Recent Sketches and Gestures for Infinite Spiral

First off, news, "Infinite Spiral" is officially live.  Explore the worlds here!  You can also enter the Spiral on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and DeviantArt. dA showcase pages 1-10 (though edits are made as necessary before they are posted to the main site).  Page 04 will go live on the homepage on Friday.

In the past two weeks, I've been working through a ton of gestures and rapid sketches just getting to know possible characters and planned characters in "Infinite Spiral".  I shared these on the Infinite Spiral Tumblr, but want to compile them here for those that follow this blog. 

This piece is simply working through body language and poses of main characters, mostly Christian and James.  Christian is more open and gregarious, while James is more timid and protective.  I want to be careful to convey that through postures and movements, as well as facial expressions as they are introduced.  This gives room for this to change as the characters develop.

Another page of Infinite Spiral Sketches

Tons more gestures and sketches from the past week. Fun Christian drawings, Allie and gestures, a Kitty face sketch, and working on some ideas for how Matron Ava Fairchild ought to look (the whole bottom corner is full of thoughts).

James Hartwell Sketchdump

I was out of town (visiting family, vacationing from tech), so did a ton of sketching in lieu of my current page I'm working on. This is the first sketch dump from the last 5 days of crazy drawing, the focus James.

Top is a moment between James and Rory I'm playing out. There are several James sketches with different expressions, a sketch test working out thoughts for a scene in the Infinite Spiral that is scripted, a silly moment between Christian, James, and Allie, a wood elf that James, Rory, and Christian may encounter much later in the comic in Gelthor's forest (teasers!), James using his powers, and Gavin (he snuck in there ... apparently going Super-Saiyan or something). Christian is in the very bottom right corner again messing with that yo-yo. Suspicious.

Have fun with these!

The Beginning

I've been quiet this week, in large part because I've been getting a start on Infinite Spiral.  I happy to be providing a sneak peek today of the cover and first two prologue pages.  Within the next couple weeks, I'll be looking to start the official site, and updates will be continued there, leaving this blog more from other art and process pieces (one of which will be coming this week based on the cover I'm sharing today).

When Rory Perkins sets out to catch fireflies one evening, little does she know her curiosity will cause her to leave her own world behind forever, journeying into the Infinite Spiral of realities. Transformed, and far from home, she finds companions in James Hartwell, a lonely boy with a forgotten past, and his brother-in-Name, Christian Rafferty, a charming trouble maker that seems to constantly drag the trio into a whirlwind of chaos. What will they find in the Infinite Spiral? What will find them as they travel through it?

Read more for the pages.

Character Profiles and Test Pages

Edit:  I lied, I kept working.  See the original below, but here is the new version, still rough colors, but I was impatient and wanted to see if it would come together.  I think it did, but I'll sleep on it.

I've been an illustrating machine the past couple days ramping up with character profiles and this:

Now the line art is a little quick, but it is a test page (which is not even done, I'm just teasing), just to see how everything is working for me. If I like what I'm doing, I'll get serious.  I also have a couple more decisions to make about format, as I honestly have to wonder if a traditional size is best if I'm shooting for web.  However, if I ever want it printed ...  Yep, decisions.  I'll likely stick to the more traditional format for now.

Also, read more for the latest character profiles:  James and Christian.

Give Me That!

What the heck, three in 48 hours?  I must be on a roll.

This popped in my head this morning and I couldn't help but draw and render it out (my wrists now hate me, so I am done for awhile).

James, Rory, and Christian: Trio of Trouble?

Two in one day, I must be insane.  I "finished" this piece last night at 1:30am.

This one is James, Rory, and Christian all together, hanging out in the library (I went to all that trouble making that background, I may as well use it again). They look like quite the crew-James is even smiling.  Now, the issue is Christian has his yo-yo. What is he up to, as its never anything normal when his toy is out. Good thing Rory is keeping one hand on it.

"Final" James and Christian Illustration

It is finally "complete"-the digital illustration of James and Christian from the Infinite Spiral comic world I'll be launching this summer. The painting was completed using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, using a ton of layers, painting, and layer effects to get the look of the final piece.

So many books

It has been awhile since I updated on the progress of my Christian and James illustration-in large part due to the fact that I just haven't had the time to dedicate to it. 

