It was important to me to start showing the tattoo on Sky’s neck, especially since it’s something that Jayd notices. But up until now, Sky’s costume has always been zipped up to the neck, so it felt too “convenient” to have her randomly start going unzipped right when the situation called for it. To make it more organic, I tried to give the impression that the entire crew is a bit hot from the work they’re doing on the dock. Ril and Roka are down to just their shirt layers, and on page 6, the scene started with Ril wiping some sweat from his brow. I was hoping those little details would help sell the idea that Sky is unzipped to cool down, like the rest of the crew.
The next three posts will be Bonus Content featuring concept sketches of Hiura’s crew and ship, with expanded versions available on my Patreon. Support there is always very appreciated as it helps fund the ongoing creation of the series. And you’ll get exclusive behind-the-scenes content like penciled pages, inked pages, sketchbook with commentary, and more!
After that, we’ll check in with Hiura’s crew as they visit Azarek in the hold!
Surely you cannot hand over cargo after she has given you her quarters?
Looking back the signs of the crew members being hot from the work are there, but I was too invested in the conversation to notice. I just thought: hey, another wardrobe change to make it more real worldly.
I just realized Roka is ET with tusks!
Ack! Yeah, other people have commented about that before. Oddly, it was not intentional at all on my part. The initial sketches were more different but it slowly morphed over time to something closer to ET without me even realizing it. Argh! I try to be as original as I can with my alien designs but I guess this is one of those cases where it possibly got subconsciously influenced. And now it bugs me and probably always will!
At least I cut the scene where Ril coaxes Roka out of the ship with a trail of Reeses Pieces. 🙂