I have another SHAED related updated for y'all this evening. :3
First up is my latest drawing of our protagonist Max, and a little bit more information about him.
Max doesn't like his "monstrous" appearance; this stems from a girl he has a crush on, Sparrow, rejecting him on account of him not being human enough for her, despite the fact they've been friends for a very long time (she herself is not a Normie, either, but she does appear mostly human, unlike Max). Romance is far from the focus of this story, but as Max is an angst-ridden teenager, Sparrow's treatment of him greatly influences his actions from that point on and this, in turn, eventually leads the teen into the depths of the Civil War that threatens to tear Pleasant City apart. He (and others) blames himself for some of the bad things that are happening, and becomes rather isolated and angry. The above image captures his inner struggles so well that I'm using it for my tentative book cover!
tentative cover: show
And the final update is a concept sketch of a character I haven't introduced yet. Say hello to Madame Juliette!
She is a very spiritual old Normie, who has gone blind in her old age. She wears a pendant engraved with a fierce gargoyle and takes on a motherly/mentor type role for Max. She's very important to the story in quite a few ways, but most notably in that she teaches Max to find his own path and helps him to figure out who he truly is and what he should do. I think that's about all I can say about her for now, sadly!