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.

Words in the Air

James Hartwell is one of the main characters in "Infinite Spiral".  He is called Wicked or Named One, and no one knows much about them.  Most in his world with that qualification are part or mostly human. His past is a mystery, and he cannot remember before the age of 11.  He's brothers in Name with Christian, who drags him into trouble more often than that.

Early after Illumination (when Wicked Children get their 'Wickedness') James sees words in the air (which is part of what I'm illustrating here) ... what that turns into would be spoilers.  He also has the ability to heal, which is a rare and dangerous ability.  What other skills will illuminate as he enters the Spiral.

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.

Good morning, Sunshine!

A little morning warm up (two hours from sketch, to vector inks, to color). Out of all the Infinite Spiral characters, James and Allie would be the two to most likely have the craziest bed hair! And James is so put-together and fastidious about his appearance, the idea of crazy bed hair just tickles me.  He would have to hate it.

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.

Worlds in Your Eyes: James and Rory

I've started exploring the interactions between the three main characters more, but I had yet to explore just Rory and James. If you look at my other art you can make some assumptions about why their interactions are so important.

Here, Rory is just mesmerized by looking in James eyes under the light of the aurora, and has bursted the bubble of his personal space looking at them. People don't like to look in James's eyes for too long and he's not used to making eye contact. Rory is determined she can see the thread of the universe in there, which might be what bothers everyone else. However, Rory also has a rather extraordinary imagination.

Holy Backstory: Headmaster Dorian Lamprey

Whew, now I'm filling in the first antagonist character designs. Ok, I admit, the Headmaster of the Asylum for Wicked Children is a tad Snapey right now (I had to watch Deathly Hallows Part II before I did this design). I'll be working that out. But, for your reading pleasure, the full history of the Headmaster-the first antagonist in the "Infinite Spiral" is now revealed.

 

I actually love that his palette is very similar to James. I think this is very appropriate.

BASIC INFO
Name: Headmaster Dorian Lamprey
Race: Quarter Named One/ Three quarters Human = Wicked
World(s): The world of the Wicked
True Name: Ira (watchful)

 

Read more for the full backstory.

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.