Haunted 1-36
ART TOUR OF XIYUAN’S OFFICE, PART II
Medrod Nussbaum
Lace Study
1971
A tatted doily is the subject of this artist’s precision study, the goal being to preserve the radial symmetry and organic lines as closely as possible while still retaining the imperfections of the original lacework. Hella challenging for a traditional painter.
Ramona Vaughan
What If the Walls Fell Down (5)
1985
This imaginative photorealistic series explores themes of artifice and privacy. In the fifth work, a provincial single-family home sits wall-less in a thunderstorm, its contents warm and inviting despite their exposure to the raging elements outside. Without a living subject, the viewer is asked to attribute personality to the building itself, provoking feelings of gratitude for the warmth and shelter our houses provide.
Shu Liu
Daddy & Me
1999
Using a medium reminiscent of very early Picasso, the artist explores his burgeoning self-identity and fine motor skills in this charming piece. At first glance this may appear to be a self-portrait; yet our focus is only briefly directed to the centered artist before we are compelled to follow his gaze to the father figure beside him. Of course, this reflects the almost co-dependent yearning for what the child perceives as both his past and future. It is left to the viewer whether the abstract balloons, easily mistaken for fantastical trees or gargantuan confections, are meant to contrast with the stability of the paternal relationship, or to highlight that this life stage itself is celebratory, but fleeting. (There is also the more literal interpretation, that they merely indicate the artist’s desire for a balloon.)
(Note: The template doesn’t want this page to have an alt text; I typed out the alt text three times and it keeps getting eaten. Something for next time, I guess.)
I love how this went from Sirak’s mention of family to Xiyuan holding Shu’s drawing. With all the upheaval going on in Yuan’s personal life, Shu has to’ve been affected. I wonder how Xiyuan is actually doing — that talk about reward portions and all — because this wouldn’t be a DollyLlama work unless you broke your characters more than a little bit. (And it’s not like the CT readers don’t already know what’s happening; we’re just getting more context and backstory now.)
That look between Sirak and Ray when Yuan asks about the office dynamic, lmao. Oh boy.
This is so pretentious, thank you, I love it.
LOOK DUDE I see that to’ve.
Knowing you, “I wonder how Xiyuan is actually doing — that talk about reward portions and all” may be code for (spoilers! spoilers for people who don’t read any supplementary content about the character!) “so he’s definitely high as fuck, but are we getting any clues that he’s high as fuck?” Well, I’m grateful that the colors depend on Yuan’s emotional perception, because any other character wouldn’t perceive as much variance in his mood.
The face doesn’t lie. Thank you, Ray.
I love the coat hooks, personally.
Hahaha, I knew I could rely on you to notice his scarf had made an appearance!
Oh man, these labels are perfection. Like, as someone who works in a museum (ha, “works in” hahahaha omicron hahahahaha) I feel attacked. Methinks the team should be more worried about Yuan than anything else, because he is not one to sleep on.
(Okay I don’t want to press the back button because I’ll lose my comment but how did I miss that painting of a house with the walls down? How? WAIT IS THAT THE HOUSE? Oh god, I have to go back to check and probably make a second comment because my brain will not let this go)
Hahaha, okay, it’s actually a fantastic coincidence that you happened to make this comment at this time. I’ve been mulling over whether to make videos laying out what I’ve learned about writing. And that includes why the first chapter of my webcomic introduces 19 GODDAMN NAMED CHARACTERS (not including Prophet Mickey). How to make them feel fully fleshed-out with little to no exposition, how to ensure they have a role in the narrative, etc.
Part of that was realizing that no matter how interesting the side characters are, I have complete confidence that Yuan justifies his place as the protagonist. Because everyone in the CT/Haunted universe has a lot going on, but if Yuan walks into a room, the craziest of the crazy characters drop what they’re doing and watch him. That’s who he is. His whole shtick is making bonkerballs snap decisions that later turn out to be genius, and his personality fluctuates between stuffy blue-blood and chaos hedonist, so yeah, you really can’t blame them for busting out the popcorn. Is he going to present an impromptu linguistic analysis of West Side Story, or is he going to do a ton of acid and buy a house in Italy? We—we don’t know.
And here you are, repeatedly warning the dark empath who manipulates her co-workers into an espionage ring/information addict treating her workplace like a video game/neuroatypical detective driving the mystery forward—each of whom could easily star in her own story—to LOOK. OUT. FOR. YUAN. Because they are absolutely not ready.
BRILLIANT.
As for your other comment—yeah, he had some pretty high expectations for that kid.
Okay, more on this later but you have given me SO much to think about and I just…I don’t even have words at the moment because its all percolating and I think you just helped me fix a potential pitfall in this new story (god, trust that I’ve chosen the right protagonists?!?!?!?!?!? OF COURSE gahhhhh!)
Alright, I’ll get these thoughts to be more coherant later but um…maybe you should make those videos lol
Okay I didn’t miss it in the last comic so at least I’m not crazy. Whew. ::wipes brow::
Alright so the level of framing for Shu’s sketch actually clears up a lot of things about future Shu. Also, it’s a bit eerie given what actually ends up happening in CT…
(every time I look at his scarf on that coat hook I can only think about how I wish sim’s outerwear was not like, an entire new outfit)
Omg Sirak’s facial expression is the best!!! I JUST WANT TO CRAWL INSIDE HIS HEAD.
Yuan looking at his child’s drawing is sweet and all, but his facial expression looks bored or sullen. It makes me wonder about his relationship with his child (if there is one), b/c usually when you look at something that reminds you of your beloved child, you have a smile…. So there has to be a story…
There certainly is a story there—nice catch.