Zodiac Battle Development Blog

Artslam 2011 - 61, 62

2011-08-06T14:23:00.000+10:00

Studies for the omake chapter.

Artslam 2011 - 60

2011-08-05T13:06:00.000+10:00

57-59 were comic pages, everything else before that was sketches for my other series. /_\

Doing some practice sketches for the omake chapter. Still need to actually plan it out orz

Artslam 2011 - 48, 49

2011-07-16T17:03:00.000+10:00

The entry for 48 was yesterday's comic page.

A preview of page 9, since I'm changing up the style for this quite significantly for the next chapter.

I'm trying to speed up my comic drawing process as much as possible, and the largest time sink in drawing the comic is doing the lineart, so I considered a style that eliminates the lineart altogether. (some of the best Western comics have no inking whatsoever anyway hahaha)

This was done just under an hour, including adding the text, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. There does need to be a little more variation in colour though, I think.

Artslam 2011 - 37-42

2011-07-07T23:47:00.000+10:00

Two draft pages for chapter 7:

Cover draft:

Some old art done for a uni assignment a few months ago. Kept forgetting to post it here... orz

Artslam 2011 - 35, 36

2011-07-01T03:51:00.000+10:00

If anyone's wondering where the other days have gone, I've posted sketches for a second series during that time. As usual, if you're looking for those sketches, just head on over to my artslam tag on LJ.

Artslam 19-22

2011-06-22T01:17:00.000+10:00

Artslam 2011 - 18

2011-06-18T21:31:00.001+10:00

Artslam 2011 - 7-11

2011-06-10T02:44:00.001+10:00

The Dragon

2011-06-10T02:13:00.005+10:00

Name: Tatsu (龍)
Zodiac Position: 5th

The renegade zodiac of this year's Battle, Tatsu has studied under the tutelage of Genbu - one of the guardians of the Four Divine Symbols - and has, as a result, learned how to permanently stay in his Brave Form. His Brave Form is so strong that he seals up most of its power in his pauldrons, and can unleash them to assume his full form at any time.

As a Dragon, he is confident and self-assured in his abilities - confidence that is certainly not unfounded, as he is the very first zodiac to discover and earn his Brave Form. It was through his, Genbu's, and Usagi's combined efforts that they discovered Neko's plot.

His weapon of choice is a spear with a curved blade attached to its haft. The spear is made of a special metal that will never break.

The Rabbit

2011-06-10T02:04:00.003+10:00

Name: Usagi (兔)
Zodiac Position: 4th

I wasn't too happy with her original design - both personality-wise and visually, so for today's Artslam I decided to revamp her a little.

Where the previous Usagi was a Metal hare, this new one is a Water hare. The metal symbol reflects personality traits such as determinedness, firmness, and strength, however the water symbol represents more intelligence and wisdom, which is more in line for Usagi's redesign. Usagi is calm even when under extreme pressure - it takes a lot to crack her - but once she succumbs to it, she can react in extreme ways.

She and Tatsu share a special bond, both by virtue of their zodiac proximities, and by the fact that their personalities mesh well. She is the yin to his yang, and vice versa.

Her weapon of choice is a chinese flute. Her powers enable the music of the flute to create an illusion for the opponent, causing them to believe things that are not real. She can also use the flute to create soothing music that heals wounds, or even give them strength.

Artslam 2011 - day 4

2011-06-05T14:15:00.002+10:00

I totally forgot to post this last night, derp. :V

Artslam 2011 - day 3

2011-06-04T00:43:00.001+10:00

Artslam 2011 - day 2

2011-06-02T19:00:00.003+10:00

I wanted to redesign this today.

Some rough thumbnailing and a quick concept for the helmet.

Finally ended up with this. I feel like I made his torso too long or something.

Artslam 2011 - day 1

2011-06-01T23:01:00.002+10:00

Yep, I'm participating Artslam again this year. It's becoming a tradition!

Anyway, as a warm-up exercise for day 1, I decided to doodle some human (and human-like) characters in my new style.

