These are a few pages from the sketchbook that were essentially practice. This of course was back when we were planning for chapter 11 which of course featured raptors as the main antagonists. True tragedy of the world is despite the fact that I love dinosaurs, it’s always been a struggle to draw them. In fact I feel like I’ve spent too much time learning to draw humans and not enough time drawing animals or other creatures. Dinosaurs in particular have always been a challenge because of their long snouts and leg structure. I do own a lot of dinosaur toys, but most of them are preset posed figures with little to no articulation, so most shots I simply have to use my imagination and kinda draw the dinosaurs the way I think they’d look in a pose.

Fortunately, starting last year, Mattel has released more articulated dinosaur toys with their Jurassic Park Amber line which has provided me the dinosaur toys I always wanted and have really needed all these years. I would like to feature more dinosaurs in the story or at least feature them in artwork, so that would be even more chances to practice.

This was originally posted probably earlier this year or maybe it was last year. This here was a little fan art I received from a fellow artist on Deviant Art. He was doing water color paintings and just needed a random subject, so he painted Kalwa. I was nearly brought to tears over the drawing, not only was this the first Kalwa fan art, but this was the first time I had received fan art for one of my characters. It also came at a great time, I remember having a particularly bad day that day until this artwork really lifted my spirits. I currently have this printed out and hanging on my wall.

So I really wanted to do another page in one day and have the next page up tomorrow. But fate had other plans in mind, and I got stuck doing other stuff that mostly kept me away from my computer. Still I did do a sketch up of the next page. I’ll be working on it a bit during the weekend and see if I can get this page up by Tuesday at the latest. So here’s a little preview of whats to come.

So these are a couple of the early sketches to the pirate hunter crew from chapter 12 and 13. While Keleisha and Rodric mostly went unchanged (with the exception of Rodric’s eye becoming permanently closed), Harri’s design went through a few drafts. I initially wanted him to look like Orlando Bloom’s character from Pirates of the Caribbean, though also having some uniqueness so he didn’t come off as a flat out copy. However many of my designs I felt were coming too close (or being flat out copies) of some potential designs I had for Victor who had yet to make his debut at the time. So Harris received a large number of redesigns before finally settling on his current one.

Funny thing about this chapter, despite wanting to do it, I actually had very little idea of how to shape the story. The pirate arch was kinda a last minute addition I put in as I felt like having an additional story to further pad things out before we had Orestes return (as we didn’t have that many enemies at the time). I also wanted to introduce the fact that there were more phones and A-Tech themselves were using them, which would be a catalyst for the entire Kalwa saga. Though I had designed the characters and did have their personalities and stories planned out, I didn’t know how the story should go. Most of that was actually left to my co-writer who even provided their names. Only from his ideas was I able to finally drive the story to what we have today.

So I’m sure you all forgot about the Kalwa in anime series, because I know I did. But I recently just remembered it so here is the next entry. This is Soul Reaper Kalwa, that’s right, she’s in a Bleach outfit. Check back soon for more progress.

Sorry everyone for no update yesterday, but hopefully we can satisfy your day with a new page update for chapter 22. Kalwa’s obviously not very happy with the proposition bestowed on her, what’s her argument and how are the other members of the tribe taking it? Check it all out on the latest page update today by clicking the thumbnail.

This was the first sketch of Cassidy from the Desert Vixens. Her design was initially based on Revy from Black Lagoon, and since she was meant to be the toughest of all the girls, I really couldn’t help but draw her with six pack abs. In this image she isn’t wearing a bra, that was added in the next sketch. Since Cassidy hails from an indian tribe, which wore only selected clothing, she’s actually not shy about nudity, indicated in chapter 9 when she loses her vest and still fights on. Originally she wasn’t meant to wear a bra and her vest would have covered her privates, but I felt in time this would get to hard to do constantly. So she wound up getting a bra in the end.

Sorry for no posts yesterday, it was a busy day around the house and running errands. Anyway, we got a brand new page up today for chapter 22. Last page you heard the big tale and request that was presented before Kalwa. Now today, what is her answer? Click the preview and find out in today’s page update.

These were a few old pages I dug up in my sketchbook which were actually practices for actual comic pages! Back in the early days when I would get stuck on a pose or a camera angle shot, I’d usually practice in the sketchbook to draw the image I was imagining. This particular shot is from chapter 8 when Kalwa’s having her vicious fight with Rachel, as she cuts the whip and Rachel throws it away. Now day’s I mostly just have it all figured out when I’m doing layout. If I do usually get stuck on a particular shot I really just do multiple roughs and re-draws on the actual panel until I get it right. The upcoming page which I previewed yesterday is an example, I got a little stuck on the back show of Kalwa throwing her phone down, so that particular pose took a good while to make. I also tend to use my action figures to help make poses, though even they have limits. A good chunk of the time I’m simply using imagination and knowledge of human anatomy to do my work.