Chapter 12
Chapter 12
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Descent of the Avatar (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Just as they explained, it copies in pure monotone."
Even with black-and-white printing, there's grayscale, which mixes black and white to create various shades of gray, and then there's true monotone, which only has fully opaque black fills or nothing at all.
To put it simply, grayscale is like painting with a mix of black and white paints blended just right, while monotone is drawing everything with just a single black pen.
Of course, monotone can't express gray at all, making brightness impossible to convey.
So naturally, grayscale—which can handle brightness—should be better, right? Then why use monotone?
It's because copying in grayscale requires complex printing techniques that blend white and black precisely, leading to major issues with difficulty and cost.
Printing was originally developed to mass-produce books full of text as cheaply as possible, so the simplest, most affordable formats naturally became the standard.
Of course, this world has developed color copying for illustrations separately, but I hear it costs a fortune compared to monotone.
"Oh, this turned out pretty convincing, didn't it?"
In fact, it wasn't just this world's issue—back on Earth, there was a time when similar printing was mainstream.
So how did comic artists selling these monotone comics back then create gray tones?
At first, they densely packed super-thin lines or tiny dots into patterns etched directly into the artwork, creating an optical illusion that looked like adjustable gray tones depending on the density when viewed from a distance.
But drawing those patterns by hand every time was insanely tedious, so eventually, art supply companies invented 'screen tones.'
These were super-thin, transparent sticker films pre-printed with specific patterns that you could buy.
Comic artists would just cut them to the needed shapes and stick them on their work to add those details.
This technique even carried over into digital art through software filters that mimicked the effect.
Even though screen tones faded away as everyone went digital, I'd used the digital versions enough to know what they were like.
Of course, there's no such thing as screen tones in this world.
But that's where the copier I'd bought came in as a perfect substitute.
I could perfectly draw patterns meant for screen tones in advance, then print them exactly where needed to mimic the effect.
Sure, it meant covering areas I didn't want printed with other paper and punching holes only where I needed fills—a bit of a hassle.
But I'd bought pretty thin paper that lets the back show through a little, and a pen that cuts along the lines when you draw, so it wasn't too big a deal.
"Man, I'm so glad this magic pen exists. Without it, how the hell would I draw these patterns...?"
Right now, I was hand-drawing patterns I'd use frequently.
Since I was basing them on memory to make them as convincing as possible, it wasn't the most efficient process.
Still, once I made them, I'd use them over and over, so I had to push through.
"This should be enough for now, right?"
It'd be impossible to prep everything ahead of time, so I just drew the ones I remembered using most.
If I needed something new later, I could make it then.
Obsessing over finishing everything upfront would probably drive me insane.
"Whoa, lining art is way easier now."
Unlike quill pens, there was zero ink smearing even if I erased.
The line weight control and pressure sensitivity felt almost like a tablet stylus—super stable and comfortable.
After finishing the line art, I'd make a copy on that printer before diving into details or screen tones.
If something tricky came up mid-process, being able to make copies like this was a huge change from before.
Hah, so the mages were hogging all these amazing tools for themselves?
The more I thought about its performance, the more pissed off and envious I got.
"For the early parts, I'll go for a slice-of-life vibe, then pivot hard when the Corrosion hits."
If I had to sum up the story I was working on in the simplest terms, it'd fall into the 'magical girl' genre.
It's about an ordinary girl who can't find meaning in her everyday life, whose story kicks off when she encounters the world-destroying disaster known as Corrosion.
She gains the power to fight it by hosting an 'Avatar'—a being that protects this world—within her body. Pretty standard genre and setup.
Of course, there are some unique elements original to my work running through it.
Though those are more tied to the visuals than the story.
Comics aren't just words, after all—sometimes the visuals carry special setups.
"Now the setup parts should mostly be sorted, right?"
Adapting the story's elements to make them easier to explain in this world meant tweaking a pre-planned work quite a bit.
For example, the protagonist's original name was 'Su Baek Hwa,' but a Korean name felt off here, so I changed it to 'Albedo de Aqua.'
'Keep the page count as short as possible.'
This felt like a prologue that perfectly captured the intro vibe for the series.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to make it longer, but in a situation where I had to debut this 'comic' system, that'd be tough.
With a full book, I could just drop a hefty volume right away and sell it.
But I had to start by exhibiting it as an illustration system.
Even so, I needed enough pages to make it exhibit-worthy.
'Shift the mood when the Corrosion attacks, and make Nigredo's appearance to help as dynamic and flashy as possible.'
Given the length I'd set for this piece,
this first—and last—battle was the core that defined it, so I had to pour everything into drawing it.
Even if it meant sacrificing a bit of the girls' beauty, prioritizing dynamic, lively lines was key.
Personally, I didn't want to miss that shonen battle manga energy.
Albedo, the girl lost in an utterly ordinary life with no standout talents, wandering without a path.
The surreal, horrific disaster of Corrosion appearing before her eyes.
The beautiful girl Nigredo, burning her whole body to fight it.
At this point, contrasting ordinary Albedo's realism against Nigredo's otherworldliness with color tones would work great.
"End it here by having even Nigredo get taken down, maxing out the despair."
Then draw the protagonist Albedo awakening by hosting the Avatar, transforming into her Avatar form.
Her clothes burn away completely, but pure white flames cloak her body, granting special powers.
This is the main theme of the work, really.
'Nude magical girl.'
The concept of going nude during transformation is common in magical girl stories.
But here, every time she uses fire in battle, the clothes vanish from those spots—making her a 'truly nude' magical girl, unlike the usual.
In this work, I'm all-in on completely bare nudity, not a thread left.
The story's just packed with genre clichés, nothing special there, but that nude staging? It's the biggest hook I came up with—the driving force behind drawing this.
Perverted setup? That's exactly why it's great.
"Oh, when Nigredo uses her technique, adding a bit more exposure here would look prettier."
And it's not limited to the protagonist, naturally.
All the magical girls—called 'Avatar forms' in this work—share this trait.
So overall, it's a serious magical girl story with deep lore, but the art shines through its perverted outfits.
Personally, I love the beauty of nudity emerging from such serious, dreamlike atmospheres.
"Still, it's turning out way more atmospheric than I expected—lucky. Aside from taking forever to get the staging right, it feels solid."
How well I depict the flames burning from her body is one of the most crucial elements, requiring heavy screen tone use.
Honestly, after always working digitally, doing analog monotone with screen tones for the first time had me nervous.
It's natural for the quality to fall short of what I envision at first.
But contrary to my worries, the results were coming out surprisingly beautiful.
"Finishing off the Corrosion with Albedo's earnest Fire Punch—her head full of nothing but saving the Nigredo who saved her, fighting nearly nude without a hint of shame."
But after defeating the Corrosion, the Avatar leaves her body, and the flames that served as her clothes vanish.
Leaving her completely, stark naked. And at that exact moment, her startled, embarrassed reaction is adorably cute.
The serious nude and the shy nude both have irreplaceable charms, so this scene had to be in the work.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