STS-71: Of Stars and Swords Volume 1 Art Updates

As of today, Of Stars and Swords Vol 1: The Mad Lord is out on Comixology!  It contains the complete first story arc for the comic, as well as some extra things like a new short comic and, importantly, updated art. To give you an idea of what that means for the art (and the lettering in most cases), Caroline put together a number of comparison panels that we've shared in the past few months, and I wanted to compile them all here for easy viewing.

Lastly, Volume 1 is the ONLY way to get this updated art. We won't be updating the webcomic or the previously released issues.

STS-70: Of Stars and Swords Character Design: Seren

Here's the last of the updated designs for the Of Stars and Swords cast in arc 2: Seren! She was the hardest to get right, mainly because I was hesitant to change her look after the first arc...but she's not a superhero, so there's no good reason for her not to change when the rest of the csat designs looked so good.

I'll leave the rest to Caroline.

We were originally planning on keeping Seren’s outfit from arc 1, and just updating her belt, daggers, and arm armour. But as everyone else’s designs started coming together, we realized she just wasn’t as interesting in comparison and I really wanted to continue the trend of changing her look to line up with changes to her self-identity. Her new outfit is an upgrade focusing on hilighting her strengths: stealth, speed, and connections. We also decided to visibly link her to the Dorae-Kos by creating an emblem for them that’s kinda hard to miss on her back.

STS-68: Of Stars and Swords Character Design: Kieran

Time for another look at the Of Stars and Swords Arc 2 cast. This time it's Kieran, who we've shown off more than a few times and, like Maeira, now looks completely different!

Now I'll stop typing and leave the rest to Caroline's words.

Kieran was also held back by his original design from a few years ago. While we were streamlining him, we decided to ditch the bow and let him focus on his swords exclusively. Most of Kieran’s changes have come as a result of Graham figuring him out while writing scripts for arc 2. His personality and attitude weren’t matching the sketches I was putting together. He needed to be sharper featured, and more rugged and militarian. The final costume was inspired by Japanese Samurai armour (jinbaori for the coat, kyahan for the leg gaiters, and even the sword placements), Game of Thrones (primarily outerwear worn by the Starks) and the streamlined fantasy designs in Dragon Age.

STS-67: Of Stars and Swords Character Design: Anica

Here's another look at a character for Of Stars and Swords Arc 2! This is Anica, the only character that we managed to nail down on the first go.

Now here's Caroline's design and her talking about it.



We got lucky with Anica, I knew exactly how she needed to look from the beginning. Our goal was to borrow shapes found in Ancient Egyptian clothing, but combine them in a different way. I wanted her to look like a wealthy merchant’s daughter, so her clothing needed to be rich and colorful, while also practical for daily wear.

STS-66: Of Stars and Swords Character Design: Cato

Next up in the look at the character designs for Of Stars and Swords Arc 2 is Cato. As you can see, he went through some fairly dramatic changes, and I'll let Caroline do the talking about the rest of it!



Cato was the hardest to pin down. We always knew we wanted him to have a Greek influence. I originally pictured him as being tan and blonde, and he gradually got darker with each draft. When my original ideas were too bland, I started looking to Troy and East of West for inspiration.

STS-65: Of Stars and Swords Character Design: Maeira

The character designs for the second story arc for Of Stars and Swords are basically finalized! We've posted a few iterations of them here on the blog, but now it's time to show off what the characters will look like when the comic actually starts!

First up is Maeira! From here on out, it's all Caroline talking about it, as well.



Graham came up for the original design for Maeira yeeeears ago. When it came time to polishing up her design for the comic, we tried to stick to her original costume as much as possible, even though it didn’t have a strong silhouette and was kinda bland. As we developed the other characters we started to notice that our older designs weren’t holding up, so we started from scratch again.

STS-64: Of Stars and Swords Arc 2 Cast

Caroline recently put together some portraits for the main cast for the next Of Stars and Swords story arc! Outfits aren't entirely final, and some are already changed from after these were done. We'll have more to show soon. The start of the second arc is still a little ways off, but that doesn't mean we can't keep showing off art until we get there!

STS-62: Of Stars and Swords Preview: Anica

As the first Of Stars and Swords story arc draws to a close, we've been giving you all some small looks at the cast for the second story arc.

First, we showed the designs for Kieran and Maeira, a pair of Elves that will be joining Seren..

Then, a few weeks ago, we showed off the design for Cato.

This week, meet Anica! As with Cato, she's been a primary character in the Prose story. Visually, we wanted Anica's design to have a bit of an Egyptian influence, as part of our push to show more of the world beyond the usual "everything in fantasy is white and European". At the same time, we wanted her to have some more color than the other designs, especially since the other characters tend to wear darker, more subdued outfits.

STS-61: Of Stars and Swords Preview: Cato

The first story arc for Of Stars and Swords is nearly over! We've been a bit slow on getting these last pages out, and we apologize! But to tide you over, how about a look at the future?

The second story arc is already in the planning and prep stages. There will be a new cast of characters joining Seren, and while you've seen a couple of them in a previous post, how about one more? Oh...wait, did I not mention those two in we showed you last time would be joining up? Oops!

So joining them AND Seren will be a familiar name to anyone reading the Of Stars and Swords Prose sidestory. That story's lead, Cato, will be joining the comic in the next arc! And here's a look at him. He's gone through a couple of stages of design, and we'll show off the fairly drastic alterations and work we've done eventually, but for now, here's his (probably) finalized design!

STS-58: Of Stars and Swords Process - Color Comparison

We recently went through the wonderful experience of Caroline's HDD dying. For obvious reasons, this slowed down our usual one page a week update schedule for Of Stars and Swords. The page (Page 14 of Issue 5) we put up that week wasn't entirely finished, and we figured you might like a side-by-side look at the unfinished page next to the now-finished page.

On the left is the unfinished one. Specifically, what's missing is shading on the figures. The backgrounds are actually done, but the figures are still just the flat colors. You can see how Caroline chose to shade them on the right.

In a lot of ways, the left page LOOKS done. We could probably put out comic pages that look like that and they'd be perfectly fine, overall. But when you see it next to the final page, you can really see what Caroline does when she's coloring, and that it is absolutely worth it!

Enjoy, and as always, click the image to get a better look!

STS-57: Of Stars and Swords Preview - Kieran and Maeira v2

Back in 2011, as we were gearing up to launch Of Stars and Swords, we showed off a pair of character concepts. It's been five full issues of the comic, and we're close to halfway through the sixth, and final for the first story arc, and said characters never showed up! Well, not in the comic. The pair have more recently shown up in the comic's prose side story!

Well, here are Kieran and Maeira again, with a much more finalized design! Finalized for what, though? Details to come. For now, here they are!

STS-55: Summer Seren

Summer's almost over, but we've got a summer sketch for you! Caroline decided she just had to draw Seren enjoying the summer. So here it is, done in crayon! Enjoy Seren in her usual cheerful form.




Speaking of Seren, Of Stars and Swords Issue 0 and 1 are available for sale on Comixology now! There are also DRM-free versions available in our store on the sidebar to the left, as well as a newly compiled version of The End with new lettering!

STS-54: Scifi Character Design Update

We've been focused on Of Stars and Swords here on the art blog lately, but I'm still quietly working on a scifi comic. An 8-page short is nearly completely penciled, along with multiple scripts written, so things are coming. For now, though, here's a look at some character designs as they've evolved in the working.

You can see the original headshots of the main cast here and then a full lineup of the cast here.

First up is a color test on that previous lineup. Everything here is still in various states of flux, even in how some of the characters are designed on the whole. So certain characters might look completely different when the comic itself is out! Click to see a larger version!

Next up are a couple of sketches that Caroline did. These are her takes on the four main characters, with a fairly heavy redesign attempt to one of them. It is very possible I might be adapting some of her ideas into the final character designs...

STS-48: OSAS Mage and Priest Designs

Recently in Of Stars and Swords, we've introduced a new city with a political system built around a group of Mages and Priests. The idea was that everything in running the city was divided equally between the two groups, and so we needed designs for how everyone would look. Beyond some very minor suggestions from me, all of this was Caroline as she tried to find some less than traditional influences for how to dress the characters.

First up are the designs for the two groups of city guards. So far, we've only shown the Priest Guards, and you can see them fully colored here on this page.



Next, we needed the two leaders. These are our really important characters that can't just be blank faces, and Caroline really had fun with the pair while still playing off the guard designs. And next week, when Issue 3 of the comic starts up, you'll get to see both of these guys right away!

STS-44: Alternate Of Stars and Swords Page

Alright. Due to sickness, we had no Of Stars and Swords update this week. It's the first week we've failed to update since launching, and it bothered us both a great deal, but it was the best decision. Caroline, especially, has needed the time to recover from whatever hell we both managed to catch.

But it's Wednesday and I feel wrong not putting SOMETHING online for people to enjoy. So I've got something for you all, and I like to call it the reason why we don't let Caroline do the writing...or, alternatively, the reason why we should have her doing all the writing.

Below is the version of last week's page that Caroline gave me to letter. These days, she always does some flatting before I get the page, so color of various kinds is not out of the ordinary. But for this, she decided that she would put in her own words...



Just in case it wasn't obvious from the text and the color choices, Caroline enjoys turtles.

STS-40: OSAS Colors

Hey, everyone. I know we're quiet here, but that's only because Caroline and I are hard at work on Of Stars and Swords! We also just launched a Prose based side project for the webcomic, featuring its own story in the same world, if that's your kind of thing! And in addition to all of that, there's more prep and work going on for the long-talked-about Scifi comic. Not to mention random sketches, ideas for some prints, and other things that you're likely to see here as they get done. So yes, we're busy!

But I've got the perfect thing for this blog today. Caroline's been coloring the Of Stars and Swords pages just a bit differently lately. Trying some different ways to simplify what she does and still be comfortable with it. And then I threw Page 4 of Issue 2 of the comic at her. It's a travel montage, with five completely different scenes on one page. That is not at all easy, and Caroline really worked hard to make them all work individually.

So here, for your eyes, is the entire page minus those pesky letters I feel compelled to cover up all her careful shading with!

Slightly larger version on deviantart: http://seriousturtle.deviantart.com/art/OSAS-I2-P4-Colored-322742395