Chapter 3, Page 31

Sometimes you just gotta roll with the thrips

And, wanted to dedicate this page to John and Michelle :] Two readers who live nearby to me and w/whom I got to catch up this morning over coffee. John’s been supporting MI since before I had any public way to do that, which is nuts. It reminded me that last year (and every year before) at this time I was making approximately $0.00 from my own work, and look at me now! living in bay area poverty lol. But no really, just a few months ago I was questioning if there was even an audience for this comic? It’s so dark and weird. But all of you are here reading, and it’s let me make new friends and has really grown with your support, so thank you very much.

And speaking of dat support/ Patreon news, I have a giant new tutorial up, describing the process I use to color all my comics. There’s also a brand new learning resource available, chock full of challenges to make you a smarter artist (ie a smartist). As you might have noticed, I’m able (under ideal circumstances) to update very frequently… In order to achieve this for a 12-14 hours of work per page, I’ve optimized my process quite a bit to become as fast and flexible as I can. Ironically I’m posting this page late because I was working on that tutorial, haha… Anyways, that’s up now. And, there will be a new monthly tutorial every month of support at around the current level.

But yeah I always say thanks but I also always mean it. Thanks for reading, another page will be up tomorrow, followed by some fun news~

Today’s bonus art: My bf made up a walrus character, and also hates thrip, so naturally I required revenge

49 Comments

  • spottedspeck

    Thripfriend is here to help!

    Also Mike’s face in the fourth panel is killing me XD

    • Grums

      Good ol’ Thripfriend; he’ll help ya thrip through life’s problems!

  • deceze

    Thripfriends have an interesting anatomy, they appear to thrip with their eyes. Otherwise that thrip in the third panel should have been pretty muffled.

    • shingworks

      Omg you’re right… That’s even funnier, thanks for pointing it out.

      • Cthulhufish

        Nice save with the ‘thrib’ lol

        • shingworks

          XD

          • The Rancid

            This chain killed me. XDD Wish I had seen the original ‘thrip’.

  • Dudikov

    Someone fi’na get dey ass BEAT

  • LostYooper

    If the mystery person coughing is Bex, Mike is going to have to get her a thigh-friend of her own.

    • NVSmango

      Last night I had a dream that Bex came out of that pool. It’s prophesy!

  • San

    I laughed for so long at the “thrib” sound!! All the little touches are so wonderful in this comic. I will forever cherish that panel of Thrip attempting to feed the tiny fungus to Mike, the way his eyes just look so nervous.

    Also, Thrip is my favorite! Who doesn’t like Thrip??

  • What exactly is thripfriend’s purpose? A harmless critter or a guiding program thing?

    • AGV

      I think that it was stated that it was essentially a roomba

      • shingworks

        Yes, a common thrip is basically a roomba; they pick up and eat detritus and do tiny maintenance tasks related to that (like pruning back dying shoreline “plant” material and eating it).

        • Leon

          They’re also useful as an emergency power generator.

          • shingworks

            lol, I love the title of that video/ the implication that there are a bunch of copycat shrimps on treadmills to watch out for

        • Twyll

          Hmmm, is the implication of “common thrip” that our Thripfriend might be an *un*common thrip? It does seem to be a different color than the others, as of last page (it thrips in yellow, while the other Thrips thrip in blue), though I guess that might be a lighting thing…

          Of course, even if our Thripfriend is not officially a “special” thrip, it’s still special to ME!

  • missy20201

    Ok it’s officially time to start rolling out the thripfriend merchandise <3

  • AGV

    “Geez, Michael, at least knock the entrance before getting in.”

  • Glew

    Well, that’s a way of praying too I guess. :D :P
    “Christ. Hello? It’s me…”

  • Tadrix

    Funny, how Mike was talking with Kallakore, and now he wants her back :D

  • Phi

    I love how the little thrip makes a *thrib* underwater hahaha

  • Whachamacallit

    Ooooh, the last two panels took me a while to understand what was happening, but I get it now. Am I correct in interpreting that Kallakore’s head is partially submerged in some water? For the longest time I thought it was just a weird picture of a sky light.

    • shingworks

      Haha, yeah you’re right. In a book it would be 2 seconds to flip the page and see the camera pull out but here you have to stare at an incomprehensible jumble of lines for 20 hours until I get my shit together

      • Edmund

        Ahh, such is the cutting edge of chasing updates. F5 only makes us worse at being patient. XD

  • Android 21 3/7

    “thrib”

    …*heart melts into squee*

  • Treeish

    No, thank YOU for making all the great stuff! I am just going to have to sign up so I can see the coloring process…I love the way you have done the phosphorescent glow of the place, and how it lights everything. And yeah, I would totally have a Thrip shirt…would love to see the Vitruvian Man version of KK’s species…

    • David

      LOL, or Vitruvian Thrip

  • Ceceoh

    OK, it took the longest time, but I’m looking at KK’s lower jaw, and just beyond that I am seeing Mike’s silhouette through the water, right? It was like staring at one of those 3D images, until everything snaps into focus.

    • Leon

      Huh? I’m seeing KK’s forehead sticking out of the fluid, and her nose and left eye (same horizontal as “Hello”) submerged.

    • shingworks

      Yeah, Leon’s got it XD That reflection is just the reflection from a low-hanging stalactite

      • Ceceoh

        Oh… OK! (Flip)

  • David

    Oh, shit, I think I figured something out! They were going to send Mike home because he is mentally ill. Perhaps the Martians left Kallakore behind because *she* is mentally ill. Perhaps they can help each other.

    • Lilian

      Great thought. Earlier in the comic Mike reveals paranoid reasoning about people using LEVi to control his thoughts.

      Now, Kallakore runs away from Mike right after he wonders if she’s just another tool in a bigger system. Perhaps the accusation echoed her own thoughts too much for her to handle.

  • Lilian

    Mike’s expression in the fourth panel is wonderfully done.

  • Walruses are awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAVL61yeCYs

    And thrips too! (Don’t kill me, thrip…)

    • AGV

      I’ve seen a walrus whistle, my life is complete now

      Really, though, they’re pretty versatile

  • A.R.

    how can you hate thrip, thrip is adorable. Mike’s new friends should be serious body horror but somehow seeing thighfriend flapping supportively and thrip trying to help Mike out with suggestions here is all kinds of endearing. cutest body horrors I’ve ever seen!

    • shingworks

      Maybe my bf is secretly a Martian; Kalla seems pretty squicked by the horror

  • Sillydraco

    That face says he was done five pages ago

  • I’m reading! Actually this story gives me a lot of hope that I can eventually tell my own super strange stories and be listened to. :3

  • ButteryCroissant

    Hm, the description said there’d be another page on the 28th and I can’t find anything about a delay on shing’s twitter.

    • shingworks

      Yeah, it’s being finished rn. Real Life, and all of that.

  • DatComment

    A hotdog pose?

  • Corgis!

    Thrip: “I’m getting off this crazy train, yo.”

  • Sheridan

    ‘Oh, that’s right, I can breathe underwater now.’

  • Sheridan

    I wonder if all the yellow ‘foam’ on top of the water (which we haven’t seen anywhere else) is analagous to the placenta, and this is leftover bits from when this version of Kallakore was ‘birthed’.

  • Bo

    There is an audience! I think the writing is clever and the illustration beautiful!

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