Another Panel

This is a very close up panel of one of the secondary characters, a housekeeper.

Coloured up panel

So here's a rendered panel, just so it's obvious where this is going. Not colour co-ordinated yet with the rest of the page, so it's 'raw' I suppose! Ah the joys of digital!

I've not gone away...

I've been a bit quiet here as commission work has taken up a bit of time. However, the draft is in the hands of people who make things happen, and I'm also cleaning up a couple of pages to prepare as example pieces.

Meanwhile here's a screengrab of something I'm using as a guide for perspective and positioning. Built in Maya (trying to remember where things are in Maya is a nightmare!), it's a simple set where some of the 'action' takes place and this helps me with the continuity. I'm not a fan of straight lines, and try to avoid them as much as possible, so when I have a very geometric environment blocking in walls and floors in 3D is a great help; and the Elizabethans sure liked their straight lines!!

Draft is finished!

Well, the first draft is finished! A big milestone for me! I65 pages all roughed out very loosely. Funny how characters become part of you: I've got to really like Rosalind and the others. But now I can go back and edit and start refining. Right now it's nothing like it'll look, but I subscribe to the philosophy 'get it written'! Everything else comes later... :)

Here's another rough panel... ooh er... 'he's behind you!' And a snippet of another character...

Almost there...

About 5 pages off finishing the final draft of the story. It's coming in around 160 pages. I'll have to go back and slot in a couple of sections to 'flesh' out some aspects of character, but for all intents and purposes the actual 'story' is complete.

Any how, here's an image I posted over at Port Out Starboard Home, and because it's Elizabethan inspired - although not 'story' relevant - I'm putting it here too.

Thank you for stopping by!

At the foot of an oak

The rough draft stage is nearing the end. The page count is likely to be close to 200, maybe a bit less. Pretty respectable for a graphic novel. Another panel sketch for now...

Ruffs and Puffs

So now I'm up to 106 pages of the 'novel' roughed out. Lots of files and sketching, but I'm loving doing it. Each time I read through the draft I'm excited to see what happens next! But the darn artist (ahem) is so slow!

Anyway, as I post my Elizabethan stuff on this blog before anywhere else (for my eight loyal followers to see), here's a crossover piece, mixing Elizabethan and 'pin-up', for fun. Yes, it's a slightly 'glammed' up Rosalind...

A couple of rough panels

Here's another couple of extremely rough panels, just showing the working process. These are from page 81! So it's tootling along....

From here I'd find some reference if I feel it needs it, then detail up a WHOLE lot more, iron out anatomy, composition and character representation.

Thanks for popping in!

Portrait

Further work on that portrait. With a close up that I flipped to get a different perspective on it.

The story is now roughed out to 70 pages. I'll be 'cleaning up' to a much more finished state a small section from the middle of the story that is self-contained, to present for a secondary project. More information on that later.

Thanks for checking in here chaps!

Another rough panel

Another example of a sketched out panel. Nothing very exciting, but this is my first stage before anything, the draft...

Face in progress

A little bit of work on that last sketch, in-between 'proper' work!

Panel Sketch

Oooh! Six followers... oh, one of them is me! Well five then! :)

A single panel from the book, slightly more clean than the roughs below. I was rather pleased with this profile of Rosalind, so as a side to the project I'll work it up as a finished illustration.

Earlier version

A slightlier earlier version of the outfit. Although this is pretty much it anyway! You can probably tell, I enjoy drawing her!

Full Version

Here's the full version of the previous 'crop', with a few changes.

Another cropped image

Here's another crop of an earlier version of Rosalind. I'll post the full versions of these crops later. In this one I was still working on the sword and the outfit. I still don't think things have been absolutely finalised yet, but as I'm still roughing out the book there's still plenty of time.

Initial Page Rough

Thought I'd post another example of the first scribbles I do for each page. These are really quick, just so I can get something down on 'paper' really, although I'm sketching these digitally. This stage is enormous fun, mainly because it's spontaneous. I know what's got to happen, I know the story, but here I just worry about getting the thought made visual, and mistakes in composition, perspective and all the other disciplines can be corrected later.

A book which has proved invaluable whilst researching this has been Ian Mortimer's 'The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England'. He brings the period to life with all those little details that are the backdrop to any story set in a period. There are many more specific books that have helped me, but this has been well thumbed because of its complete ability to bring details to life.

>>Ian's Website<<

Bride of the Gallows

Rosalind, as a character, kind of developed out of this image I did as a pretend adventure/romance cover. I liked her, and from that a story kind of evolved, absolutely nothing to do with this image here, (but I might squeeze it in somehow). I love Tudor, specifically Elizabethan costume and developing a 'tomboyish' outfit from male fashion of the time, which in many cases actually looks quite feminine anyway, was fun. The paned slops, or hose could get quite extravagant on men, so I kept them relatively small, with no codpiece, which had all but died out as an accessory by the early Elizabethan period, (and just look a bit silly anyway!) Tunics/doublets were often 'peascod' sticking out at the belly, so I made Rosalind's tighter and fitted. Pirate or renaissance style shirts are pretty simple, but decided her boots could vary from square toed shoes with a buckle or full thigh-high riding boots. She wears either leather leggings or flesh coloured tights and carries a small swept hilt rapier and a simple short woollen cloak. Of course the likelihood of a woman ever getting away dressed like this is improbable, but historical accuracy sometimes has to make way for aesthetic affectation, or that dreadful expression: 'artistic license'!.

Small update

A bit more done on the 'portrait', so here's some more of the crop. The values are a bit out, and I need to work up the sleeve further.

Also another quick sketch from one of the panels, just to prove there will be other characters in this!

Face Close Up

Working on a definitive version of the main character Rosalind. This is a desaturated version of the work in progress. Also the first quick doodle of the opening page of the story. This is how I start my pages, a very quick idea for composition, from there I work into it, and develop the layout and tweak things that don't work. Sketched in Photoshop, I will eventually transfer it to paper to tidy it up. There are thirty pages of the story at the first stage, and I'll aim to get the whole thing to this level before I start detailing.

Rosalind

One of my many character pieces for Rosalind, the main protagonist of the story.