that?

ROTFACE:Hell no. You’ve told me before that you’d want to get cremated, anyway. Now scram,I don’t need deadbeat beggars like youhogging my corner.

AGNES (walking away): Thanks, Zeke. I’ll be seeing you.

ROTFACE (waving goodbye): Aw, don’t mention it, Agnes. And best of luck to you in Vegas!

EXT. ELSEWHERE IN FREESIDE.

AGNES walks a few blocks to reconvene with ROSE OF SHARON CASSIDY, and they share a few words before they continue walking together.

ROTFACE (cont.): I always wanted to go and try the machines. Y’know, slots…but if I was a good gamblerthen I probably wouldn’t be a beggar,ha ha.

EXT. ELSEWHERE STILL, EAST FREMONT STREET.

AGNES and CASS approach a sewer lid over a manhole in the middle of the dilapidated street.

ROTFACE (cont): There’s always some kind of system in place that just makes sure you lose anyway, right?

CASS casts a nervous glance toward AGNES.

ROTFACE (cont): So it’d probably be a bad idea no matter what.

AGNES returns the look impassively.

ROTFACE (cont.): There’s an old saying like that, I think, but…gun to my head, I can’t remember how the whole thing goes…

The manhole lid is off, and AGNES and CASS are gone.

Don’t you know that she’s had a bad, bad fall?
And if you can’t say something nice,
don’t say anything at all.
—“If You Can’t Say Anything Nice,” Roy Orbison (1965)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’
#20 - Freeside IV

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Read IKROAH on Archive of Our Own

Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes:

Whewwwwww this one was a project. I’ve always wanted to experiment with doing a multiple-page spread like this, and I’m glad that I finally found an excuse! It basically doubled the amount of coloring work that I had to do, but as you can see the result was well worth the trouble.

That being said, IKROAH will be going on a sort of semi-informal hiatus (which just means it might be a while until the next comic) because I have some other non-fandom comics I want to work on before the end of the year and also I have been working so hard for so long oh my god I just want to hide in a hole and play video games right now. So I will.

Anyway! See you next ish! I’m gonna go beat Metroid Dread.

Original Pencils

Since I work traditionally, it actually took a lot of effort and precision to make sure the background spread lined up correctly on each page. And it still wasn’t enough because I had to correct the alignment a bit on each page anyway during digitization! You can also see my abundance of notes-to-self about little fixes to make during the coloring process, as well as some…uh…”cut dialogue.”

The unique grittiness of the flashback panel in which Agnes confronted Dixon was achieved by leaving it uninked. By scanning it as raw pencil instead of clean black and white, I got a much rougher-looking smattering of black on it during digitization.

You can see how large I drew the flyers on the original pencils at first; I shrunk them down digitally. It was easier to draw them bigger and I knew that I could just reposition them later.

Something that proved surprisingly difficult during the art process was thinking of things to draw in front of the Fort’s walls. On the original pencils here, you can see that I drew somebody tripping over a rock on Page 5 because I thought that it’d be funny, but I replaced him with birds during the inking process because on second thought it just seemed too distracting.

Transcript

JULIE:I can’t believeyou…youkilledDixon?

INT. THE OLD MORMON FORT in FREESIDE, the Vegas-area headquarters of the FOLLOWERS OF THE APOCALYPSE. The director JULIE FARKAS is engaged in a shouting match with AGNES SANDS, while AGNES’ companion ROSE OF SHARON CASSIDY stands by beside her and JULIE’s associate ARCADE GANNON frets behind her.

AGNES:Heattackedme!What was I supposedto do?

JULIE:I don’t know, notleave yet another murder victim out on the streets of Freeside, maybe?

ARCADE: Julie, please…

JULIE pinches the bridge of her nose, stressed.

JULIE: I thought you’d convince him somehow, not…this!

AGNES:Wetried. He said we’d have to pay him off, but we didn’t have the caps—

JULIE:You could have come back!Andaskedfor the caps!

