Djinnborn Comics

Archive: Aug 2011

Naskos Face Study
August 31, 2011 3:01 pm Leave a Comment
Nothing too new here. Just wanted to throw in a study I’m working on for Naskos.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this yet.

I do have something else to talk about, though! I am taking a line from one of my favorite development blogs, ArenaNet, and going to start having character and culture weeks. During those weeks I’ll do my best to have a neat post up about the featured character or culture each day.

To that end, I’m going to spend the next few days preparing for Osoron Week and try to get some really cool stuff for you guys.

Osoron Week probably won’t be next week. It’s Labor Day weekend for the the U.S., so it won’t really be a full week for the majority of my readers. I’ll put some stuff up next week, but Osoron Week will officially start on September 12!
Osoron Expressions, Take 1
August 29, 2011 4:10 pm Leave a Comment
Been working on practicing expressions because expressions are hard! Know what else is hard? Drawing with consistency. Sure, my main characters all look different enough that readers will be able to tell them apart. But there’s something to be said for visual consistency. There’s a difference between making characters stand out because of colors and clothing, and making them recognizable when you remove those kinds of visual cues.

It’s amazing how much of consistency just comes down to basics. A lot of artists subconsciously know the basics, but it helps to be reminded once in a while. Consistent character drawing is not a magic trick only certain people can accomplish. It’s just understanding applications of the basics.

Sometimes it really just takes a refresher course or a new perspective to drive something home. A friend of mine showed me a post from Lackadaisy that refreshed some of the basics for me and made it easier for me to understand how to create consistency in my character art.

So I present you some Osoron expressions!

I’ll be practicing with him as part of his redesign, but I’ve found it’s easier to capture the features I want him to have. I won’t say he’s perfect on all of these, but I feel things falling into place better.

Since it’s time to revisit and reimagine Osy’s design a little bit, I decided to tackle the expressions. I’m sure many of you have seen the 25 Essential Expressions chart that was running around deviantART for a while. I’ll be filling this out for each character. Osy is the first on my list.

Also, I have plans to include a Musian character as part of the main cast. Keep an eye out for him soon!
Kollan Colors
August 26, 2011 1:48 pm Leave a Comment

Quick flat-color mockup of Kollan. He prefers the earthy tones of his homeland instead of the jewel tones of the Aremites. In fact, he had to get a brown Aremite shirt custom-made.

The Ropoldi prefer earth-toned clothing. Various shades of brown are the most common, but green and red show up sometimes. Their non-brown colors tend to be desaturated or bleached from the amount of time they spend in the sun.

I’ll probably add some kind of decoration or design to his robe in a later design iteration. This was mostly for me to get an idea for Kollan’s direction, and I’m happy with the direction he’s going.
Kollan Update
August 25, 2011 4:43 pm Leave a Comment
Kollan’s been updated! Click for a larger version!

The new Ropoldi character that joined my main cast now has a completed first iteration of his design! So that means I’ll probably have more of him coming. But first, some notes!

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Kollan-in-progress
August 24, 2011 2:09 pm Leave a Comment
What’s a Kollan, you ask? That’s the name of the new Ropoldi character I’m introducing to the main cast. He’s an over-eager sort trying very hard to prove his value to Osoron and his entourage. Last night I developed a brief sketch to flesh out my visual ideas for him. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Needless to say, he’s not going to be naked! You can see the workings of his outfit so far. He’ll wear an Aremite waist sash that he’s converted into a weapon. He wears a large Ropoldi cloak that serves as his primary weapon. If you’ve ever seen the TV show the Cape, Kollan’s fighting style is inspired by the titular character. For a little added effect, he has short spikes or blades attached to the base of his cloak.

He’ll have some more visual development once I figure out what non-Ropoldi accoutrements he should have. Do you have any thoughts?
Sketch of Aremshah
August 23, 2011 2:04 pm Leave a Comment
I’m going to try and update this a little more often with sketches, doodles, and add-ons for the comic. I figure if I can sketch it a lot more, I can really be ready for launch.

So here’s a picture of a main road Aremshah. There aren’t many people out right now, partly because I ran out of time. But here you go!
Mevar’s New Look – Colored
August 22, 2011 4:25 pm Leave a Comment
After spending some time working with Mevar’s redesign, I colored him! I think he looks much better now! What do you think?

Next main character I need to devise is my new Ropoldi guy. I should also create some Musian male costumes (women will be easy enough to draw). Then I’ll revisit Osoron and Naskos again, see if I can fix them up even better. Now that I have more knowledge about what each of my races wear, I can flesh out characters’ visual designs better.

Then I have another cast to work with! Stay tuned!
Mevar’s Redesign
August 19, 2011 5:32 pm Leave a Comment
What’s this? Another post so soon?! That’s pretty crazy!

But last night I got really inspired and decided it was a good time to rework Mevar’s design. Glance behind the jump to see!

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New Cast List!
August 17, 2011 5:26 pm Leave a Comment
Moving is complete! I’m not completely settled, but I’m getting there. It’s nice having a place all to myself again. I can do a lot more that I’ve been wanting to do but felt too constrained to deal with. Now that I’m all moved in, I’ll make some more art. I definitely need to get more posted here anyway.

Since I don’t have any artwork ready just yet, I decided I’d share my updated cast list for the Upper Aremshah story. Some of you might remember that I plan to run two stories. One story is Osoron’s story and shows the life of the newly-crowned sorcerer-caliph. The other story is Drachmir’s story and shows Aremshah life from the lower tiers. So far, all the characters I’ve shown are for Osoron’s story. He’s the one starting the webcomic off so it seemed natural to design his crew first.

Before I get further off track, let me post that cast list!

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Ropoldi Fashions
August 8, 2011 9:01 pm 1 Comment

Otakon was a blast and I’ll have my pictures up really soon.

In other news, I’m moving to a new place tomorrow! I will endeavor to get some sketches ready for Thursday, but most of you know that moving takes a lot out of you. On the other hand, sketches are not terribly hard to produce usually and I still want to get something up here.

Enough rambling on my part! Today’s post is a look at early designs for Ropoldi fashions.
This will be a short post since I don’t have a lot to show yet.

The Ropoldi live in a hot, desert climate. As a result, they either go fully-clothed in loose clothing or they wear very little. Their skin is gold-colored and has a reflective sheen that protects them from the worst of the desert sun’s heat and light. Therefore they have less need to cover from head to toe than the other races.

That being said, they do go fully clothed more often than not. The above are some examples of what I’ve developed so far. Tunics, cloaks with hoods, and togas. I was going for a rough fusion of Roman and desert nomad styles. Their armor also exhibits some Roman styles combined with some Bedouin-style accents.

I don’t have a whole heck of a lot else to say about them yet. I’m going to try and get some females up here, though male and female Ropoldi dress similarly. I should show what their lighter outfits look like.

Stay tuned! I am going to try very hard to have some sketches for Thursday or Friday!

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