Moving on with adding colours to the Inktober pieces. This was the second one I did I believe. It's a more realistic/futuristic/cybernetic take on my character Koru from my short comics story, "The Spirits & The Woods". I tried a new to me inking approach and was generally pleased with the way it turned out.

In terms of colours, I kept up trying more saturated colours, along with some coloured line work and more detailed lighting effects. Since this is all stuff I don't normally do, it took more noodling and I may have overworked things a bit. I normally try to stay conscious of that in order to keep things moving along at a decent clip, but since I experimented more during Inktober, I think the colours could use some experimentation too. Since new things are also scary, I probably did more second guessing than was needed, but I really need to shake up some routines and try to learn new ways of doing things.

Labels: cyborg, Fablewood, Inktober, Koru, Samurai

I've been thinking a lot lately about my character from "The Spirits & The Woods". When I originally wrote the comic, there was no back story to her (who I've been unofficially calling "Koru" for a while now). As I thought about why she would know so much about the spirit world at such a young age (I guess 19), why she would be travelling alone etc., a whole large world started to grow.

As with most things like this for me, once it got to a certain point, I became a bit overwhelmed and shelved the idea for now. I tend to think my capabilities as an artist will hinder a story, and keep holding out until my skill "catches up" to my idea. Obviously this is hindering me creatively, as I think big on ideas but short on my abilities and it all plays out with a stalemate of me not doing anything. Vicious cycle I know, but something I'm working on.

At any rate, I wanted to try my hand at re-designing "Koru", as I pictured her older than I initially drew her in Fablewood, and given that she walks the ghost haunted countryside with a samurai sword, she should probably look the part a bit more. In this picture, I also tried my hand at using grey brush-tipped markers as shading and to add a bit of texture. I will explore this more, but for now I'd say it's not for me. Other great artists out there are much better at pulling this off convincingly, but I may need to just keep practicing.

Labels: Fablewood, Koru, The Spirits and The Woods