fresh meat, page 5

and we're back on track... i was not very happy with the lighting and coloring on this page, but i've been rendering for hours and my brain is mush. i realized while i was working on it that the lighting was intentionally "ugly" and rather unflattering, as florescent lights tend to be.

the original line that went in place of "watch your tail" on this page was "you can sit in the chair by the wall" -- which confused kim, because both chairs are by the wall. as i was drawing it, i became more "spatially" aware of kim's tail, and figured she would probably have it shut in a door at some point... so the line was switched up.
when i showed the script for the opening scenes to my wife, she commented that kim showed a wide range of emotions, which was meant to be a compliment. i'd never considered that showing a wide range in the opening was a positive rather than a neutral, but switched to that instance instead in part to show a different emotion from kim.
when i asked my wife why she thinks that's a good factor to have in an opening to a story, she said that, in her opinion, it makes the protagonist feel more human and less like a one-note gag character. can't say i understand the viewpoint myself yet, BUT i do respect it, and tried to accommodate it.

as a side note, this room is obviously based on my first experience with psych wards; it is a "psychiatric assessment room."
when i polled around, the bits of descriptions i got of this room were more like psychiatrist offices, with some decorations and such. however, obviously, googling anything with "psychiatric ward" in it doesn't offer realistic visual references. what i ended up finding as the closest matches to my memory of it were police interrogation rooms instead. not great! but it is what it is.
the main difference in the comic from the actual room is that the table in my experience was not round, but rectangular. the edges of the table, though, were sanded down, i suppose to make sure one couldn't "weaponize" them. i substituted this for a circle to avoid spending an unnecessary amount of time nitpicking at rounded table corners in perspective as i was drawing it.