CASS:Sowhat, then, the followers just open their wallets for any asshole selling on their block? Shit, Agnes, maybe weshould start pushing and get our money thatway.

ARCADE leans in to speak to JULIE.

ARCADE: Julie, I hate to say it, but she’s got a point. Even if we did give Dixon the caps, it would have set a bad precedent…frankly, we can’t afford to be extorted.

JULIE:And this justifies murder,Arcade?

JULIE turns her attention back to AGNES and CASS.

JULIE:Somehow I doubtDixon just attacked you two for no reason.

AGNES:Itoldyou. He asked for a bribe…that we buy him out, basically. And we, uh…we couldn’t pay, and so…and so I improvised…and I threatenedhim—

JULIE cuts AGNES off, pointing at her furiously.

JULIE:—and so you startedit!

AGNES:I…no, look, he pulled a knife—

JULIE:No. Stop. I don’t care.It’s already taking allof our effort to keep tensions between Freesiders and NCR squatters from boiling over into all-out riots, and everyone’s only been even moreon edge since somebody took out the Silver Rush*. People are scared, and killing a dealer like Dixon no matter howscummy is only going to make things worse, not better. We’ve been struggling with our patients’ withdrawal symptoms enough as-is.

(NOTE: Julie would know who if she’d read IKROAH #17—Lou.)

JULIE crosses her arms, immense disappointment and frustration on her face.

JULIE:And furthermore? I don’t need yourperspective on violence in Freeside. I livehere. I knowDixon’s type, and the Followers of the Apocalypse have worked with plentyof people just like him without everresorting to threats and violence. Do you fucking getit yet?

AGNES seethes behind her sunglasses.

JULIE:Do you understand what you’ve done?

AGNES’ teeth clench tight.

JULIE:You’re a murderer.

AGNES:I—

CASS (interjecting): Yeah, yeah. Nice lecture. But we didwhat you asked. That asshole won’t be dealing where he’s going, guaranteed. You’re not happy at all?

JULIE looks at them hard.

JULIE:No. I’m not. I’m nothappy that I seem to have put my faith in a pair of hitwomen. You and the Followers have no further business.

CASS:What about the caps for our trouble?Nothing?

JULIE (turning to leave): The caps you were promised will go toward Dixon’s burialexpenses. Arcade, please escort these two out of The Fort.

Exeunt JULIE as she enters one of the Followers’ medical tents.

ARCADE:I’m sorry about Julie. I mean, I agreewith her, but…well, I don’t actually know why I’m apologizing, then. Murder is bad, as it turns out.

AGNES:…it’s fine.

ARCADE:And she really doesn’t meanto be so harsh…things have just been really, uh, tensearound here lately.

ARCADE smiles sincerely.

ARCADE:Listen, if you’re ever in need of help, you cancome back anytime. Really. Just talk to meinstead of her.AllI’ll lecture you about are, uh, medicinal herbs. Haha.

CASS (turning to leave): Thanks, four-eyes. We’ll keep that in mind. Come on, Agnes.

AGNES hesitates to follow CASS, remaining still. ARCADE turns to rejoin JULIE, but looks back at AGNES with a worried expression.

AGNES:Yeah…thanks.

EXT. THE OLD MORMON FORT, the STREETS OF FREESIDE.

AGNES:I’ll keep that in mind.

AGNES and CASS exit The Fort.

(Do ya need any help?) No help wanted.
(Do ya need any help?) No help wanted.
(Do ya need any help? Do ya need any help?)
I can handle this job all by myself!
—“No Help Wanted,” The Carlisles (1952)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’
#19 - Freeside III

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Read IKROAH on Archive of Our Own

Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes

Hi! This issue went through some pretty significant revisions over time, so I figure it’ll be fun to go over them real quick so you can get a glimpse into the writing and scripting process behind the scenes.