I also did up a shiny new banner for the entries on the Livejournal community proper. Here it is without the text.

dusts off blog

2011-06-01T21:20:00.002+10:00

Hello again, faithful readers! I hope no one's missed me too much. As mentioned over at the main site, I had to take a break from working on the comic to concentrate on school. Well, that and I didn't have much material to work with anymore, and I didn't have the time to sit down and write it. I'm happy to announce that in the past week I've written the scripts for chapters 8 and 9 of the comic so far, and chapter 10 has already had a fair bit of it drafted for a while now.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't come here to read me rambling, so have some sketches of Inu. I used him as a character in a short 30 second animation assignment for uni.

I'll be posting a link to the final video here once it's up on Youtube.

Den winter redux

2011-02-17T19:13:00.002+11:00

There are times when you see a certain outfit on someone, and it just strikes you that it would fit perfectly on one of your characters.

This was one of those times.
Oh KMC you can look so cool when T-Pistonz isn't making you wear retarded outfits. XP

yes I am actually still updating this thing

2011-01-28T03:54:00.000+11:00

year of the rabbit

2011-01-21T00:29:00.002+11:00

A pic I planned to do for Chinese New Year, but I don't think it really fits. :P I'll think of something else!

Tornado Kick!

2011-01-07T02:38:00.000+11:00

Purgatora

2010-12-30T19:35:00.002+11:00

I saw someone walking down the street earlier in this poncho thing, no joke. Thought it would look great on Tora.

chapter 5 sketches

2010-12-20T20:35:00.002+11:00

Redoing a few of the panels in the later chapter 5 pages to be more dynamic. :3

some random sketches!

2010-12-18T17:36:00.001+11:00

100 pages of ZB!

2010-12-14T19:57:00.001+11:00

I feel terrible for neglecting this blog..

chapter 5 cover

2010-11-12T18:24:00.001+11:00

I'll finish this up and post it tomorrow. :3

today's warmup sketch

2010-11-12T00:41:00.001+11:00

One of these days I gotta do up a mock character selection screen for a fighting game.

just...

2010-11-08T00:01:00.000+11:00

...a quickie sketch of Tora to test out a new pen.

more flashback stuff

2010-11-04T13:09:00.002+11:00

Today's warmup sketch.

Inu and Ushi concepts for chapter 6, forgot to post these for some reason.

"we are"

2010-11-01T17:59:00.001+11:00

Sketch of Sanzang and Wujing I did for chapter 4's extras page. You'll see it tomorrow!

Neko-yasha profile

2010-10-30T23:31:00.001+11:00

Finally gave him a proper colour scheme, after all this time. He's mostly unchanged from his first conception, except for the scarred right eye. The scar is a physical manifestation of the power he's gotten from Cerberus.

I was a little afraid I'd gone too far with the purple, but looking at it now it actually came out quite nice. Purple is not a colour I usually use, so this was interesting.

chillax

2010-10-30T04:20:00.002+11:00

I feel bad for neglecting this blog so much in the last month.

chapter 7 work

2010-09-29T19:07:00.003+10:00

Hitsuji looks a little psychotic here, derp. :V

Top down view of the stage this time, the rocks and obstacles make this a great one for Uma who uses ranged weapons.

Hitsuji can augment her tonfas with energy, making them sharp like blades.

some chapter 7 stuff

2010-09-29T00:37:00.003+10:00

Some practice sketches I did for chapter 7.

Regular Tora shenanigans.

One of Inu's moves he will use in chapter 7.

Aaaaand a preview for tomorrow's update!

and now for something completely different

2010-09-25T13:37:00.003+10:00

Mac in SP style:

Everyone loves motivational posters!

Mac and Lee "official" pictures

2010-09-24T15:21:00.001+10:00

a textual interlude

2010-09-21T16:44:00.007+10:00

Posting text, for a change.

I want power.

I want to be stronger.

He chanted those mantras in his head, over and over. He had been wandering in Purgatory for… he didn’t even know how long. At times it would feel like seconds, and at others it would feel like he had been stumbling around for tens of thousands of years. He wasn’t good at keeping track of time, but if he had to guess, it might have been close to five thousand years.

He had suffered a graceless defeat in the race, behind the twelve animals that had beaten him. Even the pig. And that was the part he couldn’t fathom, couldn’t forgive himself for. If he couldn’t even beat the pig – that cumbersome, good-for-nothing sack of meat – then he couldn’t even hope to accomplish a fraction of the things he had dreamed of.

