Poor Roka. Or more appropriately, I guess, poor root beetle.
This entire sequence (starting with this page) went through a pretty major redraw. I redesigned a lot of the room details for this story arc as I was never quite happy with it in the first arc. The overall layout and major bits of architecture are exactly the same, but the floor and walls went through some changes.
In the first arc, there were just too many greeblies and panels breaking up every surface that would have been a nightmare to draw every time. So for the redesign, I simplified everything. After I finished coloring the sequence though, I realized I OVER-simplified everything and the backgrounds were just looking very flat and dull. It just looked like a regular room in a house and didn’t have any real sci-fi/spaceship flair.
So I went back in and redesigned the room details AGAIN to add just enough detail to make the room visually interesting while not being so much detail that it would be a pain to draw. I think once the whole sequence posts, I’ll also upload the original pages for comparison.
I think that I’ll just eat the berries & leaves, thank you.
But a growing alien’s got to have his protein. Who knows, maybe the root beetles are like lobster. But judging from the next page, probably not.
Oddly, I just realized my commentary is all about the ship interior details and all the design and re-design that went into it, but you don’t actually see very much of that background on this particular page. My notes will make more sense on the next few pages, I guess.
There is a definite parallel between this and an episode of Cowboy Bebop. Then again, both stories revolve around a motley space crew down on their luck and looking for work… so I guess that the comparison had to be made sometime.
I still have Cowboy Bebop on my Netflix and am hoping to check it out soon. Everyone keeps saying I should watch it since it’s about mercenaries in space so I’d probably like it. Do they get paid in bugs too?
I’m not sure they ever got paid. 🙂
Yes, it is indeed awesome, if only because of Ed. Ed = fun. Luckily, the rest of the not-Ed cast is great, too.
There is one episode where they get paid in mushrooms. I think they even use the same composition you have in frame one… Spike staring a steaming mushroom on a fork.
In general I dislike Anime, but “Cowboy Bebop” is one of the few exceptions to that trend. I love the buddhist undertones, the amazing music of Yokko Kano, and the almost poetic saga between Spike and Vicious.
That was unexpected. I thought root beetles were their offspring. Oh well,at least they got paid.