Days of Yore

I didn't get to update the blog yesterday... and for that I apologize (all four viewers). Today's offering is a couple of teaser panels from the upcoming short Days of Yore.

As you can see Dragonslaying is Serious Business.

MOAR DAGRONSLAYERZ

I reapplied the grays and rescanned. Then I did a couple quick tests on the post-processing side of things. The results...

I imagine the darker grays will print better but I really like the ethereal quality of the lighter gray silhouette.

What a Dragon Slayer Might Look Like

Here are the first two panels of my redone first page. I'm happier than I was with the first render but I'd be lying if I said I was completely sold on it. I decided to do the gray tones by hand because I wanted it to have a natural look but I can't decide if I think the marker looks cheap at the end of the day.

I'm deeply envious of artists like Ashley Wood and Scottie Young who can make "raw" look professional.

Project:WSDS101

I spent most of last night working on the Dragon Slayer comic. This is the second time I've drawn the first page as the first time through I hated the result. I am my own worst enemy sometimes when it comes to art. But so far I like this second pass more.

 Project:PDTA100

Just a quick glimpse at where the Ran reference sheet is headed...

Tonight will be mostly Dragon Slaying and maybe some Storyboards for a friend's Kickstarter campaign. See you tomorrow!

Introductions...

Since I'm in the process of making a banner for each sister I thought I'd go through the most recent "headshot" of each. Probably a good idea since this is the relative beginning of this blog and there's a high likelihood that most readers know very little about the project.

Ran
-The Saint-

 I've already discussed Ran in this blog since I'm presently working on her reference sheet. She's the gang's moral compass and effective leader. From a writing perspective I've found her the easiest to find. Her story practically wrote itself and she has such gravitas that I find myself having tremendous respect for her character.

ChooWol
-The Woodcutter's Wife-

 If I have the most respect for Ran I have the most affection for ChooWol. She's brutally strong and simple to the point of being dangerously innocent. She fills the roll of the group's "tank". To put it in the words of Officer Yoo JinWon of the Amhaengeosa "That one... strong as an ox. Maybe two."

DalNim
-The Sword Collector-

If I'm going to continue on this "I have the most" theme then I have to say it's DalNim I have the most sympathy for. Of anyone on the list she's decidedly the most tragic. Her criminal past wasn't caused by poor judgement it was deliberately manufactured. She more than anyone else in the gang is truly a victim. She also might be the most lethal, but I suspect SolHwa would give her a run for her money.

SolHwa
-The Albino-

When I've done informal polls on which sister interests people the most SolHwa always scores high. Often eclipsing the other sisters considerably. I find her the most creepy personally. She's got ice in her veins. You never really know where you stand with a blind assassin.

MaeHyaeng
-The Trickster-

One of these days I might take you through the process I went through trying to find Mae visually. With the other 4 sisters I had a pretty good idea from inception where I wanted to go visually with a character. But not with Mae. She eluded me for almost a year until I finally decided on this look. Keeping with the theme I'll say she's the most difficult for me to trust. But then she is a con-artist so it kind of goes with the territory.

 

Facebooked

Social media is the currency of the day for artists and writers it seems. And as such I've put down the skeleton for Studio Doggebi's FB presence.

Project:WSDS101

I don't have a lot more "Sisters..." related news today. A big chunk of yesterday went to interviewing for software development firm downtown. The whole experience felt rather discouraging, I'm not expecting to hear back in the positive. So I nursed my wounds by finishing this up for Hitechminiatures.com after the kids finally went down last night.

PROJECT:PDTA100

One thing I'm chewing on right now is what day of the week to publish The Legendary Sisters of the Laughing Doggebi. Wednesday is the most common web-comic day it seems. Friday seems a close second. I kind of like Monday as it doesn't seem an overly common selection and if I could help start off the week... well then that'd be cool.

Of Saints, Dragonslayers, Kitchens and Chilidog Laden Trains.

This wasn't an art friendly weekend. Saturday was an early start to meet friends for breakfast, followed by replacing the kitchen ceiling and then playing single dad so the wife could go out with girlfriends for dinner. And it goes without saying that when Mom is out for the evening it's time for a trip to 2-Toots Train Whistle Grill, a magical land where-in chili-dogs are delivered by toy train.

When at last the kids were bathed, brushed, pajama-ed and down for the night. I took in the serene quiet of my home, lay my head for but a moment and slept like the dead.

Sunday wasn't as active but it did take an unusually long time to get the smallest of the rug-rats to sleep and that meant less time to draw before inevitably succumbing to sleep myself.

Project:WSDS101

I've got two commissions going right now. One is of a miniature for hitechminiatures.com the other is a 5 page comic for Scott R. Schmidt starring this guy...

PROJECT:PDTA100

As mentioned previously I'm in the process of finding the reference sheet for Saint Ran. I did actually find time to sketch several faces this weekend as part of this process and I'm homing in on her face. The more I sketch the more I realize I  wasn't too far off the mark when I did this sketch two years ago...

Though since I did that particular version of Ran I've decided to update the hair-style to braids (as seen in Friday's blog post).

Here's to a more fruitful week!