Kane goes maskless

In more or less 20 days, Kane will drop his mask.

 Do you remember our first game/contest?







Will he really look.... like this? XDDDD

Back cover volume 5

Usually halfway through the volume I release the back cover. So here is Martin, all shiny and golden to match with Pea.

Sorry I wasn't able to post any sooner today, it has been a heck of a day.

Chapter 19 cover work in progress

It's been a while since I showed a work in progress in the blog so here it is: the cover for chapter 19 from sketch to finished file.

Volume 5 Front Cover

So as you know volume 4 has ended, with Foxy on the back cover and now it's time to post the cover for volume 5.

I have 4 different alternatives and I currently torn between the last two.
One breathes more but the other one helps the figure stand out better.

Maybe I should have "variant" edition! ha haha

I've had this Klimt inspired cover in mind for Pea since the very beginning.

The pose kinda stuck with me (I used a similar one for "air").

It's one of those images you see and can't quite get rid of until you materialize them.

So here it is.

Chapter 17 cover

Alright, let's take a break from the calendar sketched and the voice challenge... (that so far has only one entry).

And let's look at the cover for chapter 17 together. With this chapter we enter in the 5th volume and we approach the ending of the regular story.... after which will come all of the specials and spin offs.

Have a good Week End

Alright guys... 10 days is a lot to wait for the next update....

But the next one is also the one that will close the chapter so: what will happen next? Who's on the cover for chapter 15?

Initially I thought Cat and Callista would be on the cover of this chapter as well... then I counted the pages again and found out they would be on chapter 16 instead.

So how about we put Pifo and Quoque for once? Since their relationship is also cementing day by day? They're growing up ;_; sigh sob... my babies are growing up ;_;

Back cover Volume 4

Happy weekend, everyone!

You won't see me around today as I need to catch up quite a lot with the comic work!

So, for your enjoyement here's the back cover of volume 4... with a pouty pouty Foxy!

He's cute! Hahahahahhahah! I wanna pinch his cheeks until they hurt!

Volume 4 cover

I have posted this one on Facebook yesterday already.
Actually I was planning on posting another illustration today but... I forgot to transer it to into my hard drive.

But since we are already at the end of chapter 13 and beginning of chapter 14 it's about time I revealed what the front cover of volume 4 would look like (Foxy will be in the back :D).

I hope you like it.
We're only a few hours away from release so... sorry but you'll have to wait two days to enjoy elianthos' new fan arts because I will need to updated and post curiosities first.

After that I will post the specials! :D

Chapter 14 - cover

Here we go!
This is the cover to chapter 14... yes!

Chapter's title: sweet!

This volume is going: Selfish, sweet, selfless, bitter.

And since we are almost at chapter 14 you know what this means... that the front cover for volume 4 will be out next (I have it ready already ouhuhuhuhuhuh!)

Chapter 13 cover!

Aliright mates!

We are back! (and with the cover for chapter 13!)

Those of you who use blogger might know already but blogger was in read only mode for more than 24 hours.

In fact I was supposed to post a second post in the afternoon yesterday, I was supposed to post the little shalallah special and stuff but I could not access.

Also, some of the comments posted got deleted or lost. Sorry. I tried to recover the ones I had in cache but many others, that were already posted, were lost and I don't know who and were they posted them. I only got a message that said that: sorry, some of your messages were lost! Sigh.

This is a conspiracy, let me tell you. I don't have internet at home, right now... I have to use the school one and the server is so messed up I cannot use Deviant Art properly.

I also have problems with other hosting sites (as I keep getting logged off while I upload things).

It's a nightmare.
Anyways this is the special I was supposed to post the other day in the afternoon.

Go shallalah, all night long!

God help me, I have to upload this to Deviant Art too! Hahahahahaha - I wanna cryyy - hahahahaha!

The update is coming up next and after that a full special of about 6 pages!

Chapter 11 cover

Pea was not supposed to show up in a cover for a very long time but since we finally got to have Pifo on chapter 10 I thought... why not?

As I previously stated her covers will be blue, so each sister has a different color (and Pifo OWNS pink).

what do you think?

Volume 3 Cover WIP

Here's my work in progress for the cover of Volume 3.

Yes... Callista is perfect for the role *_* and of course Cat will be in the back cover but we'll have to wait the end of volume 3 to see the back cover :D

I usually don't use/like black... that's why there's actually purple and crimsom and lots of pink in the black muahahahahahah!

Volume 2 back cover - work in progress

This is the work in progress for the cover of volume 2.

