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.

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.

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.

Rory Perkins: Profile City

I'm really revving up on the Infinite Spiral.  Here's Rory's design refreshed with profile:

Want the full profile teaser?  Keep reading!

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.

Rory Perkins, the Substitute: Infinite Spiral

I tried an experiment with Vector Line Art in Adobe Illustrator today. I like the clean result, but not how much time that took. I'll have to speed up my methods if I want to use it for comicking. (I will also have to, have to, HAVE TO study hands and FEET!)

The result is a refined costume/ character design for Aurora (better known as Rory) Elizabeth Perkins, an abdal, or substitute/walker/Nameless One, in Infinite Spiral (so much better than a bunch of others I have tried, though I bet I learn to despise those stripes). She is one of the main characters, and becomes inextricably tied to James (and therefore Christian). Also, she occasionally uses gravity.

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.