And he had plenty of time to dream.

Not too long ago (or perhaps it had been a few seconds ago, he really couldn’t tell), a voice had called out to him. A voice telling him to find it, telling him that to find it would be to find a source of infinite power. That alone – the promise of greater power – had urged him on from his stupor, and gave him renewed strength.

I want to be stronger.

I want revenge on those who defeated me.

I want the world to burn.

He didn’t know how he knew, but he was heading closer to the voice with every step he took. There had been a constant presence in the back of his head since he first heard the voice, and it seemed to grow stronger as he went on.

After what seemed like an eternity, he arrived at a large cavernous opening on the side of a mountain. Chains criss-crossed over its entrance, and there were multiple talismans over it, to keep whatever was inside from breaking out. The voice whispered tantalisingly in his head, louder than ever. He had found it.

Cautiously, he approached the chains. A pair of red eyes glowed as he drew closer, and he flinched. The voice comforted him, reassuring him that it was nothing to be afraid of, and that he should destroy the talismans.

He reached out and tore a talisman from the chain. Removing one caused a chain reaction, and the remaining talismans fell to the ground in a fluttering heap. The mountain rumbled, and he could sense a massive being inside moving. The chains around the entrance collapsed, and he had to run back to prevent from being crushed.

The red eyes he saw earlier glowed with a stronger intensity. The mountain rumbled again, but it wasn’t the earth moving, it was the creature growling. He gasped and scrambled backwards as a clawed paw thudded on the ground in front of him, one of its claws nearly impaling him.

What emerged from the mountain was a being even he couldn’t have imagined. It had the form of a wolf, but it was clearly accentuated with demonic qualities. Spikes rose from the top and at the sides of its head, and at each of its limb joints. As it continued forward, he saw that it had two pairs of wings – a pair of huge, leathery wings grew from its shoulders, and a smaller pair of black, feathery wings rose from the middle of its back. It swished around a long, scaled tail, which was topped off at the end with a sharp, menacing curved spike.

The voice spoke in his head again, stronger than ever before. His head felt like it was going to explode, unable to contain the massive presence.

I promised you infinite power, and you shall have it. The voice said, resonating in his head.

Amazingly, the creature – the demon, he thought – dissolved into nothing more than a spirit, and drifted toward him. Without warning, it penetrated his very being. He screamed soundlessly, feeling the sudden agony of being invaded by such a powerful entity. Light exploded from his eyes, and suddenly, he collapsed to the ground in a heap.

When he rose, he was different. He was stronger, more powerful. The voice was there again, whispering its plans, telling him what to do. Together they would accomplish more than they would have achieved had they been alone.

He had finally gotten what he wanted. Soon, revenge would come.

two sketches

2010-09-03T22:03:00.002+10:00

Nothing major, just some random sketches. Been a bit uninspired with this series recently, to be honest. Schoolwork is a pain. T_T

hello

2010-09-01T11:06:00.002+10:00

Just posting with a quick doodle to show I'm still alive. :P

Artslam 83-89

2010-08-12T01:16:00.002+10:00

Two draft pages from chapter 6.

Saru and Nezumi fight, in chapter 9.

Some random busts.

Mac playing with a young kutabe.

Profile page for Matthaus.

Profile page for Victor.

Artslam 82

2010-08-07T23:33:00.001+10:00

Counted as one, because I drew them for the same image.

Victor (a new character), and Tora. I drew them as part of the Original Character meme.

Artslam 81

2010-08-06T00:27:00.002+10:00

Preview sketch for the cover of chapter 6.

Disclaimer: Although I'm using characters set in WW2, I'm not actually making any statements or whatever about it. I just needed two characters who have a rivalry and that were set in the past. WW2 was the first that came to mind.

That said, I'm really excited about drawing this chapter!

Artslam 79, 80

2010-08-05T17:41:00.001+10:00

Artslam 76

2010-07-31T14:46:00.005+10:00

This poster was done as an entry for a contest, where we had to draw our comic (or idea for a comic) as either an advertisement, or the first volume cover. I made this poster to emulate the double-spread "style" of an article that would appear in magazines such as Newtype or Animage.

