FAQ - literally frequently asked questions. 
Here you will find some of my practice and philosophy of "The Challenges Of Zona."
I'll be adding to it as I get other ideas or questions.

 

What do you use to make these pictures?

 

I am currently using Poser 7 and 8 for my primary rendering, and Photoshop 7 for my postwork on the images.  I am working on creating full 3D landscapes in Vue 7, with some success.

 

Do you do this professionally?

 

Nope.  It is my hobby, and I have sunk a bunch of time and money into it.  I love it, and the story that has grown in the telling.  But my day job is as a technical support representative for a manufacturer of high density storage arrays.

 

Why are Zona’s breasts so big?

 

Because I like them that way.

 

But, they would get in the way! It’s totally unrealistic, and it turns me off.

 

I can’t help what turns you on or off.  I originally designed the character this way as a bit of a satire on the swords and sorcery genre, and I’ve come to like and appreciate her completely impossible anatomy for its own sake, because it's fun for me and as a given circumstance for her character to have to deal with.  Frankly, it reminds you pretty strongly that this IS a FANTASY.   Zona is an exceptional character, and lives in an unreal fantasy world created by me out of the stuff of pulp novels, movies and comics I read as a young wanker.  What sometimes exasperates me is how many impossible things happen in the strip, including magic powers, levitation, dinosaur fights, giants and monster-men, but it’s Zona’s jugs that get singled out as the thing that nobody could possibly believe. 

 

But why do all the women in the strip have such big breasts?

 

I like it.  It’s a common male fantasy, and since I'm a heterosexual male and this strip is very much my fantasy, I feel no need to apologize for it.  Also, not all the women are built like that.  Other female characters in the strip are not as amply endowed, including Zona's sister Tula, who is a major character and very popular. 

Zona's boobs fall into the Uncanny Valley.

I have to nitpick a bit on that one.  The "Uncanny Valley"  is a term coined by a roboticist named  Masahiro Mori that related more to facial expression and overall human aspect than merely one bit of anatomy.  If that phrase/judgment were heavily relevant to hyper-mammosity, then you would apply it to a great many women in the real world with overlarge breasts relative to their body size, both natural and artificially enhanced.  Many beautiful models and individuals such as Candy Samples, Uschi Digard or Nadine Jensen have extremely out of proportion breasts, but are quite definitely human and do not fall into Masahiro's "uncanny valley."   If you feel that the expression or pose of the CGI puppet doesn't adequately convey human feeling or behavior, then I would be much more likely to take your comment to heart.  The fact is that these characters are fantasies as said above, and some - not all - of them are definitely going to have impractical boobs.  I suggest, respectfully, that you simply accept it.   BTW - if you want "uncanny valley" then you should check out any CGI art that replicates Anime and Manga.  No human being looks like that, and the ginormous eyes with nostrelless pinprick noses and chins you could punch holes in paper with look like space aliens - but hey, that's their style, and it's oppressively popular.

Can you update more often?

 

Would love to, but can’t afford it. Twice a week is about all I can manage with work, love, and other interests, not to mention the incipient carpal tunnel syndrome from working at a keyboard 10-12 hours every day.

 

This or that costume/ weapon / situation is totally unrealistic! I would never do it that way, and let me tell you in great detail how it couldn’t possibly work.

 

I appreciate every one of your comments, and I do pay attention to every single one of them.   That doesn’t mean I’m going to change things simply to suit you.   I am still the guy with the expensive software who does the comic, and I reserve the right to make my art and my characters as I see them in the fantasy in my head, not how their actions or equipment would play out in reality.  As such, I try to be a decent storyteller and not contradict things internally, at least not too badly, but if this were a totally realistic comic, it would be closer to a documentary, not a fantasy.   Frankly, I love documentaries about history, and incorporate things I see and hear and will, doubtless, incorporate or excise some of the things you’re talking about from time to time. But this is very much a fantastic tale on the order of the Barsoom stories or other pulp fantasies rendered beautifully by Frazetta and Boris and others who have warrior women with big boobs impossibly doing impossible things all the impossible time.  Honestly, if you want to start listing all the impossible things in “Princess Of Mars” or “Conan” you will be counting for a long time. For that matter, Marvel Comics and DC superheroes are completely and absurdly impossible on a number of levels, and I wish you success in getting them to cater to reality simply because you disagree with the aesthetics of Wonder Woman's costume - which is, BTW, completely and utterly impractical.

