Of Eladrin and Amulets

Hey Everyone!
I'm back from Megacon and finally settling back into regular old life again :P I'm securing another second job (and possibly one full time job if the stars align in my favor) so I've been busy since getting back. However I did have a super fun awesome time and even got to see some old friends.

Here is the illustration I got to give to Wil Wheaton of his D&D Character Aeofel.



And here is the autograph I got from him too. The whole thing was a proud moment for me and I'll never forget it.


Next is an inked sketch from my sketchbook. I was having fun drawing my Dovakin, Merion, while waiting for the plane to arrive. This scene is from a quest in the game where she discovers this powerful book and while looking at it realized it was made of various kinds of skin (blood samples from each race of elves was needed to open the container it was in so looking back it probably didn't have human skin on it) but when you open the book you can choose which 'path' you follow and it levels you up in a bunch of stats. I reached a whole new level just from reading it :P But then it disappears...



Upon getting home I had to do some inking with my brush once more. I dearly missed inking with it while I was gone. Ink brush withdrawls anyone? Also added some Typography for fun and tried to make Merion look a bit more scratched up and weather-worn.



ALSO managed to find the perfect beads I had been looking for for my Amulet of Dibella. I tried in furious vain last night to sculpt the little leaves that are meant to be strung with the beads but I just couldn't get them right. The amulet itself is sculpted smaller than it looks when worn by a character. I think it looks too big and garish in the game so I made it smaller. But now with the leaf charms it's backfiring on me. I can't make them to scale no matter what I try. The leaves will not look exactly the same I'm afraid. I'm going to come back to it and try again later. For now this is my 'simplified' version of the Amulet of Dibella.



Next will be the Amulet of Mara! One of my favorite items, and diety, in the game! Also one of the more complicated pieces but I'm confident if I pace myself with sculpting it I can make it look as nice as the original. I'd like to make it as part of an 'Agent of Mara' cosplay one day. The priest robes aren't too complicated and I can pass around the little Mara pamphlets from the game :P Here's a peek!

ART PLANS.

Hey guys! It's been a while but loads have been going on. Mostly busy at work. But now I'm starting to settle down a bit and I've got plans. ART PLANS.

+VA Comicon Small Press Table
You've been hearing me talk about this for a while but that's because I'm super stoked for it! My first table at a non-anime convention! I've been making plans for merch that I want to make and bring including the new Alencia comic, buttons, prints, and some other small items like key chains and book marks.

+Media Studies
There are things like animals and landscapes that I feel like I need to draw more of so I'll be doing a lot more studies to get in the swing of drawing them. For now I'm using certain sketchbooks for this as well as making ATC style cards that I'll be doing studies as miniature illustrations on. I'll be posting them to my tumblr and then grouping them here too. Here are a few so far:










+Or Maybe Not Webcomic
I've got scripts from Ryan lined up and am currently working on the next update. Looking to have it up by Friday since I have a few days off work. I'm going to try to update it as much as I can between now and VA Comicon since I plan on making post cards to pimp it out for the con. I also need to just sit down and draw more comics.

+Kale issue #2
Is still in progress! I've been rewriting an reworking things and I'm starting to think that I should do it as a one shot book like I originally planned but maybe start it over after all. I learned a lot from the first issue but the more I look back at it the more I see things I wish I had done differently. I'm going to keep working on it and when I come to a final decision I'll talk about it here. But either way Kale's story will continue.

+Alencia Comics (and Contest!)
Writing for Alencia's stories has been much easier. She comes more naturally to me than Kale so her stories will be more in number and varied. I really like working in short story/episodic format and I will continue that. I'm also really enjoying mixing horror with fantasy so that is a plus!
Alencia's first short comic will be featured at my table at VA Comicon and will feature FAN ART! I have a fan art contest running from now till August 4th, where anyone who sends me fan art for Alencia will be included in the book (with their name and information to their website) and will receive a free copy of the comic for themselves! Just send me a copy of your fan art (large file size, TIFF, 300dpi, I need it large so when I format the book it will print nicely and not be pixelated) to fran_rowan(at)yahoo(dot)com. Here are some references for your use:
-Alencia close up
-Alencia and Human!Theloyn height chart in color. Theolyn hasn't been introduced in his human version yet (he appears as a cat in the comic for now) but if you wish to draw him then by all means go for it :)
-Preview of the comic. Also for your inspiration here is the preview of the comic featuring the first 6 pages.
Also please keep fan art to PG-13. The comic isn't really rated but it's not really hardcore or anything. If you have any questions please let me know. I'll be sure to share the entries and their artists here too!

I'm also making jewelry that I'll be selling on my Etsy page soon so keep your eyes peeled for that! This post is epically long as it is so goodbye for now and stay tuned!

Alencia: A Noble Deed Preview

Hey everyone!

Good news! I landed a second job! But because of that I'll be very busy. So to tide you over I finished my Alencia comic preview. I ended up replacing the font on the whole comic so that took me a bit of time but I'm much happier with it. For those interested the font is 'Anime Ace 2.0' and can be found here.

So for this comic Alencia has been hired to clear out a noble family's ancestral tomb of some undead that are believed to be running around down there. The whole comic is 17 pages and when I print the book I will include some sketches and production notes. I'll be selling the books at VA Comicon this September, so be sure to come check it out!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PREVIEW ON DEVIANT ART!

I hope you enjoyed that sneak peak, and feel free to let me know what you think of it so far!