A version of this image without the text will soon be available on the main site as a wallpaper!

Artslam 75

2010-07-30T17:12:00.001+10:00

Artslam entry 74 was just today's comic page. :P

This poster is being done as an entry for an art competition. :3

Artslam 68-73

2010-07-20T01:00:00.003+10:00

Tora and Mac exploring the Tiger Temple. I won't spoil anything just yet. ;)

I've had the idea for a while now, but since watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, I've been more inspired to flesh out the elements for this arc of the story more.

Two sketches which spawned while watching TLA... Tora = firebender. :P

Practice sketches for Russel, Nezumi's guardian. Also a failed sketch of a motorcycle.

Artslam 51-67

2010-07-19T20:48:00.000+10:00

These are drafts for chapter 10. I didn't actually write it out in script form, unlike the other chapters, but instead let the story come to me as it did.

Here's the first three pages:
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkyo/pic/001k9chx
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkyo/pic/001katzp
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkyo/pic/001kbk4e

And this is the conclusion:
http://zodiacbattle.blogspot.com/2009/10/party-wa-hajimaru-ze.html

There are still pages in the middle that are missing, so I'll have to work on that now.

----

Chapter 5 drafts, continued from:
http://zodiacbattle.blogspot.com/2010/06/nanomango-17-28.html

Fata Morgana (Artslam 50)

2010-07-17T00:48:00.002+10:00

Fata Morgana is an unusual type of mirage, and it can distort things to be almost unrecognisable. It is constantly changing, and is mostly determined by factors in the air. Because Tatsu can control the wind, he can manipulate the air to make it appear like he is in many places at once.

fields of hope (Artslam 48)

2010-07-15T23:54:00.001+10:00

Artslam 41-47

2010-07-12T15:32:00.007+10:00

Concept of Brave!Tora with a sword, which I scrapped shortly after. I didn't design him with a weapon in mind, so drawing him with one just felt unnatural.

Digital painting practice.

Artslam 34-37

2010-06-23T13:47:00.002+10:00

Short animatic that shows how Neko got his powers. No one's supposed to know yet, but the only reason why he's evil is because Cerberus possessed his body. He usually exists only as a regular spirit, not as a zodiac, as he never finished the race. Probably only makes sense to me but oh well...

The ritual by which Neko creates the soul monsters. Using this method he can create hundreds of monsters at a time, and potentially create an army. The blood is used to bind the souls to him, so that they give him unconditional obedience.

Another type of soul monster, Devouring Souls, often called Devourers. They are usually the souls of people who were impoverished during their lives. They have an insatiable hunger, and can smell humans from hundreds of miles away.

Yet another redesign for Buta. Only changed the belt this time though.

Artslam 27-33

2010-06-22T20:03:00.004+10:00

I've actually been really lazy the past week or so, gaming a lot and trying to finish a few old games I left unfinished. I finished Dragon Age earlier this afternoon, so I decided to stop procrastinating...

Neko can manipulate his magic into the shape of weapons. It's just one of the things he does. This one's a whip with a blade on the end. As with most things, it looked better in my head...

A new weapon for Nezumi. I admit, I pretty much stole this from the Prince of Persia movie. He has a device on his wrists, hidden in his sleeves, that dispenses these "needles".

On the topic of Nezumi, I've been thinking of redesigning his guardian for a while. After drawing a few of the male characters, I felt all their hair kinda looked the same. The one on the far left is what he looks like currently. I like the one on the far right the best though, heh.

While we're talking about male characters, I doodled a simple ref for Kyle. Needed to remember how his hair is, because I drew it wrong in the recent comic drafts. I also kind of epic fail at drawing kids next to adults.

Winter outfits for Purgatory arc:

Lee

Steven

Den

Nanomango 17-28

2010-06-20T11:07:00.002+10:00

What is this I don't even???

Page from chapter 6. I haven't actually written up to this point yet, but I had this in mind and had to get it down before I forget!

The sequence shortly before this. This takes place in chapter 9, I can't wait to write/draw it! Sorry for the change in colour between pages, my trusty pen ran out of ink halfway and I had to find another. T_T

God doing this with a touchpad takes so loooong.

