A little preview of chapter 25 from where it stands right now. I’m still waiting for the script, but my co-writer says he should get it to me by the end of the week. As such, I’m just getting a leg up on the first two pages so when the script comes back I can get them out faster. So here’s a little preview of chapter 25 coming real soon.
Here first on the website, here’s a a look at the cover to chapter 25, colored and just about ready to go. Still have’t come up with a tag line for the cover yet, but it’ll be something along the lines of “inner strength.” I’m still waiting to get the script back, but I’m working on some other projects under the Green Raptor name and of course practicing in the sketchbook. More info coming as we get closer to the actual chapter 25.
So this week, I started taking my sketchbook to work to draw at lunchtime, since I tend to finish my lunch rather fast and hate just sitting around for about forty minutes doing nothing, plus it’s gotten kinda hard to draw at home amongst everything else I do. So this week, the idea came to mind to draw the main cast if they were of the opposite gender, a gender swap if you will. The original sketch has been uploaded to the facebook page, so if you follow us there you might off seen it. Exclusively here on the site for now, is colored versions of the characters gender swapped, complete with their alternate names for their new genders. So if you like gender swaps, well here’s what our heroes would look like.
Consider this my belated birthday tribute to Naruto, as I feel so bad having not done anything for his birthday earlier this month. Naruto himself is actually my favorite anime/manga character of all time, I actually have all 73 books of his series, as well as a number of figures around my room, so I’ve been meaning to do this crossover for quite some time. Also I should note that Kalwa’s favorite color is orange, I actually chose the color to represent her because it’s bright and energetic. This actually kinda puts her a bit on par with Naruto who quite well known for his orange color. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this piece.
Chapter 25 is coming everyone. The script is being written, usually I try to write the script in two days (that I have off) and then try to distance a bit from it for a while before doing a final check on it. So expect the next chapter to start up in early to mid Novemeber. Meanwhile here’s a little preview of the cover as to where it stands and I’ll be uploading some more sketches and some other illustrations coming.
Earlier today I posted one preview of chapter 25 by showing off the child versions of Hideyoshi and Karou. Well here comes another preview with the actual cover… at least where it stands now. I’ve had this image in my brain all week and despite wanting to rest a bit tonight from drawing (I hurt my hand working on another work last night), I just had to get it out.
Full disclaimer that this isn’t an actual scene from the chapter, but the chapter is about Kalwa learning fault and overcoming it, so it’s kinda a metaphor you could say. I don’t think every chapter has to actually have a scene from the chapter on it, but make an enticing image that does say something about the story it represents.
I don’t remember if I mentioned this on the website, or just on the facebook page, but I was interested in remaking an old piece of Kalwa as the Witch of Time, which I recently reposted in the Halloween look back post a little while ago. Well it’s taken a bit of time, but it’s officially happening, and here’s a screenshot preview of what’s coming. This image is being posted exclusively to the website, those who follow our facebook page might notice that the image below is quite different than the one posted there. That’s because I’ve had a lot of trouble getting this project off the ground because I felt my previous drawings were just too boring and not very epic looking. I had a vision for this piece and it just wasn’t coming out, until tonight when it finally came out. So here’s a little look at what’s coming this haunting month of the year (lol).
So I mentioned that we would be doing some behind the scenes work, and while on that subject matter, there is indeed some commentary that must be said. In today’s blog, I want to talk about… the FULL PAGE.
Since starting this comic in 2014, I’ve personally discovered much on this long journey. I dare say that a full use of page was honestly something I had not even considered, for I, as a rank amateur back in the day, only saw a page as simple means to align panels. Over the course of time, I looked at a few artist who talked about using the whole page but it wasn’t until webtoons that I started to develop my own style.
Commonly found on webtoons are single panel comics, which are read through the use of scrolling down. It was something I had not once seen before and I dare say, did NOT adapt to it well. My comics were originally done with full on pages and cutting up those pages and making high quality scroll down pages was quite new and difficult for me. In fact I feel my lack of experience is one of the big reasons the comic didn’t exactly fly so high on webtoons. Shortly afterwards, smackjeeves also switched to this format and thus I left that site as well.
Since leaving and the struggle with scroll down comics, one of my working methods is to ultimately challenge the single panel scroll downs and thus not only make use of multiple panels but also design a page that can’t have the same effect otherwise.
Whenever I make page, and it’s possible, I try to make it artistic and present a unique scenario that can only be achieved through use of multiple panels. One such example is this page from chapter 22 where Kalwa goes on a rant. Kalwa’s text balloons are designed in a way that guide the reader down the page and keeps all focus on her. Yet the reader also has the option to view the members of the tribe who show a great deal of remorse, as though they were secondary focuses
Most of the time I do tend mix text with the pictures in order to set up and guide certain scenarios to the reader. Often I deliberately have text leak over into the next panel so that readers will be guided all over the page through the text itself.
This technique can also be used to convey a certain sensation, and example can be found in this page from chapter 24, which at the time of this post is the latest chapter to finish. The use of sound effects coming from the following panel convey a sense of interruption and swiftness. This of course does pertain to real life and Kalwa’s own perspective, as realistically an strong opponent would move quickly on a weak one and hit them before they knew what would hit them. These are types of scenarios and feelings that I try to convey within my pages, and attempt to make the entire page on big illustration in itself rather than just being a collection of smaller illustrations. Something a single panel scroll down comic could never achieve.
So all that being said, I hope this post has been most informative and (possibly) inspirational for some of you. I’ll be doing more posts similar to this in the future when I’ve got something I feel is worth talking about. Thanks once again for reading and I hope I can continue to bring you all more entertainment and some inspiration in the near future.
We’re there everyone, here on October 1st we conclude another chapter in the Kalwa story. Chapter 24 has now concluded, so as per usual, chapter updates will take a small break while we prep the next script for chapter 25, but be on the look out for art updates and behind the scenes and more coming soon. Meanwhile, check out what we got by click the thumb below.
An adventurous manga series about a teenage girl and her time traveling cell phone 