One of my favorite things about Indy and European comics was the fan art they'd post in the back of the books from other artists at the publishing house, or that their artist friends would contribute. So if anyone would like to contribute some fan art for the book I will print it in the back of the book along with your name, website, and a little blurb if you'd like to write one about the piece. I will also award a free copy of the comic to those who choose to contribute fan art. However it cannot be in color as the comic will be printed in grey-scale. I will go ahead and set the due date for fan art to be August 4th . That will give me a few weeks to have the printers print the comics (giving them plenty of time keeps it affordable for me). I look forward to seeing what you guys cook up :)

Also: for anyone who wants more information on miss Alencia, you can find some info here and a general front reference here.

Concepts from Chaos

Hello again everyone! I've been going through my sketchbooks to see if I have any meager offerings for you and I've found a few.

A sketch of Alencia and Theolyn from a month ago. I've been slowly building their world and I've been looking at ideas for noble formal wear for Alencia's home town of 'Argate.' I'm trying to combine medieval costume with Indian Saris. I think the mixtures of fabrics, in both textures and patterns, will blend nicely with the cuts of the costumes. I'll post more of those as I go. (Pen on sketchbook paper.)

Some character concepts for a character from a comic project I'm working on with my partner in crime, Ryan Moody. (ballpoint and brush pens on sketchbook paper.)

Another concept from my Alencia stories, she tries to exorcise this demon from a family's home but it instead ends up following her around and terrorizing her. His appearance may change by the time he finally ends up in the comic but this is the closest to what's in my head I was able to draw so far. Research for him is fun as it includes watching the Paranormal Activity movies, and episodes of 'Paranormal State.' (Reference used here. Blue pencil and brush pen on sketchbook paper, colored in Photoshop CS5.5)

And here's a large poster I did as a Christmas commission. The client asked for their nephew as a super hero. We brainstormed on concepts and I created the costume for him. The poster is meant to look like the cover of a comic book. The font is "In a Flash" by Walter Velez.

I hope you all had a great holiday, and look forward to the new year! See you in 2012!

Alencia: A Noble Deed Preview

Hello all! I'm nearing completion of my current Alenica solo story and I'm very excited. Alencia is a character who has been with me a long time and has grown into one of my favorite and most developed characters (in case you didn't realize by how much I draw her). My plan for her is to make episodic stories for her, with an over arching story arch. I've been doing lots of writing and planning and I'm on my way. The first story is nearing completion so I thought I'd share with you a preview of some of the pages so far, sans text.

Down the road I'd also like to formally introduce you to Alencia and show you my method and process in drawing comics, both in their own posts. I'm also thinking about releasing each 'episode' as a PDF file for a few dollars. Then when I get more stories done I can release a full book. I enjoy reading web comics but there is something so satisfying about holding a book in my hands and reading it. I also have grown a distaste for online e-readers for comics. I've been reading Dark Horse's 'The Thing' comic online and the e-reader for it drives me crazy. The panels don't always fit the screen size and it stretches some panels to pixilate them and I just really don't like it. If they release a trade for it I will buy it in a heartbeat. The Thing + Vikings = A-OK in my book.

Well enjoy the pages and let me know what you think! I'll get back to you on the PDF files once I figure out a good way to sell them. Maybe an Etsy page? We'll see.

Alencia Preview/Let's Talk about Kale

Here's a little preview from the 17 page Alencia comic I'm working on. After I finish this baby up its' back to work on continuing Kale's story. (I've been feeling really conflicted about it lately but I'll explain a bit more later.) Here's a panel from page 11.

Here's Alencia casting a spell on her sword while fighting the evil undead.
Very fun to draw. Done with non-photo blue pencil and a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen.


The reason I've been feeling conflicted about Kale's story is mainly because of the circumstances surrounding me doing it. When I originally sat down to do her story I gave myself less than a year to do it and publish it in time for a convention. I originally wanted it to be a stand alone book, a self contained story. It ended up being cut up and will be maybe three issues, possibly more, by now. This was also my first time doing a self published book (aside from a mini comic done for my 'Intro. to Sequential' final project a few years prior).

I'm glad I did the first issue of Kale, and I'm really proud of the work I did, but now the art is almost two years old, and my mistakes are becoming even more glaringly obvious to me, to the point where I'm becoming more and more embarrassed about it. If you compare the comic pages to the panel I posted above the improvement is obvious. But I'm glad I did it. I learned SO MUCH from actually getting off of my ass and self publishing the first issue. I wouldn't have gotten that knowledge and experience in a classroom alone.

I'm just faced with some possible choices right now for Kale issue #2. I want to finish the story, its' just the start of it is very rough. It needs polishing but if I restart it then I feel I'd be letting down those people who bought the first issue, and myself. I don't want to get stuck in the endless trap of redoing pages to the point that I don't get to move forward with other projects or finish this one. It's a commitment and I want to see it through to the end.

I've also considered completely dropping it in favor of doing other projects but again, I feel I'd be letting myself and others down, and I can't have that. I want to be a woman of my convictions and finish what I start.

So after I finish this 17 page intro story of Alencia, I'm going back to thumb-nailing and planning out the next issue of Kale. I've also been universe building and have been doing LOTS of writing. This next issue of Kale: Lost & Found is going to blow the first issue out of the water in terms of quality and art direction. To the point where I might offer the first issue with the second as a bonus :P And/or offer a discount on the second issue to those who bought the first one; which I still have a stack of books for.

Either way, this story will be told, and I will make it better with every brush and pen stroke. You have my word.

Coming soon!- 10 page preview of Kale: Lost & Found issue #1, for those who need proof it exists! It may also come with commentary :P Haven't decided if I should further embarrass myself yet... I'm also going to post little insights into the world of Kale and Alencia while I build their universe, so look out for those!

If you read my wall of text, thank you. I'll have more art up soon, and I'll try not to make these text heavy posts a habit :P
Thanks for sticking with me!