When this issue was originally scripted, Agnes would have lost the caps needed to get to Vegas in a much “nicer” way. As she took the money from Garret, he would lament that Agnes wouldn’t be around to do more work for her because he was hoping she would help shake down a few debtors of his around Freeside (a reference to the in-game quest “Debt Collector”). Then he would mention that without her, he’ll have to use the Wrangler’s usual bounty hunter, who’s a lot more trigger-happy and tends to collect debts in blood instead of caps. From there, the final page of the issue would have been the same, with Agnes being cagey about why she doesn’t have the money for Cass and the implication being Agnes paid off those debts out of the goodness of her heart.

This was very wisely rewritten for several reasons. The first is that the gesture was uncharacteristically altruistic of Agnes: she’d probably be disturbed by Garret’s flippant ruthlessness, but it’s ultimately not her problem and she doesn’t even know these people. Furthermore, she slaughtered the Khans in Boulder City because one of them merely helped Benny shoot her. I can’t imagine her putting off her pursuit of Benny just so she could do something nice. The second reason is that the original angle was extraordinarily boring, as I’m sure your eyes almost glazed over reading that first paragraph. It’s mostly just Garret talking to himself, and Agnes suddenly deciding she cares for no good reason. And that, the no good reason, is the third reason I rewrote the issue. It’s important that Agnes and Cass don’t have enough to get to Vegas, so finding the right excuse was thematically crucial.

So I thought of the rewrite, where Agnes blows up at Garret for being a creep towards her instead. The emotional rise of her indignation boiling over and getting the better of her while she’s talked down to and objectified by Garret as he holds the purse strings was waymore suspenseful and interesting, and of course her deciding to punch him out and walk is a much more compelling sacrifice and character moment than the original script’s random act of kindness. This new script also manages to foreground her transness in a way I prefer to never pass up (and believe me, I’ve gotten more than a few James Garrets in my Twitter DMs in my time).

The tricky part about the new script was adequately conveying what happened without showing it, because the smash cut to the outside of the Wrangler is a lot more effective than showing the actual attack.  It’s a somber, frustrating, miserable moment for Agnes, by the end of the issue the momentary catharsis of cleaning Garret’s clock is already gone, so omitting the image of the punch itself is intentional. In the first rewrite, Agnes was even morecagey about what happened in the Wrangler, but too little detail and it sounded like she just murdered him. Having Agnes state that she doesn’t want to take money from him, and coloring a little blood on her knuckles, lets it read better without holding the hand too much.

So never let it be said that the first draft is always the best draft…I find myself rereading my master script document often and making changes and revisions where they’re needed, especially since so many scripts like this one are written a very long time in advance.

On a lighter note, it’s good to be back! It’s been so long since I’ve completely drawn and colored an issue myself that I worried about whether I could still handle it. Really happy with how this issue came out, so I think I certainly still can. And more are on the way!

Also, the old Mexican woman in the group shot on the second page is Emilia Vasquez, a character created by @socksual-innuendos​​ who would absolutely be chatting up Beatrix Russell in this or any given canon. It’s hard to work in cameo appearances like this because of how few group shots normally come up in IKROAH, but we’ll be in Freeside a while yet so maybe we’ll get more yet.

Original Pencils (click for full size)

This was a reallyfun issue to pencil. The layout was simple but really gave me a lot to work with in terms of pose and expression, and it gave me the opportunity for a rare crowd shot where I get to draw a bunch of different characters at once. There’s also a lot of close-ups, especially on the second page, where I got to flex more of my technical drawing ability (look at Agnes’ teeth! That whole sequence was just “fun with render distance”). You can see a few spots where I left myself blanks to Frankenstein complete panels together later, on the pages where repetition was artistically important. That’s the one thing really tricky about drawing in pencil on paper…there’s no copy-and-pasting and no layering. Everything’s gotta be as-is, so I plan ahead for what I can do digitally.

