Oculama

DT! I didn't realize how excited I was to read her next round until I hit the first page for this R2 :3

The setup and execution of DT's complete misunderstanding of Lu's intentions really tickled me - you see it coming, but the dramatic (comedic?) irony of it makes the build-up all the funnier. That DT *continues* to misread Lu's actions post-clobbering and up the the very end of the comic is delightful.

I'm also drawn to the gradual fleshing out of DT's character through this round and the last. Very eager (whether it's for a fight or a date), very excitable (the blush and the complete inability to process what Lu was saying on account of love-blinders were both adorable), and perhaps a bit lost in the world. You're building an extremely endearing character through all you've written to date, and I hope we see more of her on Oculama in the months ahead.

Visually, you've found a terrific balance between grayscale and colored elements on the page. Your highlights are frequent enough that they keep the battledome and the story at large colorful, but not so overused that you lose the highlighting effect or additional "oomph" factor that comes with judicious color application.

Similarly you've struck a good balance of detail for this lighter, more comedic (romantic, even??) round 2 entry. There's a lot of masking as far as level of detail panel to panel, but it suits the type of comic you've written.

At the intersection of those two points - color and detail - I wanted to point out a few things I think you did exceptionally well with your artwork - Lu's power constructs, for one, are excellently done, and put me in mind of early aughts/ late nineties animation in the vein of Toten Hosen or Gigi D'agostino - lots of personality and presence packed into a very streamlined silhouette.

That same great balance is found in how you've rendered the setting itself as well - I'm especially enchanted with how you worked the background on page 2 - with the gradual fade coming down to the bridge - you capture recognizable elements of the stage with not a lick more detail than needed, and the soft colors thereof work really nicely both with the foreground elements and the more distant dome of the babedrome.

Really nice work pacing out an introduction, dialogue, fight, and cool-down in a brisk 4 pages. I've greatly enjoyed the lighter-hearted tone of DT'S comics so far, and like a robust mold, she's definitely growing on me ;)

The Lu struggle continues...but what's this? some positive (and well-earned) developments for outr long-suffering gal??

You're establishing a continuity around the tournament itself through this round and the last that is lending to an enjoyable sense of BBBB as a fixture of the Junction. The returns to the golden babedrome halls, the regular focus on the spectators therein, and the evolving (well, sometimes back-tracking ;) ) public reaction to Lu and her opponents is a great way to organize these rounds, and build a sense of what the tournament is outside of the matches themselves. That her opponent's each get a little teaser that hints at how they will conduct themselves in the fight proper has also been a fun touch.

I'm not sure if this was the intended angle of the fight, but I did enjoy how Lu's win in this round seems to be reflecting an increase in her own confidence/ overcoming the insecurity that seems to plague her. In contrast to the first round, where she uses trickery to take down the otherwise unflappable Kalky, here she goes with outright iron defense and overwhelming offensive fire/fistpower to pummel DT.

The art is kicking butt right out the gate; I'm absolutely enthralled with that page 2 setup of Lu contemplating the mushrooms while DT looms over her, just shrouded in the mid-ground. It's such a great shot to segue back into the pre-fight content, and I'd put that up on my wall as a poster, tbh.

There's some phenomenal compositions here, especially once we get to the fight. It's a pretty straightforward bat-em-up, but you keep it super-tight with excellent dynamic panels. DT throwing Lu up against the sword and Lu's silent summoning of her power constructs are great, of course, but the "oh SNAP" panel for me is Lu throwing up her shield without even looking to disperse DT's attack. iconic panel of the comic, IMO.

The pre-fight stuff is great as well - you work some nice angles with the montage of events leading up to R2 kicking off, and it's nice to see the interspersing of tense and relaxing moments, both as catharsis for Lu, bot also for the visual diversification of what has been a very combat-focused (by design, admittedly) tournament.

Solid stuff here - you've always done a great job anchoring Lu within the settings of Junction and carving out some great world building detail therefor, and this is no exception.

Ahahaha oh my god Devil's Tooth. This and short and sweet comic and the dialogue is very fun to read! It's hilarious how Devil's Tooth's jumps to conclusions so quickly and how the characters completely misunderstand each other. Devil's Tooth is very cute in this comic and I appreciate enthusiasm even after getting punched, much to Lu's bewilderment. Poor Lu, she has no idea what she's gotten herself into!

Very nice use of a limited palette, even with just a few colors it's very effective. I especially like the background you did on page two, it's a very pretty use of gradients.

It was nice getting to see a bit of Lu's life in the Babedrome and learn more about her personal life! Congrats to Lu for finding support and love. I'm curious to see where the plot with Mikael goes.

There's such a good sense of form and volume to the way you draw. Devil's Tooth looks so cool and intimidating in your style. And your backgrounds are so beautiful and elegant. I really liked the ending scene where you show off Lu's powers. The timing of your paneling is really well done, even though you skip through time it's very easy to follow.

I ship it. Fun little comic here. We've been missing the absolute disaster lesbian line so I'm glad that we've finally got it. This is what Battle babes was set up for, there's no other reason for the tournament. Devils Tooth is super cute in this, legit cuter than normal which is wild, and I love her characterization in it. You also did a great job with your location, loved the gradient you used and you made the bamboo forest really pop. this round everybody really went hard on the locations but we all went for the frosty sword field so kudos for being the only one hitting up the bamboo. Great job on this excited to see more oculama comics rom you, especially if they bring this same sapphic energy!