Nanomango pages 12-16

2010-06-16T20:29:00.002+10:00

Three rough sketches of a fight sequence for later on:

Chapter 5 pages 3 and 4:

Artslam 23

2010-06-16T19:29:00.001+10:00

Artslam 20-22

2010-06-10T13:45:00.005+10:00

Welcome to the Zodiac Battle interface.
You have selected TUTORIAL.

Which tutorial do you wish to view?
>>Elements
>>Commands

You have chosen ELEMENTS.

There are five elements in total: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and
Water. They can be used in a strategic capacity to deal the
maximum damage possible.

For example:
TORA is of the element Wood. His basic attacks will be effective
against a zodiac with the Earth affinity. Furthermore, his
secondary element is Fire, making his attacks effective against
a zodiac with the Metal affinity.

TUTORIAL COMPLETE

Which tutorial do you wish to view?
>>Elements
>>Commands

You have chosen COMMANDS.

In addition to their primary and secondary elements, zodiacs may
utilize the power of any element for a short time, through user
inputted commands from the interface. These are called Offensive
commands.

On top of Offensive commands, there are also Defensive commands.
At present, there are only two known Defensive commands - the
Shield command (防) and the Speed command (快).

The Shield enables the zodiac to absorb a certain amount of
damage. It can absorb up to 50 points of damage, and lasts up
to 20 seconds if no damage is done.

The Speed increases a zodiac's speed attribute by 30 for 15
seconds.

TUTORIAL COMPLETE

Artslam 19, 20

2010-06-08T00:57:00.001+10:00

Artslam 18

2010-06-07T22:07:00.001+10:00

Somehow this only looked really good in my head.

Artslam 10-17

2010-06-06T13:17:00.006+10:00

I figure there wouldn't be any harm just posting the comic drafts here, no?

Yeah, I messed up with the arms in the last panel, I usually fix things like this before doing lineart. ^^

Once Inu gets over his grudge, Tora really doesn't hate him. They used to be BFFs!

More sketches of Matthaus. He used to be a detective before being drafted into the army for WW2. Tora was his partner before revealing himself to be something much more.

Artslam 6-9

2010-06-04T17:47:00.003+10:00

Hmm, in hindsight, combining this with Nanomango may have been a bad idea... Come on self, YOU CAN DO IT!

As promised, flashback!Tora and Inu's guardians. I made a few calculation errors while doing research, which is why I crossed out the writeups, but after thinking it through a little I thought it'd still be relevant. Anyway, the flashback chapter takes place in 1945, just at the tail end of World War 2.

The basic idea I have for them is that Victor will be so pissed off at Matthaus that he will force Tora to betray Inu, resulting in their falling out and the explanation behind Inu's grudge against Tora. I'm really looking forward to drawing them! (I'm sure there is a special place in hell for people who fangirl over their own characters.)

This is Steven and Kyle Warner, and they're brothers. Their family runs a dairy farm in outback Australia. (Victoria, to be precise) Their partners are Uma (the horse) and Hitsuji (the goat) respectively. They'll be making their debut in chapter 5, so I'm not quite ready to divulge their personalities just yet.

Somewhat old sketch - Nicole (Inu's guardian) and Russel (Nezumi's guardian) in their second arc outfits.

Page of random sketches! I should really draw Usagi more.

Artslam 4-5

2010-06-03T14:43:00.002+10:00

Souls that continue to hold a grudge even after death are known as Vengeful Souls. Although they are harmless in their normal form (like all other souls), they are ruthless killing machines when transformed. Every claw and spine on their body is tipped with poison, and on top of that they can spit poison from their mouths. Once transformed, they will carry out their master's orders until death.

Proud Souls are often the souls of those who wielded power before death. Once transformed, they will obey their master's orders without question. They do not have an actual material form, their souls simply occupy the spaces in the armour. The crystal on their shields contains their main essence, and they are defeated once this crystal is destroyed. Although it is displayed prominently on the shield, it takes a great force to actually shatter the crystal. The colour of the crystal and their soul essence can vary, depending on their personalities when they were alive.

If any of these designs look familiar... Vengeful souls are kind of a bastard cross of xenomorphs and zerglings, and I kinda-sorta stole the Proud souls armour design from the Angelo mobs in Devil May Cry 4.