As you can see it's not rendered yet, just colored...

Which made me wonder: are you guys interested in having a folder just with line art? In case you are into coloring - and you might be a better colorist than me (in fact I suck at coloring LOL).

I could open one on Facebook and one in the Deviant Art group!

Would you like that?

volume 2 - cover

Hello people, today I woke up and my blog wants me to transliterate everything in tamil, for some reason (even though I switch transliteration off). It's the magic associated with school computer and network, I guess.

I drew 6 of the 10 (now probably 11) pages that are supposed to go in the next update so, drawing will probably be done today and clean up will be started tomorrow.
In the meantime, while I go get my coffee and my sketchbook at home - because I rushed out and left it on my table - you might want to check out my idea of cover for volume 2. It's still a bit of a work in progress and I might update the actual one this coming week-end!

At the same time... I need to die on the Musketeers hahahahaha.
Fickle is still sleeping so I spare you... but I hope you voted for him on twc or he spits and toss a tantrum at me when he wakes up.


Volume 2 cover by ~Dedasaur on deviantART

Chapter 7 - Cover

Goooodmorniiiing, ya scurvy dogs! Ahr ahr ahr!

I gave birth to the cover of chapter 7 yesterday. The butterly effect... you might be able to laugh about after tomorrow's update ha ha ha.

After Love and Hate we MUST see Heaven and Hell, right?
Aaaw, another Kes and Wes cover, then finally Kane comes back to rule on the cover of chapter 8! Yes!

I've had a very Pifoesque dream last night... I shall find a way to put it on paper so we can all laugh about it!

Volume 2 - covers

First of all:

Happy 45th Birthday, Singapore!

I had forgotten it was a holiday today and went to the office... it was empty, hahahaha. So I watered the plant... finished Balthasar (which is hosted already but will be visible only in 2 days - and I did this in case something comes up with work, within two days)... came back home and tried my watercolor set.

This is the first layer. As you can see... I don't know how to use watercolor but.. heck I'm tired of using Photoshop all the time.

Also if I do digital art all the time I won't be able to give any drawings away, except the crappy ones I rush for the comics... and I think and nice illustration would be a better reward.

Of course if I manage to do it right. In this case... it's kinda sloppy and I'll do a second attempt. This one I will scan still, use it to experiment, and I will draw the ink lines on a separate piece of paper and see if I like the effect and if I do I'll make a bigger one.

Originally she was supposed to look with her eyes slightly closed.

But Castalia was doing that in the cover of volume 1, wasn't she?

Why should Cassandra do the same? So I decided to draw the eyes opened and somehow it gave her a sweeter look.

She is wearing medicinal flowers...

Of course HE will be in the back cover, holding the same flowers... as if he were the one putting them in her hair :D.

These are just the basic drawings... of course I am no Alphonse Mucha but I want you to know that I am building a window around these two guys and eventually will see if there's a way to make them look like a stained glass window!

The intentions are good... they will probably come out wrong. Just praise the intention hahahaha... for everything else, I have a long, learning, way to go!

polls and covers!

Hi guys,
there's a new poll for you... maybe 36 days is not enough to decide - considering volume 2 will be done November 16th - but still... maybe you have plenty of time to choose and decide who would you like to see on the cover of volume 2.

In the meantime I am trying to make this Foxy&Lio cover and I had picked for them the color green... but I am not convinced:

Your honest opinion - to me something's wrong, like there's not enough contrast - lime green, wood green or... Deda change the colors?

Chapter 4 - cover sketch

While you sizzle in anticipation like a giant sausage on a pan... like I know you do... maybe hahahaha....

Here's a preliminary sketch I did for the cover of chapter 4.

No, chapter 3 is not done yet... we have one more installment.

Yes, we have to see what happens between Castalia and Kane - remember? The dude was not wearing his mask!!! *ç*

Anyways, since I need the covers to turn out exactly like I want them to be... I start working on them early on, while I draw the previous chapter!

Usually, once I am done, I put the final work on my desktop and stare at it for weeks... this way I manage to see if there's any problems that need to be fixed!

So, yes, we are going to have the first cover without Kane and Castalia. This one is a Wes&Kes!

It will mostly have blue hues! *_X/

How to make a cover...

I have been asked: do you draw your covers with Illustrator?

Yes, partially.... meaning... I use Illustrator and Photoshop interchangeably since I have a Cs4 and can work on vectorial object from photoshop to illustrator... how comfy!

But how do I draw a cover? And how long does it take me?

