The Fan Art is Flowing!

I am on a fan art high! This weekend I learned my Secret Santa for the other Webcomic Gift Art Exchange I participated in was none other than Robert M. Cook, creator of Mansion of E, for whom I had the pleasure of being Secret Santa in the Comic Genesis Gift Art Exchange! Here is the very keen art he did for Forsaken Stars:


Check out all the webcomic gift art exchange fun here!

I'm also totally jazzed about a totally unexpected piece fan art from my dear friend Mari. It's sexy and cute and definitely captures Sera's take-n0-guff attitude:

You can check out more of Mari's wonderful work at her deviantART page!

I know I have a few Forsaken Stars pages to blog about, but I've got a serious amount of gift-wrapping to do, and as always more comic pages to bust out, so hopefully I'll get a chance to squeeze in some page commentary over the weekend!

Thanks again to the talented Mr. Cook and the sublime Mari for their gift art, and may they and you, dear reader, have a joyous holiday season!

My First Fan Art!

It gives me great pleasure to present the awesome and kick-ass work of Sergio J. A. Ragno III, creator of Red City http://redcity.comicgenesis.com and Gnerds2000 http://gnerds.comicgenesis.com; this is his gift to me out of the 2009 Comic Genesis Secret Santa gift art exchange:


I love it, and I hope he enjoyed creating this two-page piece as much as I enjoy looking at it. It's a special kind of awesome to see one's characters drawn by someone else, particularly by someone with such a great sense of style and humor. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I feel truly flattered.

BEAT.

And I can't wait for more! I'd love to see your fan art (or even fan poetry) for Forsaken Stars, dear reader! And don't forget to check out more of Sergio's stuff at Red City!

Fan submissions can be sent to forsakenstars [AT] gmail [DOT] com with the Subject Line Fanstuff.

Happy fanaticizing!

Forsaken Stars Monday November 30, 2009

Issue 1, Page 21
Three aqua-styled ships land in a valley on the world of Gana, beside a tower not unlike the tower of Babel. A cloaked, floating being strides out from the first ship to meet a rather dashing satyr. They quickly exchange pleasantries--"Welcome, Ambassador XTL," "Thank you Ambassador Kyle"--and turn to the tower and to the business at hand, namely the signs of the end of the universe.

We've been out in space for the last twenty pages, in what could be for some people a rather claustrophobic environment (I suppose that's why I never really gave Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a chance--not just sets that were too cramped and smokey, but the idea of a whole show wrapped around a single space station seemed the antithesis of a show named Star Trek.) so I thought it was time to cut to a lavish vista, a lush world, and hopefully tease you the readers with what you'll see in the next issue. We have the introduction of the Council of Others, a United Nations if you will of peoples from across the galaxy who came together to explore the mystery that is our Solar System, and why the refugees from said system have claimed that the One True God has returned to said system, particularly this tiny planet called Earth, and sequestered it from the rest of the universe for the last thousand years. And what's more, it seems that the tales of these refugees--since dubbed the Soulless--have a hint of truth in them, because there are signs and portents that the universe is crumbling. "The Thousand Years of Peace, of Heaven on Earth are over, and God is set to take his Chosen and leave this universe, presumably for Heaven Proper." Uh-oh. What does this mean for the rest of the sentient beings in the galaxy? The Council of Others is bound and determined to find out, and they are hoping XTL, a "Prophet Ambassador" is about to give them good news.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We don't actually see the interior of the Tower of the Council of Others until page twenty-two. So turn the page already!

Forsaken Stars, Thursday, November 26, 2009

Issue 1, Page 20
We see Sera in her Captain's quarters, surrounded by antiques and Wizard of Oz memorabilia. Mommy is going over Sera's accounts and she's coming in at a loss for the year, due to having lost a cargo shipment and having paid her crew bonuses for rescuing her from a Vidoru prison. She and her crew escaped in two different directions to confuse the indecisive Vidoru. Mommy wonders at the wisdom in this, since Sera is now without a crew, and without her second mate, Shon, whom Mommy teases Sera had feelings for. Sera denies having feelings for someone who is a "killer and a thief," but Mommy turns it around on her, accusing Sera of having stolen Azzi's ring. Sera rationalizes that Azzi must have stolen it from someone else, and reveals her big plan: return Azzi to the Ohm Megacorporation and return the ring to the family of the proper owner, whom she believes Azzi must have killed.

