STS-36: Preview of the Week

No preview last week because Graham and I decided to share this snapshot of a couple pages in-progress on Twitter:



This week's panel comes from that first page, finally finished.


The straw roofing has won me over.

STS-35: Preview of the Week

Another Of Stars and Swords panel. I'm trying to remember that everyone carries around weapons and they don't just pull them out of thin air at the beginning of a fight.



I've been looking foward to drawing more character interaction and it definitely picks up after issue 0.

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-33: Looking Ahead at 2012

Welcome to another art-less update! Yes, that's a pun and no, it's not funny. It's art-less.

Ha.

So it's December 31st and there hasn't been much for us to show here and I figured now is as good a time as any to look ahead. Of course, like any good attempt at looking ahead, I'm going to look back first.

For us, 2011 has been a hell of a year. We're finally off of our asses and trying to get out there and get noticed. This site was the first real push. Of Stars and Swords also launched back in October, and while the pages are old for us, they're new for everyone else! This past year has basically been the two of us finally sticking our necks out and having a look around.

2012 is, hopefully, the year we really make things happen. So here's a look at some things to expect in the coming year.

Of Stars and Swords will continue to update weekly, of course. We're just over halfway through the Issue 0 story, and things will really kick off come the start of Issue 1. Tweaks to that website will keep happening as we figure out ways to make things flow better, and the weekly blog posts that fill out world details and other bits of prose will keep hitting with each new page.

We've got a second webcomic that should get started this year. This one's been in the works for quite a few years with an old friend of mine, and we're working on promo art right now to put together for a Kickstarter. If all goes well, you'll get to see something closer to traditional superhero work from us soon!

Sort of Secret Project #1. It's possible that Caroline and I are looking at a way to release that first comic we made together, The End, in a format with other, newer works of similar content and length. Possibly. Maybe. If you haven't read The End, you can right here: http://seriousturtlestudio.blogspot.com/2011/10/sts-18-end-complete.html

Sort of Secret Project #2. I'll admit to having a creative 'problem'. I write too much at times. Ideas come, I flesh them out until I find something that can be done with it or shelve it for later. That means, at any one time, while Caroline is focused on one or two things we're working on, my headspace is in about ten. Because of this, Caroline has encouraged me to tackle something almost entirely on my own. She wants to ink it and color it (if it needs color), but not pull the weight of penciling as she's already shouldering enough of that. So right now, I've taken one of those fleshed out ideas and am trying to get my own penciling up to a good quality that she can ink. If all goes well, my favorite phrase these days, you'll see the results of this before the year's out!

Sort of Secret Project #3. For two years now, Caroline and I have been bouncing a story around between us. It's taken a lot of fighting it, but I'm fairly sure we've found the best way to handle this project. This one is iffy for release at all this year, but it's likely to be worked on. How do I know that? Well, the full plot outline is just about done. My goal, once that is done, is to have the script's first draft done in the coming months and edit it as necessary until it's in a state we're both happy with. After that...well, things will get interesting.

And then who knows what else! Hopefully this blog will get more regular updates in terms of art and sketches and in-progress work! Maybe something crazy will happen and push other things to the wayside! That's the fun of a whole new year, especially when we're crazy enough to work on so much at once!

I do want to thank everyone that has followed us this past year, too! Getting started is rough, and we need all the support we can get, no matter how small it is. All I can ask is to keep with us, don't be afraid to tell us what you think, and definitely don't be afraid to tell your friends!

So there it is, a text-filled preview of things to come! Hope everyone has a safe and fun New Years Eve and that the world doesn't suddenly end at midnight in your specific time zone!

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-31: Another Headshot

This is another headshot for one of our comics that won't see the light of day for a while. Admittedly, many character designs for it will evolve and change, but this one, in particular, likely won't much at all.

Coming soon: The finalized colors for the flyer we've shown previous and some character designs for another project that's nearly off the ground!

And, as always, every Wednesday sees a new page over at Of Stars and Swords. If you're liking what you're seeing, let us know! And if you REALLY like it, well...hopefully sometime in the near future we might have things like t-shirts, posters, and other random things like that.

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!