STS-63: A Bunch of Sketches

Hey everyone! A slight change of pace in this post, as this is full of Graham's art instead of Caroline's. It happens, and hopefully there'll be more of both to show soon as we work on finishing our first Of Stars and Swords story and start to develop some new things.

For now though, here's a bunch of sketches Graham has been doing to get back into the groove of drawing again. There's a good chance these will get inked in the future (maybe even by Caroline), as well.

The first batch is a group of Marvel's cosmic characters: Captain Marvel, Nova, Mantis, and Gamora.

Second group are all X-Men: Cyclops, X-23, Kitty Pryde and Lockheed, and Storm.

Third group are all Spider-Man related: Peter Parker, Miles Morales (Ultimate Spider-Man), Gwen Stacy (Spider-Woman), and Anya Corazon (Spider-Girl).

STS-60: The Mad Lord

The newest Of Stars and Swords page features the return of the main villain for the first story arc, the Mad Lord. We're over a hundred pages into the comic, but we've only seen him TWICE! And both times were in the Issue 0, back in 2012! Since it's been so long and we actually needed him for the current scene, Caroline did a proper design for him. So here's Caroline's design sketches for the Mad Lord. Enjoy!

STS-59: Of Stars and Swords Cameo Concepts

Of Stars and Swords is, right now, in the home stretch for the first arc. We're going to be done in around ten pages! It's exciting and we're having a ton of fun reaching the point in the story we've been aiming for, and not expecting to really ever get to, since the very beginning. And in the lead up to the end of our first story arc, we decided to have some fun with background characters by inserting the likenesses of some of our comic creator friends.

While we've done four cameos, only two of them received design sketches. Why? Because we're weird that way. Or mean. So to make up for being mean, first I'll plug our two friends that didn't get concepts drawn.

First is Sarah Roarke, creator of the comic After Daylight. She's on this page, in the second to last panel...dead center with pink hair!

Second is Larry Watts, currently the penciller on Robyn Hood for Zenescope. He's on the last panel on this page, being grabbed by Seren and looking appropriately terrified.

Now, on to the concept art!

First up here are two characters that aren't cameos at all! Just updated designs for the Elf and Dwarf Commanders since we hadn't seen them in so long. But the third headshot here is of Jules Rivera, creator of the comics Valkyrie Squadron and Misfortune High! She first showed up on this page and managed to return in the most recent one!



And last we have Gustav Carlson, creator of Backwood Folk and Eve of the Ozarks! He appeared first on this page and then came running back again! Caroline had to design what the Elf mages would look like for him, so there's also some work on that design here, as well.

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-53: Demon Designs

What would a fantasy story be without monsters? Of Stars and Swords has been a slow burn in that direction, but now we've got demons! There's not much to see in the comic pages just yet, so how about a look at Caroline's design sketches?

In other Of Stars and Swords news, you can now buy Issue 0 on Comixology! The other issues are coming, as well! Speaking of that, Issue 4 begins on June 26!

STS-52: Winter Wear

This is in reaction to this page, where Marguerite updates her wardrobe to something more appropriate for snow and Chloe calls foul.  Graham and I were joking about it one night and I had some free time at work the next day...

So here's a crayon and ballpoint pen doodle of Chloe, if Marguerite had given in and decided to help her out.

Yes, that is a bow.

STS-51: Megacon 2013

This was our first year getting a table at Megacon, after years of just bringing our portfolio and bugging pros.  Graham even had his own portfolio this year, full of pages from his sci-fi comic!

Commissions:

One of the best things about having a table is that the cosplay comes to you:

I'll leave you with this Strange group:

STS-50: Goblin Design Sketch

Look at that! Finally up to fifty blog posts!

For this one, I give you how Goblins look in Of Stars and Swords. Caroline and I talked this one through a lot before she tackled the design, but we both came from the same direction. The idea was to make this a recognizably goblin-like design, but not to copy what, say, Lord of the Rings had already done. So we've still got the big head, small body setup, but Caroline went with a few different ideas here: three fingers and toes, legs that reverse slightly at the knee, and somewhat bat-like ears.

And, of course, Caroline made him cute.

STS-49: OSAS Underground Designs

Half of the group of heroes in Of Stars and Swords has journeyed into a fairly standard fantasy location: underground tunnels and roads. For reference, the scene at the waypoint begins here, Issue 3 - Page 5.

The location where most of the action would take place was a waypoint, like a small village between cities to provide a place for travelers to rest. For reference, one of the first things Caroline did was to put together a nice little overhead view of the waypoint so we knew the area.

Overall, it's really just a simple crossroads with buildings carved into the four corners. So it didn't get too boring, we put a huge column in the center, carved with runes as a road sign of sorts. You can see the height and shape of the column at the bottom of this page of sketches.

We also didn't want things to just be boring rock and columns, so Caroline and I talked things over a little bit, and then she went crazy designing creatures of various kinds and tons of plant life for the environment. The sad thing is, a lot of these little guys we just don't have a chance to show, but it helped to get a feel for what the underground world is like.

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-47: OSAS Dwarf Designs

At the end of the Issue 2 for Of Stars and Swords, we finally had our heroes encounter a fantasy staple: Dwarves. So here's a look at Caroline's design sketches for the two main Dwarves in the comic at the moment.

On the left is the Dwarf Commander, who never got a name because I never bothered with it. Maybe later. But he's much more our standard Dwarf, beard and all. Even then, Caroline made sure to keep him with a closer-cropped, dignified looking beard to help his military look. The armor he wears became the standard for the Dwarves, so any background Dwarves you see tend to be wearing the same design, though usually with helmets.

On the right is Algvi, the scout that joins up with the characters to lead them underground. With him, I gave Caroline only two suggestions: Make him bald and give him some kind of tattoo on his head. She ran with that, added the wonderful mutton chops, a nice nose scar, and roughed him up in a way that gave him a lot of character. His armor is, essentially, the same as the Dwarf Commander's, but leather rather than plate.

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-41: OSAS Horse Studies

Hello again! So this week's Of Stars and Swords page is full of horses! Before getting going on the page, though, Caroline did a bunch of studies and sketches on the layouts we put together. And here they are for you to enjoy, along with another look at how the layout for this page began to compare against where it ended up!

STS-28: Character Design Sketches

Today's update consists of two things! Amazing!

The first is Caroline's base sketch for our redesign of Aram. The importance here was in the clothing, as we needed to start basically from scratch. We worked with the idea of the heavy shoulders and a longer coat, with Caroline really working out how the bracers and ankles would look. The staff gave us some trouble, as we didn't want to be too boring or flashy...so Caroline came up with the little bend in it with the spherical top.

The next sketch is our attempt to design some robes for Baldur. You can see the three basic ideas we put together for styles at the top. In all honesty, there was really no contest with what was the strongest, but it was good to work others out on paper to see. Colors took some thinking, as we wanted a sun motif without being too much. And, as you can see, Caroline loved designing the shoes. I just had to look at them and say "They look great."

STS-22: Hawk Studies

Today's update is a series of hawk studies that Caroline put together. Of Stars and Swords will be featuring such a bird after the first story we have finishes, so we wanted to get a handle on how things should look.

More art coming here soon, and Wednesday marks the uploading of page two of the webcomic!

STS-8: Headshot

Not a huge update today, just a simple headshot. This is a character for a project we're working on that will likely be in the works for quite a while, but likely to show off bits and pieces as we move along on it. Enjoy the weekend, everyone, and next week we'll have a great Of Stars and Swords image to show!