So lots of information on this page, and what I hope is another feast for the eyes. We have Sera in a lovely nightgown, palming the ring she swiped from Azzi and we have all this priceless clutter around her, from the Tiffany lamp to Dorothy's ruby slippers, from figurines to snowglobes, from miniature replicas, particularly Rodin's Thinker, to a tailor's dummy sporting something 19th century, all intending to give the air of serious collector, and yet someone unafraid to be girly. Driving that point is her dresser of parfums and jewelry chest, and of course the four poster bed. On the bed is a small panda bear, inspired by my own bear, Chicco, that I had throughout my childhood. (In retrospect, I should have made this bear the one that floats out of Azzi's space tomb on page three.)

We've also got a checkbook graphic showing the names of a few of her crew, and in the panel below that, we actually get a shot of three of her bridge crew--the Soulless Shon and Kurk, and the Delven Zuzu--keeping the Vidoru space pirates at bay.

Bridging the second, third and fourth panels is an oval-framed pencil drawing of Shon, Sera's second mate and insinuated love interest. I thought the pencils gave it an air of age and authenticity, like an old cameo, brooch or the inside of a locket.

I truly wish there was more room in the script to tell more of his and his company's story, but it's pretty packed as it is. I'm toying with a Tales from Forsaken Stars anthology series, but one comic at a time...

Forsaken Stars Monday, November 23, 2009

Issue 1, Page 19
Sera ties Azzi to the fission core column, wondering all the while if she's taking the correct course of action, remarking that her father once told her never to make a deal with the devil. Azzi counters with the idea that it's not so much a deal as mutual favors (as if that's somehow a completely different animal). After all, when did the devil last surrender to make a deal? To further make his point, Azzi assures the Captain that he has no interest in her soul. Sera laughs at him and counters with the fact that she is a Soulless, a human born outside the Godshield, outside of God's purvue, and therefore she has no soul to steal. But Azzi isn't so sure of that.

But more to the point, you the readers know that the only soul Azzi is concerned about is his own. As she leaves the fission chamber, he quietly thanks her.

So this is a bit of craziness, inspired by the X-Men films' Cerebro and Astonishing X-Men's Danger Room. This is the interior of the big sphere that is the Bluebird's power source and main source of normal space propulsion, the fission chamber. I thought it would make a great set piece. It sets up Azzi for some intense, Christ-on-the-cross-style suffering, which you'll see in issue two. A vampire in a fission chamber? It's like a matchstick in a brush fire. So why would he agree to this? Maybe he sees it as part of his atonement, a requirement on his road to redemption, the only choice Sera, and perhaps fate, left him with.

"The narrowest path is always the holiest." --Depeche Mode

Other Projects

Occasionally, and not very often, since I don't consider myself a professional artist, have no schooling in graphic design, and by no means have a side business as an artist, someone will ask me to create a piece for them as a gift for either themselves or a loved one, and even more infrequently, someone where I work will want to utilize my talents for a greeting card or newsletter or other attention-getter.

These last few years, I've even been asked to do some wall art. My friend Sandra asked me to create three different pieces for her kids' bedrooms, and once my brother Gary got wind of the first one, he asked me to do up his own twins' nursery before they were born. These pieces are fun and always a challenge, since I don't paint unless asked to, so I'm always having to relearn how each and every time I do it.

Most recently, between jobs and pouring all my artistic energy into my webcomic, I was asked by my friend Wes to look into a project happening at his IT company that was looking for more traditional illustrations for an upcoming presentation. There I met Dave, who really plugged into my art style, and I've been producing illustrations/renderings for him and his company, particularly Mini Blue, the student laptop store they just opened, for the last two months. Exciting stuff. You can see much of the art at my deviant art page, and then you can swing on over to my myspace page and check out some photos from the grand opening itself!