Delicious coloruing in this. I've got to learn how you colour all your backrounds because looking at this round and last round are just phenomenal. That Ker-ash panel is beautiful the swords and the snow OUGH its so good. This is for sure everything I could want out of a Battle babes comic. Devil's Tooth looks amazing in this, and they pack one hell of a punch behind everything. Speaking of packing a punch, your action as a whole is very strong in this, every hit carries such a large weight to it. You really feel all the punches. And what a way for Lu to finish it off. got me curious as to what you got up your sleeves cause I can smell something is cooking. excited to see more great job.

The color work in this is so gorgeous, it pops right off of the page. The compositions and blocking work perfectly together, so that every panel, every little shift in the story has a dynamic energy. The whole scene feels like a diorama, like a tiny slice of the world where nothing else exists. This story's length isn't exactly a problem, but it feels like the ending punchline is missing some needed impact to pay off the comic that's present, as if there was another page after that went missing. The change to a half-page right at the end exacerbates this issue, but the formatting otherwise works really well. It's so cute!

Man, this comic packs such a punch. Every little motion has impact to it, not just in the fight, but in every little gesture and interlude that builds up to it. The locations have so much character to them that you can always feel the atmosphere before reading any dialog, and the characters have the same amount of detail put into them. That's especially good as the dialog here is a little weak, more focused on plot on certain pages than the character's journey. This is especially felt at the end, which is incredibly strong on its own, but doesn't feel like it specifically pays off the first half. Even so, incredible stuff!

This miscommunication was adorable as heck. The effect of covering up Lu's word bubbles with Tooth's internal dialogue that even the reader isnt quite sure what Devil agreed to was pretty inspired.
You've always had a great knack for expression and characterization, so it was great to see that on display in a neat and tidy package That changeover on Lu's face on the last page was simple but had a great effect.
I am surprised this read more slice of life than tournament, which I think can be executed in a tourney with the right mix of ingredients, but I feel a few were missing by the time I got to the last page.

You have such an eye for composition when it comes to your comic pages, they almost read like storyboards. I'd even go as far to say cinematic. You feel it from page one with that great expanse of space before we discover those red mushrooms.
Especially dig your use of color for your backgrounds and environments. The changeover from the yellow of the ballroom to the pink of the bar and that myyysterious gentleman. Who is he? where did he go once the round started? are you trying to hook me with questions that can only be answered if Lu moves onto the next round? Cuz its working! XD
Devil's Tooth's design and ability is pretty dang cool, so its great to see you took full advantage of showcasing a pretty flashy ability set. Was actually quite surprised I didn't see your opponent spotlighting their own character in such a way.

LETS GO LUCKKYY Y hahaha i absolutely adore how The Devil's Tooth is such a disaster in this, their personality is so fucking fun i wanna see more of em and their escapades outside of the tourneys and fights lol

I really love how clear and readable all of your work is, each page is very cleanly laid out and each expression is full of personality its a joy to read! The Layout of the Bubbles alongside the Inner Monologue text boxes might be a bit confusing, although luckily its only ever one character speaking in them, but that was the only real problem i had! Great stuff!

LETS GO LUUUUU! You can never get enough of a Lu Punch - Comic and a punch comic this is! A great style to make the action feel real and weighty and i love it !! we love a bitch that solves her problems with Shadow Clones and Green Energy!

Def love how this feels like it is set in a real tournament, and i think that is what adds just a little bit that sends it over the edge for me personally, i love seeing the small inbetweens during the lull in rounds, even if we only get little glimpses setting up the fight, it makes them feel like real wrestlers and prize fighters going into the next match!

I really like the simple choice you made for your backgrounds. They looked really nice and basically established everything out of the gate, which was a smart decision on your part. Your story, while short, was very cute and I think that was also a smart choice. Even as simplistic as you drew everyone, they have a lot of charm and character to them, which again, is a point in your favor. I really like Devil's Tooth and I hope that you use them in more things going forward. It's definitely hit the top spot for the best design you've come up with for me. Good work!

Stellar use of negative space in this comic, a really strong use of page economy here for sure. It's smart decisions like that which really makes this a great example comic for how people can work on improving themselves as comic artists. There's a couple awkward spots with how you draw Devil's Tooth and some of the action. Page 6 in particular is a little quick, but the whole package is so strong which is what makes that stand out more. Panel 4 is extremely difficult to do right, so props for attempting it. You really did great in this tournament so far and I can't wait to see what you bring for us next. Great work!

Aww! This a is a fun comic. Short, sweet, straight to the punch. The plot and character motives are simple and fun, and maybe what people were expecting to come out of battle babes! And a literal punchline is always nice for battling comics in oct's. I always love the posing of your characters, there's a distinct appealing charm to the way you draw character expressions and acting that's always a hoot to see. The simple toning and background are also effective, and the overall comic has a clean look and feel. Maybe the comic is a little short, just a single scene, but that's the life of OCT's sometimes.

I appreciate how this comic tries to deviate from the typical fight comic, taking time to setup the proper before, and a detour aside to give motivation before the big fight. Though I will say, while the intro comic does a good job of establishing the world and perspectives of the characters, the full synthesis of the meet cute aspect doesn't feel particularly strong with the second half of the comic, even if it does connect as character motivation.

The art is strong and clean in a professional way. Something about it harkens back to an older era of web comic, maybe its the shapes, maybe the coloring, maybe the backgrounds. The coloring is clean and the values are well controlled, lending the comic's clean feel and easy readability.