It takes me about an hour and I start from a pencil drawing... always!!!

Illustrator

First of all I open Illustrator and I start my itunes and select some good music I like... Yes, yes, Pirates of Penzance while I draw about pirates seems like the right choice.

Setting up the file.

I import the drawings I mean to use. As you can see the drawing can be rough or very detailed it depends on my whims... mhhh, usually I do detailed backgrounds but I can just rough characters up and still have a clear idea of what I need to do.

I also import the Illustrator file on which I set up colors - meaning... these guys will not change their color, I have set a styleguide and this drawing is MY styleguide for Kane and Castalia.

Pencil background, characters and styleguide are on 3 different layers.

I am set to go.

Background

If I need to draw a background I usually stat from there.

I test to see the character's placement and have an idea of how much of this drawing I actually need to draw, then I start from the first element.

The background always goes on its own layer. I use the pen tool, I use objects and merge them with pathfinder... I use stroke and offset paths a lot.

I learned this technique form Hasbro's and Strawberry Shortcakes' vector files... they layer up a lot.

Once I finish one element I duplicate it and offset it to create a regular interval between objects and creating instances is usually the best solution for this. Then I start adding details.

I turn on and off the layer with the drawing to see if the vector drawing works... then add a layer to have the background recede a bit. On a separate layer, using transparency.

The background is done, I turn off the layer and move onto the next step.

Drawing the characters

Again I check the characters for placement, since creating instances always give you a precise measurement and that, of course, would differ from a pencil sketch. Once the placement and sizing is decided I turn off the background layer and create a new one for my characters.

I use mainly the pen tool to draw the shapes, starting, usually from the basic ones, the ones that go behind details: the bottom layers.

Since I am working bottom to top it does not matter if the shapes aren't following the drawing precisely... they will be covered by the next shape.

as you can see they overlap nicely. Then when I have to draw details I often switch the drawing's layer off and focus on the shape.

The shapes get smaller and smaller as you start drawing details.... and even eyelashes are made with pen, not brush, and are designed to follow the shape I want.

The final touch ups.... the blush is a circular gradient, the earrings are strokes objects.

Double check on features and colors.... mhhh, check!

Time to add the brushstrokes. I use a calligraphic brush that I personalize to my liking and God's will - God being my tablet, she has a life of her own... luckily I know how to deal with my moody wacom. So I start drawing the lines.

Finish up all the details... and turn on the background again. Tack, tack!

There! They are exactly placed according to my composition. Now it's time to take all this basic drawing and export it to Photoshop.

I do it one layer at the time. Locking everything else, I select all, copy and paste (yes, copy and paste) from Illustrator to Photoshop. The selection automatically becomes a vectorial object in photoshop... means that if I click on the layer, in Photoshop, it will automatically open Illustrator to let me modify the original vector based drawing. *ç*

Photoshop

I open in Photoshop the template file I created so that the cover will always be the same size, same color, same everything. I turn on the parchment layer and throw in the first object from Illustrator, the background and the pink overlay. I play with multiply and transparency to get a nice basic color.

Next I create my torn page effect with a mask and I create a layer that I fill with a pattern and set to multiply - I mask that too - and throw in an overlay with this purplish colors in stripes.

Again I play around a bit with multiply and transparencies and add a purple glow! Then add the burnt edges along the torn part.

After thaaat.... It's time to throw in our dudes... mask the layer... mhhh it looks dark....

let's throw in a layer with levels. There! Much better.

Then I can drop in the logo and the scroll with the title.

They are ready-made-object that live in a GROUP in separate files. I just drop them in the file I work on or turn them on and off. I type the text on the scroll... it has a drop shadow effect.

I use layer effects on some objects, mostly drop shadow though especially on scrolls and fonts.

The cover is done!!!! No it's not XDDD... That's not what goes online... what goes online has a

square format and a brown edge. So I need to open my template page for the actual comic pages.... there!

On that file I drop a flat layer with the cover. Then I save the file for the web with the correct size and make a jpeg of it.

Now it's done and ready to go on smackjeeves or be put in indesign or acrobat to do my pdf files for issuu.

Was this helpful? I think it's boring XD Anyways one thing I can say: by the time I am done so is the Pirates of Penzance and that's how I know how long it takes me... also, this cannot be done with a mouse, you risk a carpal tunnel, you need a wacom - an intuous - that works, unlike mine - and some serious software. I have a Cs4 and find it amazing! Being able to keep a vector object in a psd file is the best thing that ever happen to mankind since sex!