This one is called The very brief adventures of the circle of the Salamander, so far.

The portion seen here it’s about 35% of the comic, but I don’t think that’s proportional with the work hours that remain. The next scenes are somewhat simpler, and that last panel was demanding.

The floating items, (as will be mentioned, in the following panel), are hair and salsa. How they got there, will be covered over the next scenes.  I hope it looks intriguing!

Thanks,

J.

Research for this portrait game was fun. I found many photos that were new to me of the referents of this theme, and looked at some interesting fliers and posters from venues related to the new wave scene.

For 1, the pattern in the suit comes from one of the iconic costumes of David Bowie, the one with the big round trousers designed by Kansai Yamamoto for the Ziggy Stardust era. In 2, the suit is inspired by one I saw in Gary Numan photos.

In 3, the suit is another sci-fi suit of early 80s Gary Numan, while the hairstyle, sunglasses and clear makeup come from the 1976 movie the Man Who Fell to Earth. Look 4 was inspired by Limahl, the singer who you may know from the band Kajagoogoo or his solo hit theme for the NeverEnding Story movie, and his amazing hair. I posted it on Instagram, and the photo got a like from the official account of the singer himself, so I guess he approves?

5 was inspired by the quintessential goth fashion source, Siouxsie Sioux, where the phone in the reference pic became a polaroid. 6’s referent is Joan Catherall, one of the singers from The Human League, a very iconic makeup and overall look.

7 again features several details from David Bowie: the coat and the light frames in triangle shapes are from one of the posters of The Man Who Fell to Earth, the sign in the forehead is from the Ziggy Stardust look, according to Wikipedia: “On Ziggy’s forehead was a gold “astral sphere” suggested by make-up artist Pierre La Roche (who also applied the lightning flash to Bowie’s face for the cover of Aladdin Sane)”. The shush hand sign was supplied by the patron’s reference pic, and the look for the second member of the imaginary band is totally inspired by the theatrical appearance of Brian Eno in the late 70s.

*****

I appreciate the playfulness and good disposition of everyone who wanted to play in this niche thematic game. Now I’ll be sending out a reminder to Earthquake Critic tier supporters that you can always ask for specific art and drawings, as can anyone edit their pledge occasionally to do so, and as usual, I’m enormously grateful for your support on this Patreon, which makes The Secret Knots possible. See you soon with more art: progress of the new comic and more.

Juan S.

I hope you like it 😉

For every new Secret Knots comic I make a Patreon exclusive post with sources, references and bits of world building, including those that were left only as background concepts. This is the dossier for the comic “The Move”.

1. Inspiration

This Lydia Ray comic shares a theme with the first one, that for me is summed up with a sort of motto: ‘inner as outer’. That’s the basic tenet of the stories I imagined with this character, basically letting personal conflict leak to the story background, with the result of having stories populated with eccentric characters and strange effects happening in the story’s actual world. In the first story, the anxiety of returning to the outside, to the unmasked world, in some eventual ending of the pandemic, goes along with the vague feeling Lydia has that some change is being operated on people, the silent apparition of strange new persons that look alike each other. In this one, which happens before, the home move leads her to find an unrealistic infestation in her new apartment, one that the neighbors seem to be familiar with. Initially, the infection was called Estiria, the spanish word for the area of Styria, a state in Austria. The sole whimsical reason to choose this name came from classic vampire stories that mention this zone as populated by night creatures. In the end, I went for Poliporia, an invented term, even if it’s very close to Polypores, a “group of fungi that form large fruiting bodies with pores or tubes on the underside…” and Polycoria, a “pathological condition of the eye characterized by more than one pupillary opening in the iris.” (go ahead, do an image search…). Those terms seemed nearer to the slightly displaced world of Lydia, so the relation was kind of useful, even if it’s kind of an Easter egg, at most.

In the origin of this story, I thought about the night sounds, something that has become more present to me in the stillness of these months in the building where I live, in a city that’s still under night curfew. I was also reminded of the oddness of the first nights in a new place, when things are not settled in yet. Those seemed like the right circumstances for ghosts of the past to appear, as is seen in the comic with the origin of Poliporia being the unsolved issues of the pasts, mistakes and regrets. I pictured a new neighborhood that’s somewhat disconcerting, although in a surrealistic way more than a creepy one, with disordered buildings, some interesting residents ‘with a past’, and a small store where it is possible to find unusual items. Again, the inner anxiety exteriorizes as a special background, and Lydia delves into it like it was a game, with new rules to learn, stages to unlock. She chooses to play the game instead of rejecting its absurd rules, and in the end she is starting to settle in. It is implied that it may still be a long way to be at peace with her own baggage, but the house move is finally over.