I also neglected a lot of detailed backgrounds in this issue intentionally. Inspired by Shrimp’s lovely guest art on the previous issue, I wanted to experiment with much more pop-art backgrounds that are more of an “abstract compositional artistic gestalt” on the page as opposed to every panel being a realistic camera-shot. In short, that meant I was fooling around with the juxtaposition of different colors to convey mood, and was more concerned with looking interesting as opposed to looking realistic and deep. Whether to draw the entire background as-is is something I always deliberate on with each panel because there’s a nagging part of me that thinks gradient or simple backgrounds is a lazy cop-out (and sometimes it can be) but I really like how I utilized the colored backgrounds here, especially with how they complement the tone shift on the third page, which doesn’t have the pop-color backgrounds at all.

Transcript

INT. THE ATOMIC WRANGLERCASINO,a dimly-lit dive where one half of its sibling proprietorship JAMES GARRETis behind the bar, grinning wide.

JAMES:Hey!There’smy favorite headhunter! You get the talent I asked for?

In front of the bar is AGNES SANDS, hands in her pockets, head turned back towards three people—well, two people and one robot—behind her. They are OLD BEN, the ghoul BEATRIX RUSSELL, and FISTO.

OLD BEN: Hello.

BEATRIX:Hiya.

FISTO:NEW USER WARRANTY AGREEMENTS ARE AVAILABLE.

FISTO looms over AGNES as GARRET continues.

JAMES: Thank God. If we didn’t get that sexbotbefore long, management would have been terriblyupset.

AGNES:Aren’tyoumanagement?

JAMES:Well, yes, but what I meanis that it’s bad for business to not be meeting my needs.Speakingas management, I mean. My need to meet the needs of our clientele.

AGNES:…right. Just pay me.

JAMES:Of course, of course.

Beat. JAMES keeps grinning, eyeing AGNES while she awkwardly waits.

AGNES:Well?

JAMES:You know, I’ve been thinking—you’ve alreadygone through the trouble of recruiting some veryspecial talent for the Wrangler…and in the process, I just couldn’t help but notice yourparticular…talents.

As JAMES continues his pitch, AGNES realizes where he’s going with this. He’d better not be going where she thinks he’s going with this.

JAMES:I mean—a leather domme, an old smooth talker, and, uh, Fisto…as you can see, we get a lot of nicherequests—

He’s going there. AGNES interrupts, seething.

AGNES:Give. Me. My money. James.

JAMES:Listen, what I’m trying to say is that if you need money, there’s a lot more I'd—that is, you could be making here.

JAMES continues, oblivious to AGNES’ mounting offense.

JAMES:I’m telling you Agnes, there’s a lucrativelocal market here for just the kind of experience that youcan provide! Believe me, I’d know. You’re a little dinged up, and older, to be fair, so we’re not talking premiumrates or anything…but you stillwouldn’t believe what people would pay here for just fifteen minuteswith a—

EXT. ATOMIC WRANGLER, nighttime. Neon signs and streetlights bask the streets of FREESIDE in a warm gold glow. ROSE OF SHARON CASSIDY leans against a streetlight pole just outside the casino.

After a moment, AGNES exits the Wrangler.

CASS:Took you long enough. I wanna get out of here and see the strip already.

AGNES continues trudging past CASS, into the empty street.

AGNES:Come on. I don’t have the money.

CASS:What!?What do you mean you don’t, did that asshole not payus?

AGNES rubs her knuckles, a chunky bloodstain already fading from her right leather glove.

AGNES: No. And he’s not goingto. And I don’t want him to. We’ll have to get the money somewhere else, that’s all.

AGNES continues her march away from the Wrangler while CASS remains against the streetlight pole, aghast.

CASS:Somewhere else…? Agnes!…but then how are we—Agnes! Agnes, god damn it, what did you do?Goddamnit!

Don’t want a real live boy, they give me grief,
always make me cry into my handkerchief.
So it’s a robot man I’m dreamin’ of
because I can depend upon a robot love, yeah!
—“Robot Man,” Connie Francis (1960)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’
#18 - Freeside II

Collaborative Issue!
Guest Artist: @comrade-shrimp/@jepsxyhn

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Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes

It feels so good to be back on a pretty regular production schedule! Almost as good as it feels to go a round with Fisto!

The art this ish comes from @comrade-shrimp​ (art blog: @jepsxyhn​), who did a great job with this issue, which is a lot more lighthearted than the previous one. I have so much love for them, and they brought so much necessary vibrancy to this issue; I’ve been wanting to experiment more with poppy, colorful backgrounds like this for a while, and they were an utter delight to work with. Everybody say “Thank you, Shrimp!” for doing such a spectacular job and for being so cool and nice.

Original Pencils (click for full size):

Since Shrimp took care of the art this time around, all I have are my original layouts for this issue, on top of which they worked their magic. These are really rough (and really old!) but I always really enjoy doing layouts like this for my guest artists. There’s definitely a certain charm to making something so intentionally loose and sketchy that still puts in as much detail as needed to get a good idea of what the final product will look like.

One minor but funny difference between my pencils and Shrimp’s art is on the third page, where Agnes is stomping away from Cass and FISTO. Originally, I had Agnes drawn with her arms thrown up in the air exasperatedly. However, when drawing at production scale, it was impossible to draw her like that without it looking like she was pretending to be an airplane and flying away.

Transcript:

INT. the run-down workshop of CERULEAN ROBOTICS in FREESIDE.

AGNES SANDS and ROSE OF SHARON CASSIDY stand in front of a PROTECTRON ROBOT encased in some sort of stasis capsule or holding dock.

AGNES:No.Absolutely not.

CASS:Do you want to get to Vegas or not? The Garrets are paying us more than enough caps to get past the credit check—all we need to do is get them new blood.

AGNES:It’s a robot. It doesn’t haveblood.

CASS approaches a terminal attached to the ROBOT’S dock and flourishes a tape drive.

CASS:Wellbloodain’t the most important bodily fluid for itsline of work going forward.

CASS inserts the tape into the terminal with a chunky SLOT!sound.

CASS:Let’s wake it up already.

The terminal screen lights up, displaying console text: Operator Interface for Fully Integrated Security Technotronic Officer. Initializing Start-Up…Calibrating Protocol…

New data flushes into the ROBOT’s system as it awakes, coming to life with a deep, growing hum.

The dock’s display pane slides away, opening up for the ROBOT to step out and onto the floor of the workshop.

ROBOT:GREETINGS…I AM FISTO…AND I AM PROGRAMMED FOR YOUR PLEASURE.

CASS:Gets right down to business, doesn’t it?

AGNES:…“Fisto?” Did youname it that?

CASS:No, must have been part of Ralph’s tape. Creative bastard.

FISTO:PLEASE ASSUME THE POSITION.

AGNES, unnerved, starts walking away.

AGNES:Fuck, that’s…skin-crawling. Let’s just bring it back to James already, okay?

CASS:Now hang on…

AGNES turns back around, in horror.

CASS is throwing herself at FISTO like a fawning supermodel, arm playfully draped around its “shoulders” and leg hoisted up against its chassis.

CASS:Aren’t you at least a littlecurious as to what this thing can do for a woman?

AGNES:Fuck no!! What’swrongwith you?

CASS:Comeon,Agnes, loosen up a bit!

FISTO:FISTO OFFERS GREAT COUPLESRATES.

AGNES, reflexively, hovers her trembling hand just above her holstered pistol. She speaks through gritted teeth.

AGNES:Don’t you darebring that…that thing…thatliterally fucking thing anywhere nearme.

CASS:Suit yourself—but I’ll try anything once, and I’m not passing up a freebie when I see one.

AGNES makes a furious about-face and storms away from CASS and FISTO, heading out of the building.

AGNES:Fine!! Go fuck the robot! Have fun!

CASS:Oh we will,Agnes!

FISTO:ENGAGING CLIENT…DISPENSING MASSAGE OIL… (WHHHRR…)

EXT. CERULEAN ROBOTICS.

AGNES leans against the wall across the courtyard from the workshop entrance, smoking a cigarette. From the opposite door come the sounds of FISTO’s many “functions.”

SFX: SKREEEEEE, BEEP BEEP BEEP, SMAK, CLANK CLANK CLANK, DZZZZTTTT, SPLUT

Suddenly, the sounds cease, and it’s quiet in the courtyard. AGNES looks up.

CASS emerges from the workshop door. She’s out of breath, sweaty, and her face is deeply flushed. She has to lean against the door frame just to stand up.

CASS:Oh, man, Agnes—you, uh, wouldn’t happen to have any more cigarettes, would you?

AGNES scowls.

I stood there shivering in my pajamas
and watched the whole world go up in flames
and when it was all over I said to myself,
“is that all there is to a fire?”
—“Is That All There Is?,” Leslie Uggams (1968)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’
#17 - Freeside I

Collaborative Issue!
Guest Artist: @yesjejunus​​

Companion Piece: ABV (Alcohol By Volume) (Explicit 18+ | 7k words)

Rose of Sharon Cassidy had gotten her revenge. With the help of the courier, Agnes Sands, McLafferty was dead and the Silver Rush was a blazing wreck. So why can’t she fucking relax? Why can’t her pulse stop pounding? Why can’t her hands stop shaking? How many drinks does it take to feel okay again? After absconding to the Atomic Wrangler, she’ll drink her companion under the table to know for sure.Read on Archive of Our Own.

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Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes:

Finally! IKROAH returns! And man does it return with abang,right.

This has been a very busy summer for both me and @yesjejunus​​ which is why the comic sort of fell into hiatus for a little bit, but now I think everything’s back in order. You can expect new issues of IKROAH every two or four weeks on a regular basis like usual again, because believe me, nobody hates it more when this thing falls behind schedule than me. I have exactly one hundred issues of story to tell here, and I’d really like to get it done in my lifetime!

But anyway, YJJ fucking blew this issue out of the water. You may remember him from his grayscale art on IKROAH #11 (the Searchlight issue, one that remains very personal to me) but the sheer volume of talent in the colors of these pages is astonishing. He’s one of my favorite artists to collaborate with because of how much we geteach other, and it’s with immense pleasure I finally get to show you all these pages we’ve been putting together for so long.

Also don’t miss ABV! I worked hard on those seven thousand words and I hope that you enjoy it (if you’re over the age of eighteen). The bittersweet thing about the vignette structure and visual medium of IKROAH issues is I don’t get so much room to really get into characters’ heads, so expanding upon certain moments in the comic with companion pieces is a really great exercise. ABV also contains a lot that, like the Searchlight issue, is really meaningful to me, and I think you’ll find ABV to be a story that really carves deep into the nature of how Agnes and Cass relate to each other.

Original Pencils (click for full size):

I love it when artists volunteer to do full art for me because it means I get to go wild on little pencils like these without any of the pressure to polish them. Check YJJ’s blog sometime soon after this and I think he’ll be posting side-by-sides…it’s really amazing what that man can do to my layouts.

May the unnamed guard of the Silver Rush, affectionately dubbed Door Guard-kun by YJJ and I, rest in peace. We felt so bad about it because YJJ drew him so goddamn attractive. YJJ wound up basing his depiction of him on a specific model at my suggestion, a no-prize to whoever can guess who that model was. Your hint is that it’s a very embarrassing internet microcelebrity crush of mine.

The absolute hardest part of drawing this issue, the part that we came back to dozens of times, was the panel where Agnes plants the bomb on the Silver Rush Guard. We went through so many different takes of Agnes’ pose because it was very hard to make it look like she was planting a bomb on the guy while feigning a flinch, and not just stiff-arming Door Guard-kun for no reason. I’m pleased with the final result.

