BONUS CONTENT: Sketchbook: Ciceron Wolves

by on April 21, 2011 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog Entries

I briefly mentioned the wolf design on The Big Snow Job #2, Page 19 and how I was really happy with it until I realized they looked a bit like the wargs from the Lord of the Rings movies. Oh well. Anyway, on this page, the first thing you’ll see is a quick sketch of a regular wolf. Sometimes, if I’m basing a creature on a real-world animal as a starting point, I’ll draw that animal just so I have a reference to both draw upon and work against. I figure if I have the real proportions and traits in front of me, it’ll be easier to push and pull those features to get something more visually different.

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BONUS CONTENT: Sketchbook: Ulon Dosi Weapons

by on April 14, 2011 at 12:01 am
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I while back on The Big Snow Job #3, Pages 14-15, I talked about the Ulon Dosi weapons and how they were partially inspired by the Nimbus III weapons seen in Star Trek V. I figured they’d all be a bit hodgepodge so I wanted to sketch up a few different variations, as seen here.

On this page you’ll also see the bandolier I designed to wrap around the Ulon Dosi head and waist. It has a simple loop holster on the side, and the rifles would just slip into the holsters, resting on the wide collars.

Finally, this page also shows a couple sketches I did for Clem’s knife. I just figured he’d have an extra little weapon on him to distinguish him from the other warriors. And I had it in the script that he pulls a knife on Ril on The Big Snow Job #3, Page 21, so I guess that meant I ought to design one.

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BONUS CONTENT: Sketchbook: Goshen

by on April 7, 2011 at 12:01 am
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I covered a little bit about Goshen’s design on The Big Snow Job #3, Page 22. Most of the sketches were either too drab and not ornamental enough or a bit too busy and fancy. I toyed with the idea of giving him the same hide patchwork as Clem (and Keyla’s cloak), but I thought it might be a bit too busy. And for the same reasons I decided not to give him war beads, I thought the leather armor look of the patchwork wouldn’t fit his character.

Something I did like a lot was the “trenchcoat” look of long, low-hanging cloth in both the front and the back, which gave Goshen a more regal look. It was also important to me to incorporate some element from Keyla’s cloak into Goshen’s design as the original intent was to tie them together visually through some costume details. Originally, it was going to be the hide patchwork, but once I ruled that out, I was just left with the short white fuzzy fur. As it turned out, I think that worked out well, since the fur collar and hanging stoles looked pretty regal as well, without being overly-ornamental. I repeated the stoles on both the front and the back so that Goshen would have the same defining element visible from either angle.

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BONUS CONTENT: Sketchbook: Goshen and Clem

by on March 31, 2011 at 12:01 am
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On this page, I did some sketches to settle on the looks of Goshen and Clem (who went by the name “Clim” in the early stages until I decided to change his name for reasons now forgotten to me). As mentioned on The Big Snow Job #3, Page 22, differentiating features included horn thickness and shape, braid length, and different combinations of beard braids, sideburn braids, and regular braids. With Goshen, I also decided that he’d have the longest braids, the only beard braid in the village, and no war-beads.

On The Big Snow Job #3, Page 13, I mentioned giving Clem a distinctive red tunic and red bands in his facial braids, as well as the layer of hide patchwork. On this page, you’ll also see the quickly abandoned idea of trying to differentiate Clem with an eyepatch.

I made a note to possibly differentiate Clem and Goshen from the other Ulon Dosi by having them with grayer fur or gray stripes, but in the end, I didn’t bother. I think I tried it and it didn’t work too well. And I found the different braid combinations and outfit details were plenty to make them visually different.

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BONUS CONTENT: Sketchbook: Dhama Suul

by on March 24, 2011 at 12:01 am
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With the top sketch, I feel like I found a head design that I liked, so I started playing around with the body. As a mob boss, I wanted him to have an imposing figure, so I went with a big beefy body. I think I loosely had a walrus in mind in terms of overall feel, so that explains the flippers. I didn’t bother spending too much time on the body design since I knew it would be covered up almost entirely in the actual story, what with it being a freezing climate and all.

With the last two designs, I decided to give the character one last go in terms of different looks. I actually like the one on the left as a design, but it’s a bit goofy looking, so not quite the imposing figure I had planned for Suul. With the one on the right, I went back to a previous head sketch, this time with more of the body filled in, and it clicked for me. I think the wide hammerhead shape just made the head so much more distinctive than the one above it. It’s the sort of thing where, if you saw a bunch of different aliens in a lineup, you’d definitely notice him because of the distinctive hammerhead snout. And that’s what I figured his character should be about… someone who stands out in a crowd.

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