2. References and concepts

Projection I made from the reference building photo

3. Headcanon

Things that were considered, could be happening, or definitely happen, in the background of the story

• Poliporia is a local invention, the creation of a certain J. Pérez, resident mad scientist. The poliporia solvers, Pérez and Perec are his descendants.
  

• Pérez and Perec are internet sleuths that trace poliporia apparitions. The Bloke-e product is just the bait, they produce it themselves. They use fake mustaches as a symbol of their secret society.
  

• This was an actual scene that was cut from the comic, because it was already too long: 

When they are leaving, Pérez and Perec say:

WE’LL BE IN TOUCH CONCERNING OUR FEE.

WE RECEIVE CREDIT CARD, FOREIGN CURRENCIES.

WE ALSO ACCEPT CLASSIC ANIME DVD AND FILES AS PART PAYMENT.

(One of them turns back, stares seriously in Lydia’s eyes)

SUBBED. NOT DUBBED.

I hope you enjoyed these notes! If you got this far, please leave a like, feel free to comment, complement, or contradict the headcanon as you wish. There’s a Discord channel where we can hang out and discuss this story as well.

Your support makes The Secret Knots stories possible. Thank you!

J.

Fashion from the 80s, pretty much ridiculed from the 90s to well into mid 00s,and kind-of reevaluated at different times during the latest years, is a source of many outstanding looks that also inspire concepts in sci-fi (think cyberpunk esthetic, hmmm another idea) and other genres, specially when they are in need of something unusual, slightly absurd and memorable. From the many styles (that, admittedly, in time tend to fuse with each other as happens with most trends) from the 80s music heroes styles I’m particularly fond of the looks in the beginning of that decade, inherited from Glam Rock, into New Wave and Synth Pop.

(I’m aware I’m beginning to sound like a YouTube top ten list presenter. I’ll stop now with the intro)

SO, the for the new thematic portrait reward, I’ve compiled 5 different New Wave inspired styles to suit up your portraits. You may think of this like a costume party if you want. This new game is called 80s STARS, and I’m borrowing the “character classes” system from rpgs, in order to make your choices (and mine) easier.

These are the Character Classes for the 80 STARS portrait reward

CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER:

Early Goth Glamour: Think Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure.

Synth Charmer: Inspired by the looks of The Human League and other techno pioneers. If you want to look like the cover of Duran Duran’s RIO album, probably this is the one.

Stranger in the Mist: Mysterious and elegant dandy, New Romantic character we see in silent film inspired video clips, or escaping through narrow and skewed corridors from disembodied hands in the walls. Ultravox, also Desireless in the ‘Voyage Voyage’ video

Unreal Hair: Just google-image Flock of Seagulls, Kajagoogoo or Thompon Twins.

The Alien Among Us: Otherworldy art-mime. Early 80s Bowie, Brian Eno when in Roxy Music, Gary Numan, most of the time.

Most of these styles are pretty androgynous, although the Stranger in the Mist look includes the thin mustache by default, so please let me know if you want to opt for a Mustacheless Stranger.

Rules

This game is open to Patreon tiers 3+.

As usual, feel free to edit your pledge just for this month if you want in.

3+ tier portraits will be Grayscale.

The $10 pledge tier portraits will be in color, and the following customizations are allowed on demand:

• Can ask for a companion to be on their band, with their own preferred character class.

• Can ask for a different 80s themed look.

(Also keep in mind that if you are in the 10 tier, and you want a different theme or drawing you can ask for it any time, monthly)

If you want your portrait done, email to gemeloperverso@gmail.com with the subject 80S STARS, include your chosen CHARACTER CLASS in the email and your own reference photo(s). Please keep in mind, I may use some portraits in a social media post to promote my Patreon. Feel free to let know if you want to opt out of that, it’s ok.

Leave comments or questions below if you want, and thanks!