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-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-56: More Scifi Sketches

I promise this will have a name beyond "scifi comic" eventually, but for now, that's all it is. Most of what you see are my (Graham) sketches and designs, since I'm doing the pencils on this project, but every so often Caroline does a sketch of her own, and that's what we're showing today. A couple of sketches Caroline did of one of the main characters of the comic, one in pencil and the other just in pen.



No updates yet on when, exactly, you'll get to see the comic pages, but I promise you they're coming! Until then, as always, our webcomic Of Stars and Swords continues to update weekly and is nearing the end of Issue 4 of the story! And you can catch up there on the website or on Comixology!

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...