Artslam 2-3

2010-06-02T16:04:00.004+10:00

I'm starting to write chapter 6 now, and it's a flashback chapter, so I went and sketched out Tora and Inu's appearances from that period. I find that I'm able to write the scripts easier if I've got the characters designed already. I'll be doing their partners tomorrow.

The basic idea behind them is that they used to be best friends (in the current timeline, they're rivals) but after Tora "betrayed" Inu, they started hating each other.

Artslam 2010 - day 1

2010-06-01T20:05:00.001+10:00

Boy are we in for a wild ride!

hmm

2010-05-31T16:33:00.000+10:00

More sketches for storyboarding.

Hitsuji!

2010-05-26T19:24:00.003+10:00

She'll be introduced alongside Uma in chapter 5.

Name: Hitsuji (羊)

Zodiac Position: 8th

Hitsuji is a bit of a weak character. She shares a close bond with Uma, both by proxy of their zodiac positions and by the fact that they are both hooved animals. Although her appearance suggests she may be outgoing, she is actually quite shy. As such, like Uma, she dislikes fighting and prefers taking the diplomatic route to confrontations.

Her chosen weapon are a pair of tonfa that she uses defensively. She ranks quite highly among the zodiacs in the speed department, though she is not as fast as Nezumi or Saru.

Neko rough refs

2010-05-25T13:24:00.003+10:00

I should probably colour these...

Cerberus were-form

2010-05-25T01:47:00.002+10:00

Done for a character design assignment, figured I'd take this opportunity to wrangle some muses running around in my mind.

This is Cerberus' released form, sort of like the equivalent of the zodiacs' Brave form. He's faster and more powerful in this form, and can manipulate magic better.

Nanomango pre meme #3

2010-05-22T15:26:00.002+10:00

Have also signed up for this year's Artslam. :D

100th blog post \o/

2010-05-16T23:00:00.004+10:00

Posting something different for a change - music!

I received this piece as part of an art trade. It's Tora's character theme. The composer did a pretty good job with it, the metal genre does fit Tora's personality quite well.

Nanomango pre meme #2

2010-05-11T20:42:00.001+10:00

One day if I have time I'll do a ZB caramelldansen. X3

some random sketches

2010-05-08T22:19:00.003+10:00

Sketches done for a school project that got scrapped.

Nanomango

2010-05-07T17:32:00.002+10:00

Similar to artslam last year, this year I'll be participating in various organised art "events" that I found on LJ.

Nanomango is the unofficial equivalent to Nanowrimo, and it runs both in June and November. I'm gonna be using this event to make more sketch pages for ZB!

Hitsuji~

2010-05-05T23:33:00.001+10:00

Happy Star Wars Day!

2010-05-04T23:48:00.001+10:00

Inu would make a pretty good Jedi! X3

Commentators!

2010-05-03T10:09:00.003+10:00

I abstained from adding "week" to that, it means I'll have to draw them for the rest of the week! I'm not ready for that kind of commitment! /o\

Started drawing them because a friend requested more pics of them. :x

I really like this shot of Wujing!

I've just added a Followers thing on the sidebar, so if anyone wants, they can add me to their blogger read list. I don't even know if anyone even visits this place, I never get any comments, but regardless...

new site layout!

2010-04-21T23:54:00.003+10:00

I was busy coding the html for it earlier, so if anyone managed to catch a glimpse of it before I took it offline, grats to you. ;P

This layout will come back online this Friday for the first year anniversary of Zodiac Battle. ^^

yay sketches

2010-04-20T22:20:00.004+10:00

a preview of something to come

2010-04-18T01:36:00.003+10:00

It'll be Zodiac Battle's first year anniversary next Friday, so I thought I'd spruce up the Smackjeeves site (which is pretty much the main site, for all intents and purposes) with a new layout!

The rough draft of the layout.

Sketches in preparation for inking and colouring.

In addition to a new site layout, I'll also be posting two comics as a bonus. :)

omake preview

2010-04-10T23:51:00.002+10:00

Omake means "extra" for the manga uninitiated.