With having met all the Mini Blue deadlines, I can now return to Forsaken Stars. You can look forward to more promotional art, including wallpapers, and sneak peeks at the second half of issue two!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Ali, for her patience and her steady hand. She actually took up a brush and helped me finish this last piece, filling in edges, unpainted blocks and even a few tree trunks in those last hours. Ali, you're my Sun and Stars.
Also I should apologize for falling asleep during the midnight showing of Twilight later that night--I did my best to stay up for the werewolves, and got a kick out of seeing Michael Sheen turn up as Leader of the Volturi, after having been Lucian, leader of the Lychans in the Underworld films. It was a cool movie, and we thank Liz and Grant for inviting us AND treating us like VIPs! They is Awesomesauce. Liz, you name it and I'll draw it. Grant, you need fan art, let me know, it will be yours.

That's all for now, gang! Enjoy your weekend!

Forsaken Stars Thursday, November 19, 2009

Issue 1, Page 18
Azzi offers himself up to Captain Sera as a prisoner rather than face ejection from her ship. But she is no officer and she has no cells aboard. He suggests the fission core, where he will be too weak to be a threat. Sera knows he will very likely die in there before they reach the interior of the galaxy, but he says she's given him no other choice.



As much fun as this page was to draw, given the widescreen style panels, and dizzying exterior view and final punch close-ups (the close up on Sera in this page reminds me of Liz Phair, whom I was definitely crushing on at the time I drew it), it was definitely a tricky scene to write. I had to come up with something so outrageous, yet believable enough that Sera could consider allowing this seemingly invulnerable creature to remain aboard her ship for even a minute longer. The fission core-as-prison sounds so insane, especially for a vampire, that it gave me quite the satisfying shiver. AND it sets up a great visual if she decides to go for it.

So tune in next Monday to find out!

Forsaken Stars Monday, November 16, 2009

Issue 1, Page 17
Azzi relents under Captain Sera Besh's bluff(?) that she's willing to blow up her ship rather than give him passage. He acknowledges her crazy and asks if they might retreat to more comfortable surroundings and have a civil discussion, but Sera simply wants him off her ship. Azzi asks for his ring back, but she pockets it.

So I thought I'd offer quick page summaries here on the blog, and follow them up with whatever commentary might be appropriate to the given visuals. Hopefully this should make the blog more valuable to you, Dear Reader, and further motivate me to actually keep up with the blog side of things and not let it slide until something momentous happens.

Of course, I did write this issue about eight years ago, and began illustrating it not too soon after that, so I may be a little hazy on the why's, how's and wherefor's. Still, the second half of this issue is only about four years old, so it shouldn't be too tough, right?

I do remember having a tough time with the backgrounds on this page. Perspective and landscapes are my weakest areas--it's why I didn't become a comic book artist fifteen, even ten years ago. But I thoroughly enjoyed writing the first encounter between the 1000s year old cultured vampire and the ballsy, street-tough 19-ish year old girl space captain. And how frustrating it is for him to not get his way, despite all his powers of manipulation and self-imposed humility.

New Stuff!

Lot's of stuff going on!

I jammed on a Ladies of Forsaken Stars wallpaper, you can download it at http://robsojourn.deviantart.com/

Got myself a twitter, follow me at http://twitter.com/ForsakenStars

And currently I'm knee-deep in a commission for a company that's opening a computer store for kids, with the deadline being Wednesday! (The Grand Opening is Thursday.) So I'm using quick-drying acrylics, and let me tell you, it's not the easiest medium to work with. Here is a shot of the warm-up piece, the HP head:



This is 11"x14" and the final will be a 24"x48" skyline. Wish me luck!

New Kickass Banner!

This one has been in my head since I thought about turning Forsaken Stars into a webcomic. Had to have the lensflare!

New Dimension

There's going to be an added dimension to the second issue: light washes. This gives the art texture and depth, and more contrast. The downside is that it takes significantly longer to finish a single page. So I may try and find a happy medium for future issues, maybe the occassional wash for emphasis. What do you guys think? Here's a sneak peek at one of the finished pages:

New Sexy Banner

So I'm gearing up to market Forsaken Stars to build a readership. There is a requirement of a minimum of 20 comics in the archive before I can pitch/pimp my comic on the Comic Genesis forums themselves. So far twelve pages have been uploaded, and the rest of the first issue will be parceled out through the first part of December.

