Aurorae concept sketches

I’m early in the process of this project but I’ve been neglecting my art lately and need to get back into the flow of drawing. That means concept sketches and quite a few of ’em. To start, I’m limited to characters to get a feel for who these characters are and what they look like. The setting in this book *may* be a period piece (I’m not saying when it takes place… yet) but as you can see, the period setting is relatively recent. The story is rather large, though not on the ridiculous scale of Variables. It will focus on a handful of major players with a smattering of bit characters running throughout the book… Pretty standard fare in that regard. It’s based on a bit of everything I enjoy: history, mythology, philosophy, and superheroes/champions. I’m hesitant to say too much yet because it’s very much a work in progress. Expect me to talk more about the setting in future updates.

I’ll list these concept sketches in order. It makes the most sense. The first drawing is a main character who is very similar to a main character from Variables, though drastically altered. He’s my lightning guy (I have to have one in every story).

This was the first drawing I tried in the new style. My goal with this book is to draw in a simplified style. Not as detailed as Variables, though not as cartoon-ish as you see in a book like, say, Chew from Image Comics. I’m still figuring out where I want to go with this style and you can see it start to evolve with the next set of drawings, which are character busts of the major characters. First, the boys. I particularly enjoy the ‘fro on the second character. That should give you a good indication what time periods I’m considering for this project.

Now, the girls. One thing I’m learning quickly in this project is that drawing Asians in a simplified style is bloody difficult. Exaggerate too much and they look like some kind of racist propaganda from the second World War. Reel back the exaggeration and he/she looks like another white dude. I’m definitely learning as I go here.

Finally, I broke out the pens and took a turn at inking a piece. For the first time in quite awhile, I took my time and inked it as I would a comic page. No quick brush strokes in favor of meticulous honing of linework. I feel that the style is starting to emerge at this point. Still not quite as cartoon-ish as I’d like but definitely a departure from the rigidity of Variables, which was a little maddening to draw at points. In time, I want to keep exaggerating some of these attributes and find the style I want for this book. Some characters need to be boxier while others need to be stretched out and lanky. I’m still sorting some of this out and repetition is the only way to work through this process.

That’s all I have for today. I’d like to post at least once a week from here on out but given my schedule, I don’t know if that will be possible. Expect to see more tidbits in the coming weeks and I hope to start work on sketching out some of the major settings that will have a role in the book. In many cases, you’ll know the settings very well… Aurorae is going to deal with some pretty well-known tropes that we have come to know and love through fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy.

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