Soulsnatchers print update

In-progress update for the Soulsnatchers "Alusius" print!
You can get this by contributing to the Soulsnatchers Indiegogo campaign and it will also be available at London Comic Con this weekend (though copies will be limited so don't miss out!).

Next stage is to add details and highlights to the foreground.

Project 52: Weeks 37 to 44 - Vincent Cass style meme

Happy New Year everyone! My last submission for 2010. : D

I've never tried memes before but I've seen *Goku-chan's pop up several times and it looked quite fun to do.

Anyway I chose Vincent as he's probably the one who would vary the most with different styles (especially the manga related ones). If you've not seen him before, there's more information about him here.

I'm a little unsure about the Yoji Shinkawa one. It looks better than I hoped it would but perhaps doesn't quite match his style. Same with the Disney one as well, with the eyes probably being the most accurate part. Also, the head shape of his realistic counterpart is quite a bit different to the original (should be a bit more triangular rather than squared). Still, they felt rather refreshing as drawing exercises at least!

And yes I know I cheated a little by using Mike Krahulik for "DA artist style", but it is technically correct. : P

Until next time!

More...

Weeks 31 and 32 - Preparing for BICS

Been a couple of weeks at least since I last uploaded anything. I've been preparing stuff for the British Internation Comic Show next month, including artwork for the Midlands Comics Collective exhibition banner and free sampler comic that we'll be handing out at our table.

First up is the brief bio and cartoon portrait for the sampler:
(I'm not that bad with cats, but they are distracting bundles of cute (mostly!) : P )
DeviantArt link

And second is a new drawing of Alusius to go on the MC2 banner:

DeviantArt link

There's more BICS/ comic related artwork to come in the run up to the show, but I should be back to regularly scheduled uploading within a week or so. : )

Project 52: Week 15 - Caught

Too bad for Vincent that Lu's no so easy to get rid of!

I'm in the process of trying out scenes that I want in the story so sorry if it looks a bit rushed and bare. These things will be more detailed once they're finalised into finished comic panels.
This scene was originally drawn for a Tokyopop entry, but now it's going to be involved in the main story rather than a one-shot.

DeviantArt link

Project 52: Week 14 - "This won't hurt..."

"...too much."

Doc doesn't care much for eavesdroppers.
Eric's first encounter with the SS crew. It's becoming a bit more dressed up than the original comic, where instead of being sedated he was just whacked from behind with a steel pipe. : P

DeviantArt link

Project 52 - Week 10: Inspector Cass

Another tentative Soulsnatchers design.

Detective Inspector Vincent Cass, leading the investigation about the worryingly increasing number of people going missing, courtesy of Alusius and co.
I can't say much about his character without spoiling the plot, but for his design I was going for a guy in his late forties/ early fifties and very slightly scruffy (also not terribly worried about staying in shape).
I've had him almost as long as Alusius (about 4 years now) and originally his face was loosely based on Kim Coates.
As with everyone else, his design will probably be subject to change as I work more on the story.

C&C appreciated.

DeviantArt link

Project 52 - Week 5

A bit late with this submission. Last week was rather hectic
and I spent the free time I usually have catching up with work. : O


Another "Soulsnatchers" character in the pipeline.
This is Meg, named after Megara the Fury from whom she is descended.
Her job is mainly to track down those who have been marked by the Soulsnatchers team. She does this with the use of her left eye (a kind-of "eye of judgment"), which when activated can pick up the individual energy patterns of each of their targets. It can also pick up negative or corrupted energy patterns, so not only can she weed out the worst of mankind, she cannot be lied to.

The third eye is an enhancement for supernatural energy, for instance if the team are after a rogue demon. This can't be used for too long though as it is far more physically draining.

It's also rumoured she and Lu may have had a thing for each other at one point.

I'm still working on trying to make sense of her character so it's very likely that some details will be changed (some significantly) to work better with the story and the mythology (a cross between Greco-roman and the Christian view of hell).

As for the drawing, I only realised after I'd inked everything that I'd kind of messed up her hands and legs (the most obvious flaw being that the left hand and leg on the full figure are too big). I'm still tweaking some of the character designs and others still need to be done at all, so when I've got them roughly how I want them, I'm going to draw up some proper character sheets.

Anyway, I promise this week's drawing will be up on time! : D

DeviantArt link

Project 52 challenge - Weeks 1, 2 and 3

My first entry is actually a three-in-one since I started the challenge a couple of weeks into January. For those who are members of DeviantArt, I'll also be including the DA gallery links.

First up are two characters from my comic Soulsnatchers.


DA Link

A brief introduction:
Eric Killian has been searching for clues to the whereabouts of his brother, who disappeared mysteriously four years ago.
During his search, he gets caught up in the "Soulsnatchers" [pending name change] organisation, a sort-of black market branch of hell that specialises in trading human souls for what they most desire (without their consent naturally).

Eric, the main character, is the dude to the left. I've not posted him to DA before but he's changed quite significantly since I first designed him. He was originally supposed to be a dishevelled cop, but I didn't like the way it was working out so I made him a (slightly scruffy) university student. Bright but his curiosity often gets the better of him.

Some of you may have seen Alusius before if you know me from DeviantArt. He's the head of his team of soulsnatchers and before Eric joins, is unique in the fact that he used to be (and possibly still is) human. The first outfit is him in his uniform (worn so as not to draw too much attention to themselves on the surface) and the second is his casual outfit, much more comfortable since it's less restrictive to what lies beneath his bandages.
I've also given him a slight design change, giving him a high coat collar, different boots and baggier trousers.
Here are some of the original drawings I did of him for comparison:
Alusius original design 1
Alusius orginal design 2

The comic style itself is getting a makeover too. Less loose with more varied line weights.
A couple of pages from the original comic:
Page 1
Page 2
I'm hoping to post up more SS stuff in the near future, more characters and also environments which will also have an overhaul from the previous version.

These were both sketched in pencil then inked with a Copic brush marker. Rather missed it, it's been a long time since I've done non-digital inking!
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Next is just a quick digital drawing of Eric suiting up for his first day on the job:
DA Link

I'm thinking I should have made the line weight difference between Alusius and Eric greater to help distinguish between their jackets (or perhaps made the colour shades slightly different?). Also, does this inking style still work for the refined character designs?
Any ideas at this stage are more than welcome.

Critiques are more than welcome of course! : )

- Ryuuza