I had spent some time the previous week working on details of the floor and banister, adding light, and adjusting the far background.  Today, I focused on the books, as I knew this would be tedious, but one of those details that really starts to fill in the full environment.  So far, I've created and modified a Vector Smart Object, using Illustrator, the perspective grid, and layers and layers of blends.  I'm going to paint over the books to fill in the details, and blend it with what is going on with the image.  However, adding the books with some gradient overlays and shadowing does a lot to bring the environment to life.

Christian and James: Background Detailing Begins and Lighting

The work continues. I spent some time in illustrator and creating layers of light, shadow and texture on this bookshelf.  As the background comes to life, I can circle back around to James and Christian and really get them in gear.  I did change the blend mode on the shadows to meld them with the environment more.  That was a good call.

I admit,  this may be the most attention I've made myself give to environment (especially man made) recently.  Things are coming along.  Tomorrow I'll tackle the floor and railing.  Then I need to get some books on those shelves!!  Thank goodness for layers.

Christian and James Continued: Base Lighting and Background Flats

So last night and this morning I continued to illustrate this out.  I actually added some lighting values by creating a Linear Burn layer with a blue-grey applied to create the shadows, then a yellow white with Overlay to create highlights.  After this, I actually needed to adjust James's skin tones, as he looked a bit lifeless.

This morning I began my Illustrator hop.  I have a ton of reference pictures from old libraries, most from the Trinity Library, and wanted to get the perspective right.  With help from reference and the perspective grid, I was able to block in the form of the shelves and background, then bring these back into Photoshop, apply gradients to block in basic lighting  in preparation for going for the gusto--details.  Right now I'm rather happy with the tonal values and color palette.  We'll let it sit for another few hours and see what I decide to change before going in for more "character" on the environment.  I'll likely have to adjust the composition as I move forward, but that is the luxury of using Vector Smart Objects as the background base.  A little adjustment there will be my next step before detailing--unless I want half a dozen groups in my file.

Here we are:

Despite the lack of shadow under James and Christian, the two are very much coming to life.  Obviously, still a lot of work and clean up to go, but this is really moving along like I pictured in my head.

Christian and James Flats

I'm showing some process again on this one, which helps me and others learn.  I've digitally flatted this piece using the lasso tool. Then, I went in with the eraser and cleaned up my penciling to make digital inking easier down the road.  Next I'll be flatting in some environment (which will make this image much wider).  The current flat is this semi-neutral purple to provide a base for a dark library aisle.  I'm going to be hitting some lighting reference on this hard.

Actually, I'm really happy with some contrasts in design I made with these two.  Even if you put James, Rory, and Christian together, James is going to stick out as ... different.  Which is something I want (Gavin's the same way ... he gets it from his Papa.)

Christian and James Sketch

It has been a little too long since I last posted a sketch, mostly because I've been working on Rory's costuming and would rather do a color test before posting more on that front.  But, today I got it in my head for a great picture that really begins to showcase the almost sibling like friendship that they have, so I'll be taking this sketch to a full illustration.

I can't imagine the ruckus Christian would cause in a library, but of course he would climb on James to get a book down.  I'm not sure whether James is concerned about the book or Christian or both, but Christian is having a great time retrieving the volume the hard way.  I've pulled some nice library references to build the environment.  I'm looking forward to bringing this one to life.

Character Sketches Since Spring Break

So, I'm attempting to be very thorough with the character designs for Angelborn to learn more about the process and honestly get better at it (since I adore designing characters).  Also, I really want designs I can stick with through the event line.  This means, I'm spending serious time on costuming (and silhouetting), expressions, poses/body language, and colors schemes to really nail down who my characters are now that I'm nearly 30.  

 
Rory, my adbal from Angelborn, will be making this face frequently ... at Christian or in response to him. As part of forcibly going through characters designs for this comic idea, I'm making myself practice these different aspects of character design. This particular piece focuses on expressions, but I'm planning to work through character poses, body language, and costumes for each as well (I should really do the first two with Gavin at this point). I've focused a lot on Rory as I've tried to discover her real character, and it is proving to be an interesting and arduous journey. I really see her being a little Dorothy meets Peter Pan inspired, but we'll see how that turns out really. My characters tend to take on minds of their own and quickly.

I'm spending some time on Rory sketches today, with a bonus Christian sketch and colored piece.