Anyway, we’ll have another amazing guest artist doing full guest art for me next issue, so you’ll get to see more pencils like these when that comes out. See you then!

Transcript

EXT. FREESIDE, the run-down outskirts of NEW VEGAS. This is where the refugees from the NCR and Mojave meet the people too poor to get into the shining city itself.

A scruffy-looking DOOR GUARD stands vigilantly outside of the SILVER RUSH, formerly a pre-war gambling hall but now the largest commercial supplier of energy weapons in the region, thanks to its proprietors the VAN GRAFF siblings.

From around the corner, AGNES SANDS approaches the GUARD.

AGNES:Excuse me, do you know how to get to the Mormon Fort from here?

GUARD:What? Yeah, a few blocks north.

Suddenly, with a shattering CRASH,a glass bottle breaks against the street, having been tossed from somewhere in the shadows.AGNES and the GUARD both recoil in surprise; AGNES leans her arm against the GUARD to catch herself from falling, but seems to slip something into one of his bandolier pouches as she does.

GUARD:Hey!

The GUARD flips his laser rifle up to a ready position and scans the dark street around him.

GUARD:Damn punks, always throwing shit.

The GUARD turns his attention back to AGNES.

GUARD:Are you newhere, man? Watch your back.

AGNES gives a light wave to the GUARD as she departs back down the street from whence she came.

AGNES:Thanks. You too.

MEANWHILE on the top floor of the building across the street, ROSE OF SHARON CASSIDY has been observing the entire interaction. AGNES appears behind her from the stairsleading up to her perch, and sits down against the crumbled wall overlooking the street. She starts to light a cigarette.

CASS:Alright, so now what?

AGNES:Wait for the change in guard.

CASS:Looks like it’s changing now. He’s going inside.

AGNES:Oh!? Shit, good timing then.

CASS pulls a small black device out from her back pocket.

CASS:And you’re surethe thing is—

AGNES:Yeah, when you threw the bottle.

CASS:Shit, you aregood. Think Crimson Caravan knows we stoleit?

AGNES:I’d hope they have biggerthings to worry about right now. Now hurry, we don’t have much time to—

CASS presses the button on the device.

SFX: CLIK!

THE SILVER RUSH EXPLODES. An enormous fireball erupts from within the building, blowing out the windows and sending shards of glass and steel in every direction down the street.The sheer force of the blast throws whole firearms into the street and rends all the SILVER RUSH PERSONNEL inside, the VAN GRAFFS included. CASS holds onto her hat to keep it from flying off her head, while AGNES’ cigarette flies out of her hands.

AGNES carefully stands up. The SILVER RUSH is a hollow smoldering box of brick and mortar.

AGNES:Fuck, Cass, you could have warned me first.

CASS stares into the flames across the street. They reflect in her eyes like something haunted.

AGNES:Cass?

CASS glances sidelong at AGNES. She doesn’t turn away from the fire.

CASS:You know, I wanted to make her knowit was me. To make her die scared. Like McLafferty. But now that it’s done…Fuck it, there’s almost something poeticabout it, right? Gloria Van Graff burned my caravan to ash. Now her and all her fucking laser guns and hired thugs are nothingbut ashes in that…inferno.

The SILVER RUSH continues to burn. There are no survivors of which to speak of that could run out from the flames.

CASS:Dust to fucking dust, you bitch.

AGNES looks across the street and watches the armory burn beside CASS. She looks over to her companion softly.

AGNES:Are you alright?

CASS glances over at AGNES and they hold each other’s gaze for a moment. She turns back to the fire before replying.

CASS:Yeah. I’m alright.

CASS turns away from the window and walks towards the stairs that descend out of the building.

CASS:Let’s get out of here.

AGNES remains by the window a moment, watching CASS leave. Then she turns back towards the SILVER RUSH again as the flames and smoke continue to pour out of the building.

Finally, she turns around herself, and follows CASS down the stairs.

The SILVER RUSH still burns.