So until I can pitch within the CG community, I figure I should be pimping it everywhere else. In the real world I'll be passing out cards and flyers, and on the interweb, I'll be whipping up banners of varying sizes and themes and posting them to various comic sites. Hopefully my nearest and dearest friends won't get sick of me talking it up during this 'press junket.'

In reading up on 'how to pimp my webcomic,' I've learned sex sells just as good here as anywhere else, so here's the first of many sexy Sera banners:

Big Doings

It's been awhile since I've posted in here 'cause I've been hard at work setting up the NEW FORSAKEN STARS SITE! YES! Okay, if you go there, you won't find much yet. Turns out getting free hosting has a downside: you've got to create your site from scratch, and that means learning html. You'd think after twenty years at the keyboard I'd have learned something about the magic script that exists behind the hundred-thousand or so sites I've visited since the internet was invented. But what I know could probably fit on the tip of my little finger. Thank God for my college-aged girlfriend, or as I'd like to call Ali, a child of the internet. I read tutorials 'till my eyes bled, and she helped me get through the FTP and then a smidgen of web page design. Hopefully the site will get spruced up in the months to come, at least close to what the site was under the homestead site host and builder. At least that's the dream. My sources told me this was the way to go, and it does look like I've become a part of a very large, wonderfully geeky community. Much thanks to the gang at keenspot and comic genesis.

Today I've been having fun designing banners for the site, now I've got to figure out how to link the web url to the following images:









Oh, if only it were as easy as the linking was on this blog...

About a Page Per Day

The thumbnails are done for issue #2, and considering I started sometime at the end of August, that averages out to about a page per day. And while about half of them are finished pencils, that still leaves a lot of drawing to be done, and I have to admit I will most likely want to ink every page before it's scanned. (I'm thinking of leaving flashbacks in pencil.) Only then will I feel comfortable putting in the word balloons, captions, etc. I sure hope it doesn't take another month to complete this issue. The big comic book publishers like to be at least six issues ahead of the issue they're putting out, and even independents like to be two to three months ahead. So that's where I'm trying to get before I feel like I can relax. Looks like 'personal time' is going to take the hit for awhile, but most of my friends and family are pretty busy themselves these days. But at least I can say I've got a solid visual layout for issue two down!

New Characters and Detailed Thumbnails(?)

The seventh issue will involve some cage fighting, so I figured I should design some fighters. Here are a couple: one a robot meat-grinder, the other an undead hulk.


Don't worry, I'm hard at work on the second issue. So much so that my thumbnails through page ten have become nearly finished pencils! Here's a peek:

I'm also working to find a new home for the comic. Much thanks to everyone who has provided their feedback and encouragement! And for those who haven't, what are you waiting for?

Variant Cover to Issue #6

I know it's funny to have a variant cover before the actual cover, but I imagine the primary cover to be quite a collage of characters, something of a Star Wars-esque style movie poster, the kind I whip up for my roleplaying game campaigns. Anyway, this is a simple character sketch of Naura, the mermaid.

Issue #5 Cover Art and More Thumbnail Theater

This is Fabius, an angel, and the Lord's Gun outside the godshield. As far as bad-asses go, he is the Ultimate Bounty Hunter. And he has a List. And a few of our heroes' names are on that list. The fifth issue introduces him and tells his story. Rather than just use the common wing found in angel depictions, something akin to a dove's wing, I chose to use more of a hawk wing arrangement of feathers.

Here are thumbnail pages three and four for issue #2, and I'm playing with figuring out if I want to use a simpler, easier style than what I created for the first issue, and if I should ink subsequent issues, or simply increase the contrast on my pencils after scanning them into the comp.

My Muse In Color

My Muse. A sketch I've wanted to digitally paint for a while now.

Issue #3 Cover In Color!

