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-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-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-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-46: OSAS Issue 2 Cover Inks

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

We're currently in between Issue 2 and 3 for our webcomic, Of Stars and Swords, and while we're taking a two week break before the start of Issue 3, that doesn't mean we don't have something coming for you. Caroline has been putting together a cover image for Issue 2, because for some reason we enjoy doing those after the issue ends instead of before!

We'll have the full color version up on Wednesday on the main OSAS website, but until then, how about a look at the inks?

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-42: OSAS Splash Page Layout

Hey, everyone! Last week's Of Stars and Swords page was a big splash page that Caroline nearly killed her hand and eyes on. It's only fair to give you a look at the layout she put together, since this is one of the rare times she put together every step of the art. So here's her layout sketches which you can compare with the actual page by clicking this link!

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

STS-34: Preview of the Week

I wanted to start sharing weekly previews of stuff in-progress. Mainly peeks at pages I'm working on in earlier stages. This week, I share with you a panel from page one of the next issue of Of Stars and Swords.


It's simple, but it came together nicely and didn't fight me too much. My pencils aren't as clean and finalized as they could be, but I'll fix the line weight and other problems when I ink.

STS-32: Of Stars and Swords Flyer - Final

So here it is, finally. Our flyer/poster for our webcomic. I'll be getting prints of this in decent size and taking a stack to our local comic shop. Hopefully some people will see it and take interest, but even if it isn't many, I'm just happy to be able to give it a shot.

And coming soon here on the blog shall be a few small previews of something else we're working on...

STS-30: Flyer - Inks and Process

Okay, so here's a little bit more than just art. This is the same flyer we showed the pencils on a few days back, but this time, it's inked! Here's the usual straight-blacks that one normally gets with these kinds of things. Now, there aren't a lot of heavy blacks here. They're mostly being used to pull Seren out from the background elements. But the other reason is this isn't the last step for inking when it comes to Of Stars and Swords.

After the blacks are in, all the pages get a nice wash of grey. Caroline uses this to help define subtler tones and shading. It also adds something to the overall feel of the finished pages, giving them an older, rougher look that helps the mood of a fantasy comic. Plus, as great as the black always look when she's done with that step, the greys just pull everything together. Here, especially, you can start to see what's going to happen with the background and where the logo/text is going to go.

Fully colored and text-filled version to come soon! Hope you like it and I hope you're keeping up with the comic, too!

STS-29: Of Stars and Swords Flyer - Pencil

So here are the pencils for a flyer/poster/cover image we've put together for Of Stars and Swords. We originally had a much simpler idea, something only focused on Seren and then the logo along with some text, but we couldn't find a good way to do it. So it quickly developed into a movie poster-styled image with all of the main cast for the first arc of the comic.

The layout took some time, but it's come together wonderfully. While I helped with the planning and making sure things looked right, this real weight here is, again, pulled by Caroline. I'm especially happy with Chloe there, on the bottom right. And it all looks even better in color!

Oh, and those arrows? Light sources.

STS-13: Seren

We've already shown Seren, the main character from our soon-to-launch webcomic, a few times here, but why not another? Unlike everything else we've shown so far, this image has the distinction of not being a joint effort at all! While all the other art so far has been the work of both myself and Caroline, this one is all her.

STS-10: Of Stars and Swords Preview

This time the preview for our upcoming webcomic is not a panel at all! Here is a look at the logo Caroline put together on top of an image we originally designed as a cover, but decided worked better like this. And hey, this is digital, who needs covers?

STS-3: Fantasy Webcomic Announcement!

For the last year, if you've followed Caroline or I, you've seen us talking about a fantasy comic we're working on. Well, not only are we well ahead on the work, but it now has a title and its time to talk about it in a real capacity finally!

Of Stars and Swords is a fantasy webcomic we'll be launching very soon. It follows a young Half-Elf girl, Seren, as she deals with the usual troubles of a high fantasy world: Magic, zombies, monsters, and of course, other greedy adventurer types. There will be a fairly good sized rotating cast of other characters through the comic, and we'll be launching with a story all about Seren's history and back story before diving into everything else.

Once we go live with the comic, we'll be updating twice a week. The main update day will consist of the page for that week, and the second update each week will be background information, development sketches, and other bits and pieces of world building info.

Until the full on launch, I'll be posting preview panels and other pieces of art here. To kick that off, here's our first, and still main, design for Seren. Enjoy!