Nonetheless, I love you all, and if, at times, I seem to lose my patience it is because I am, at heart, a narcissistic little wanker and this is my beloved project in which I have invested much. At that patience-losing point I need to get away from the monitor and do something real, which I do, if I can.  

However, I do have to say that I get a little bit of a chuckle out or Robot Chicken's "It's The Law, Asshole."    Just sayin.'

How do I donate?

 

See the PayPal button at the top of the page?  PRESS THAT!

 

What button?

 

The YELLOW  one, right below “Support Your Local Barbarian Princess!”

 

How do I vote for this comic on Top Web Comics?

 

Press the blue “Vote” button right below the “Donate” button.

 

I can’t find the button!

Look – See the big flame-y picture of Zona with her name on it?  Go down.  Down further, another line – see the shiny yellow, candy-like “Donate” button?  Well, just below that!   Yay!

I just posted something rude or insulting about the comic.  Or about you.  Or about somebody.   Aren't you going to give me any attention?

No.   Just to let you know, this is my little corner of the Internet.  It's a private club, and the First Amendment does not apply.   If someone posts something rude or pointlessly argumentative, it will be deleted.  If someone unapologetically pisses me off, they will get banned. Permanently.  Soulgeek is run by my lifelong friend, Dino Andrade,  and  unless I set fire to his server or upload naked pictures of  Rush Limbaugh onto the Soulgeek home page,  this is my sandbox.   Play nice, please.


I think you’re a genius!

 

You ARE kidding, right?  There’s nothing terribly original about Zona.  In fact, as I’ve explained, it’s about as derivative as it gets, but I’m frankly okay with that.  I am not a really clever, serious storyteller.   I am just writing a wee fantasy about an impossibly endowed warrior babe who falls in love with a dude from our world and has these stereotypical adventures.  At heart it’s truly become a love story, but with every new character I’ve been adding, the world gains a bit of depth and complexity, practically automatically.  At this point I’m struggling just to keep up with the story that they’re making all by themselves.

 

I love the expressions! How you do that?

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I look in the mirror, and I act, then I use the adjustments that are built into the model I’m working on to make a specific facial expression that looks like what I see or feel. What this is is not really art in the traditional comic sense, though the result should do the same job to tell a story.   It’s more like puppeteering in that the models exist in the Poser environment and I morph and manipulate them to give an illusion of life and character.

 

Where do you get your models?

 

A lot of different places.  DAZ 3D is the primary source.  Renderosity.com, and Runtime DNA  I have mined heavily for free items as well as bought ones.  Some clothing and accessories I make myself in Poser.

 

Do you have rules for Tuntach?

 

Very very vague ones, as yet.  It isn’t a playable game, but I’d love to have the time to make it one, eventually.  Essentially the object for the attacker is to capture the center circle of the board, called the Fortress.  The object for the Defender is to repel all attacks and destroy the attacker’s ability to take the fortress. Once one game is completed, the players change places and the Attacker becomes the Defender.  To be a complete win, the player needs to win both games.  The details of the actual end game and some of the other rules vary from place to place, but the bottom line is that the attacker usually needs to have both a warrior and a tower in the center circle to count it as a win.  If the defender manages to destroy all the towers or all the warriors it’s usually counted as a win for the defender.

 What do those rings the Erogenians wear around their necks mean?

The torc is a piece of jewelry that Erogenians of both sexes are given on their seventeenth birthday.  It means that they are an adult in their tribe.   The metals don't have any significance other than fashion and  the wealth of the family.  Iron, bronze and other baser metals are common, though richer families will get the most precious that they can afford.  Tula and Zona wear torcs of gold and silver.  It's as important to them as the wedding ring is to us, and worn as faithfully.

What do the different colored chains mean?  Why do Zona and Mentl wear copper chains around their ankles?

See pages 99, 97, 101 and 102.   For a detailed explanation, go to  Tula's Explanation.