The next several sketchbook pages will focus on the Kaagan-Vas “rustlers.” Since these were major characters (and the very first characters to appear in this story arc!), I put a fair amount of time into designing them. They also took quite a while to nail down because I wanted to go for a Western look without making it look too deliberately Western. Basically, I wanted to get across the cowboy feel on a subconscious level and not really slap you in the face with it.

On this first page, I just spit out a bunch of different alien heads to see which ones would jump out at me. I think it’s pretty clear which two were early favorites and eventually became the designs for Warsaw and Uskulon.