I'm going with a different approach for this one; I had fun doing traditional comics back in the day, so I'm pulling out the old markers and liners for this one. I'm planning a month long break after chapter 3 is finished (which is in about 3 weeks) so the extra chapter will be 4 pages long.

Can anyone guess what it's about?

Earth, Water, Wind, Fire (complete)

2010-04-08T17:21:00.002+10:00

I got a piece of very helpful advice from someone on FAF about changing SAI's scratch disk, and after I changed it to my 1TB harddrive, SAI worked like a charm. :D Deleting the sketch layers I didn't need anymore helped too!

*falls over in a heap*

Happy April!

2010-04-03T21:55:00.002+11:00

Have a page of mostly Inu.

storyboarding update

2010-03-29T18:48:00.001+11:00

Son of a bitch computer can't even render it properly. >:|

lol no, it is still not done yet.

Earth, Water, Wind, Fire

2010-03-26T18:36:00.002+11:00

This is being done for a storyboarding assignment - a set of 4 postcards which can be joined together to form one image, but still be stronge enough to stand on its own. Inevitably, I came up with an idea that incorporated ZB, and the teacher really likes it. :)

The above is the (very messy) second sketch draft. Just to give a quick breakdown:

Tatsu - Wind
Nezumi - Water
Tora - Fire
Buta - Earth

Lineart stage. Took me 5 hours to finish everything. XD I get the feeling some of the detail will be lost once I add colour... The elements clashing will be painted in later.

Here's a closeup view of the lineart.

Character Balance Meme

2010-03-25T22:40:00.005+11:00

Haven't posted here in a while... uni work and commissions keeping me busy with barely enough time to pump out the weekly page. >_<
Results were quite interesting, albeit expected, to say the least. Tatsu was made to be a mentor and guide, and be powerful from the start, so he should be fine the way he is. Inu though, I might need to tone him down a little for when he becomes a main character.

These 7 are probably the most developed out of the vast number of characters I have planned for this comic, and I tried to limit it to zodiacs only, as I sadly haven't done as much work with the humans. Need to rectify this!

And yes, I did design Tatsu to be bishounen. XD

Cerberus sketch page

2010-03-12T16:34:00.003+11:00

if my internet behaves...

2010-03-10T01:12:00.002+11:00

I need to remember that I have some backlogged scans.

I don't draw the humans nearly enough

2010-03-05T16:16:00.002+11:00

Uma!

2010-03-04T18:04:00.005+11:00

He'll be introduced in chapter 5. :)

Name: Uma (马)
Zodiac Position: 7th

A very down-to-earth, carefree kind of guy, he would rather sit around at a table and talk than fight, and is often seen with a smile on his face. Although he has a cheerful, outgoing personality, he can be very stubborn and once he sets his mind on something, there is very little that will get him to change his mind.

He is good friends with both Tora and Inu, and often serves as a mediator to stop their arguments. Despite being the odd animal out in the trio (a herbivore animal while the other two are carnivore animals), the three are often seen together and often referred to as "The Three Muskateers" jokingly.

His weapon of choice is a crossbow; because he dislikes fighting, he would rather attack things from a distance than get up close. However if it comes down to it, he can hold his own in close combat, though he usually leaves Tora and Inu to that department.

Ride the Lightning

2010-02-26T01:14:00.001+11:00

Playing around with effects is fun. :)

by your powers combined

2010-02-23T02:13:00.002+11:00

Take a wild guess.

favourite page so far

2010-02-21T00:45:00.000+11:00

i can haz chinese wurds?

2010-02-16T16:22:00.003+11:00

*runs away cackling*

u-u-uma uma

2010-02-15T17:55:00.002+11:00

just a quickie to test out a new lineart tool idea 8)

新年快乐！！

2010-02-12T23:55:00.002+11:00

sleepy drawing

2010-02-03T23:43:00.002+11:00

some concept things

2010-02-02T19:12:00.001+11:00

MOE

2010-01-30T13:19:00.002+11:00

This is what I do when I'm bored.

some Inu action

2010-01-28T19:39:00.001+11:00

evil doggie

2010-01-22T13:07:00.003+11:00

Behold! The so-called final boss.

Year of the Tiger

2010-01-21T19:10:00.000+11:00

Inu for a change

2010-01-16T12:20:00.000+11:00