I have no doubt that this would totally happen in the Love and Capes universe, if it hasn't already. Hmmm, maybe there's a story in there somewhere.
Cover's Got Back
Yes, it's true, I've been bad about posting artwork lately. I'm trying to break the story for my next project, which is not going well, but I'll wrangle it down.
In the meantime, I've been working on designing the second Love and Capes collection. (What's that? You want a link to pre-order? Here you go!) It's not just dropping the pages into inDesign, but reformatting the covers, writing and creating the back matter, and designing new sidepapers.
I don't know if sidepapers is even a real term, but that's what I call them. My stories are 24 pages (with #10 being 26 and #12 being 45) which means that if you want to maintain the page-one-on-the-right, page-two-on-the-left reading order, you've got a blank page on the back side of the cover. Not wanting to have a completely empty page, I designed some filler art for each chapter. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it means creating them for this second edition.
In the first trade, there were six images (Crusader, Abby, Darkblade, Arachnerd, Charlotte, and Amazonia) but in this one there are only five. The back of the issue #12 cover is the alternate cover. So I drew these.
All of them are original, except for Amazonia which reuses the art I did for the Comic Creators Alliance's art jam to end human trafficking. (By the way, the art raised over $10,000, and that is all kinds of awesome!) The art is below, and feel free to click and embiggen!
And Now We're Walking Out of the Forest
You know, for a book that I announced I was taking an "operational pause" on to work on a couple other projects, I seem to be doing a fair amount of pages. Really, I just needed a week off and then poof there were two more pages.
Today's comes from page twelve, a scene in Leandia with Mark and Abby, Amazonia, one of Amazonia's sisters, Oriana, and the Queen Leandia. I figured that the dimension, the city and the ruler's name are all interchangable. Hey, it's my world, I get to build it the way I want.
I had to design another set piece for this one, the royal chambers in the castle. It's open enough that I can reuse it a few times over this issue. And I think the giant Kirby Krackle energy pillars are kind of cool.
And, to show you how much I love this book, and the craziness it brings, here's what happened. Yesterday, I had a busy day, but I managed to pencil page twelve. Then, after fulfilling my duties as a Timberlake Councilman at one of our longer Council meetings, I inked it. After that, I colored and "built" the royal chambers set. By the time it was all done, it was 1:00 am.
My alarm went of at 6:00, as it often does. I'm a freelancer, and my morning workout class doesn't start until 9:00. I could have gon back to sleep, as I've done so many other times. But I couldn't. I had to get up and start working on the page, managing to color and almost finish lettering the page before I left to go Kick the Boxes.
There are other times and other projects that Ive had to get up early for. It's never pleasant, and I don't always roll a save against sleep. But for LNC, it's actually kind of easy.
Twelve pages down. Twelve to go. Do the math.
Ooops, I Did Page Eleven
Really, I meant to take a mini-break with page ten. I mentioned on Twitter that I had an epiphany about how the end of this issue will work, and I was glad about that. But I didn't really expect to do another page over the weekend.
Then, of course, the page just bubbled in my head until I went ahead and did it yesterday. I finished coloring and lettering it yesterday.
It's more adventures in Leandia, as Amazonia, Abby and Mark are heading to the Queen's castle.
And here's something I can't figure out how to mention: the big flying disc. I think it's a cool way for them to get around but it looks kind of unsafe, right? Well, borrowing off an idea I think I may have read in an old V novel, the discs have artificial gravity which help "lock" you in place. So, the disc could turn sideways or upside down, and you'd still be drawn to the disc as if you were right side up.
Okay, I thought it was cool.
See Exotic Places
When I work on Love and Capes, I do it in what I call "animated" style. I design a background/set and then lay the characters on top of it. Coming in the next issue, we go to Amazonia's home dimension. So I had to design an exterior.
Amazonia is obviously based on Wonder Woman, but I didn't want to borrow too much from her. So, instead of making it a Paradise Island kind of place, I went with making it a little more Flash Gordon-y, circa the "I know it's not good but I still dig it" 1980's extravaganza. I wanted a bright, technicolor landscape that Amazonia would look natural in. The film was famous for some skimpy costumes, so it makes sense that Zoe came from a place like that.
Click to embiggen, as usual.
I Believe the French Call It...
So what's Amazonia offering that Mark needs to check with Abby? You'll have to read the book to find out.
I was stuck on how to handle page eight, but I think I've broken that, too. This book seems to be coming a little faster than I would have thought, which is great because I just signed a contract to do some children's book illustrations that will take up a bunch of time. Can't complain, of course, but things are looking kind of tight, and could always get tighter.
Hmmm, perhaps I've said too much.
Black is the new Hot!
You saw these at Mid-Ohio-Con, now wear the awesomeness.
Yeah, that's right. The Amazonia shirts are now available in the Love and Capes store!