I had a feeling that the cover to the third issue would be best served by color. I've always wanted Forsaken Stars to be a black and white comic. Have you ever seen the old Star Wars comic strips inked by the great Al Williamson? He inked a few of the Star Wars Marvel Comics back in the 80s too, and I've always loved the textures and contrasts he could evoke with simple black and white. I should have cultivated the ability to ink with a brush, but alas, I spent my formative years using #2 pencils and black fine felt tipped Pilot pens. These days I tend to use Gilette .7 mm gel ink writers and Pilot V2 .5 mm pens. Or, I'll just mess with the brightness and contrast on a drawing after it's been scanned, with whatever software is on my comp. But now that Forsaken Stars is on the net, color will be a valuable tool.

Issue #4 Cover In Color!

Playing with digital paint for the cover to issue #4.

Thumbnail Theater

Just updated the site with a page I lovingly call 'Thumbnail Theater,' which will be where I put the newest sketches--thumbnails--to work out what the next issue might look like. Of course, being anal, my thumbnails are coming with word balloons and lots of detail. I will be working to increase my sketching speed and learning to let go and relax while I draw, so after awhile I'm sure they won't look so complete. Of course, a lot of my conceptual designs are pretty detailed...uh-oh. Anyway, here are the thumbnails for page one of the second issue.

Here we introduce Captain Sera and the Vampire Azzi, now ostensibly her prisoner, while she readies her ship, the Bluebird for a hypercurve jump. Which won't be good for the vampire, as he's tied to the fission core. Yeah, ouch. Sera's also set herself up for some light reading...

Wiring and Concept Chat

No drawing or writing today. Installed a new stereo in my car so that I wouldn't have to fuss with plugging in an FM transmitter and having to connect my mp3 player, and always having to disentangle all those wires. The irony. Well, even after cruising several sites to prepare, I didn't realize that they made 'wire harness adapters,' so I spent all day cutting, stripping and sorting wires. It wasn't until late into the evening that I caught a point of verbiage on one of the sites that allowed me to realize a wire I'd left dangling was pretty much the power wire. So I finally got it going. Now all I have to do is hunt down a 'mounting kit' so that the new stereo isn't sitting in a gaping hole in my dashboard panel.

But that doesn't mean I don't have new scans. Here's how the work is coming along, and some sketches I did earlier this week:

This is a jet design for the baddies, heavily drawing from WWII Fighter craft like Messerschmidt, Mustang and Spitfire jets, and giving it that Forsaken Stars cuteshrink once over.

Next is Jono Besh, an ancestor of Sera (have you read the first issue yet?) And you should see him coming up in issue #2. He's in a flashback sequence that has a strong Victorian sense to it, but he's quite the rough guy, so I dashed him up with that mutton-y 'stache.

And to wrap up, we've got a couple of ambassadors. The dragon is in the first issue, last splash page, and the Faerien Princess Lumirya may show up briefly in issue #2 or somewhere down the line.





















So that does it for the character sketches, now I can go on to discuss the scan from the first blog posting, which I threw up quickly 'cause I had to run an errand and didn't explain at all. Actually, it makes a lot more sense if I post it again now that it's a little further along.

Forsaken Stars works on several levels, and hopefully it's unlike anything else that's out there. It has obvious inspirations, and obscure ones and I will generally be the first one to point them out.

One of the obvious ones is The Wizard of Oz. While Sera is much more worldly than Dorothy, and Azzi and Kyton each share traits similar to both the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, and XTL hides her fear much better than the cowardly Lion ever did, they are all on a journey to visit their 'Wizard,' ultimately in this case God himself. But in the second issue of Forsaken Stars, Sera is off to see the President of Ohm, of which Azzi states he is the true CEO. So this particular piece has our four main characters walking on a brick road of some kind with the city proper of Ohm in the background. Sera never gets to see the current President, but she finds something out that sends her on the actual odyssey of our story. And there will be an alternate version of this piece with the other location as the background, and quite possibly a third version with a more surreal backdrop.

Forsaken Stars

I have so many unfinished projects, that it really requires a Herculean strength of will to focus and build momentum, and connect and network with people to get the job done. I have a few short stories, novels, a roleplaying game, and a few comics in mind. But I believe Forsaken Stars has enough work put into it that it has the best chance at not only completion, but capturing a readership and possible fan base. So I put it all the work and support material together and started up a webcomic. This will be the blog that details it's development, and feedback from you, the would-be readers.

Enjoy!

To check out the nascent site, click here.

And here's some art I'm working on for the site: