Emissary of the King

It's been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd show you all a page of concept sketches I've been doing for one of my projects. This is the main character of a cartoon pitch I'm putting together. She's sort of a nerdy girl who fights dragons with science, you know, that type of character. 

I'm trying to settle on an outfit for her. I don't want this project to involve costume changes, I want it to be more icon-based. Just one outfit, and maybe one coat she puts over it when she's in cold weather. But I haven't even settled on a name for her yet. That's kind of an important thing to have in the pitch bible. Hrmm. 

Hey Pen Ward, call me

I'm really enjoying doing these animated doodles. I have to admit, this one kind of got away from me. At first it was just Finn from Adventure Time pulling out a sword, and then, well, it just kept on going.

Mee-yull-neer?

The power of flight make things too easy for super heroes. These days they're giving everyone the ability to fly. Remember when Wonder Woman had to park her invisible jet? Now there's excitement for you.
I always thought Thor's method of transportation was cool. He throws his hammer so hard that it lifts him off the ground. Of course the physics of that don't actually make any sense, but I wanted to try it anyway. This is a rough line animation, I just wanted to capture the weight and the momentum.
You're going to have to imagine a thunderclap at the same moment as that shockwave, because Mjolnir clearly must be breaking the sound barrier to lift up a guy as heavy as Thor.

Next Stop Laputa

A new piece taken from the world of master director Hayao Miyazaki. This is Dola and her pirate gang from one of my favorite movies, Castle In The Sky.

As far as I'm concerned, Dola is one of the greatest characters of all time. Miyazaki always does a great job of adding dimension to his characters--bad guys are never purely bad--and the Dola Gang is one of the best examples. Here you have a band of robbers and thieves, ruffians and lawbreakers to their core, yet at the same time the entire crew is a bunch of mama's boys. And Dola herself is such a great twist on a tired anime trope. Miyazaki has always eschewed the whole "women as buxom sex object" thing, with Dola it's almost like he's saying "you want a sexy sky pirate? Fine, but I'll set the story when she's 70 years old!" By keeping sexiness from slowing things down, it pulls focus to more distinctly feminine kinds of strength in Dola, like motherhood. But this is starting to turn into a dissertation. I'll ramble about that some other time.
Best regards,
-Joe

Sorceress costume changes: a sketch

Jumping around between projects a bit, here are some sketches of a villainous sorceress from a comic project I've been kicking around for a couple of years. The problem with this project is its scope: the more I work on it, the more it turns into a multi-volume epic with hundreds and hundreds of pages. That's too many pages! Still, even though I wont be officially undertaking this project any time soon, I don't feel like working on it anyway is wasted effort in the least. Character design is character design, and I can always apply what I learn from working on Tsamira here to other characters on more realistic scales. 

Here are some of the many costume changes this character makes throughout the storyline, some more Frazetta-esque than others. 

I posted a drawing of this character once before, though back then the drawing was more intended to get me used to working completely in photoshop. This time it's more about pure character and fashion design. 

"Science In The Blood" illustration

I finished a new illustration for the Story Collider. The theme that jumped out at me was "life as a clockwork mechanism," although they wanted me to avoid using the human figure so it wouldn't become morbid. Probably the right decision.

Click Here to read "Science In The Blood" at Story Collider!

Superhero Pencil Sketches

I'm working on a story about two young superheroes: one with corporate sponsorship, and merchandising deals, and a ton of media following; and the other with student loans, and a crappy part-time job, struggling to pay her rent while at the same time trying to live her passion for crime fighting, because saving people doesn't pay in money. 

Can you guess which is which? 

The idea is that Kid Magnificent (top) made her own costume, bearing in mind things like how she has to do her own laundry. On the other hand, MadBrat (bottom) is sponsored by a fictionalized version of Nike or Puma or some activewear company like that, and has an entire ad agency that designs and provides her accessories. The character design is still a work in progress. I want to get away from capes and spandex and make these costumes something a girl could actually jump around and be athletic in, but right now I feel like they're a little too utilitarian, not quite glam enough for American comics. Plus the color themes are still not right.