Sketch Dump 5

Zounds, it's...sketch dump time! Here is another look at the Scented Lotus.



Cynopolis doodles.



Lazul's head has gotten a little rounder.



It's more Shay. He smokes and drinks loads and scores with women. WOW!!!



It's yet another work in progress. I can hear Dave weeping from the other room "Oh Abigail Abigail" (that's him saying that) "whyfore can you not just finish something before starting a new picture?!" And I say "shhh it's all part of the Plan." And he say "no it's not, you are making excuses so you can sneak off and play Portal." And then I hit him over the head with an item that is comical and random. We're just like that! HEE.

The Scented Lotus

Quick update today, as I'm at work until about ten this evening! Just a few sketches of the ship I mentioned in the last one: The Scented Lotus. It's supposed to be big and cool, and a bit like a big floating piece of naff jewelry. There'll be more development of the ship design when I post my next sketch dump.

The Cast: Part 6

Uri and Thoth

Uri is a creative genius who has designed all sorts of devices, from household items to giant robots of destruction. Although she never makes such things out of any desire to harm anyone. She just sees cool inventions and wonders if she can make them, and make them better.



One of her most famous creations is the gigantic solar barge The Scented Lotus, currently owned by Sekhmet's administration. The Lotus has an onboard artificial intelligence based on the god of wisdom, Thoth, and it communicates with the crew through bird-like robotic avatars scattered around the ship. He is arrogant, rude and seems to take great pleasure in insulting everyone around him. Only Uri knows how to reprogramme the nasty little git, and Thoth will only take orders from her or the ship's captain.



Uri would be about 7 inches tall, and I first developed the idea for her after seeing images of snake demons with human legs from The Book of the Dead. Somehow she made her mechanical limbs so she could build her inventions. There are more weird robot servants she's made for the Scented Lotus but I'll save that for a future update. I wanted her to be very colorful and cute. She's an odd little character. Thoth's robotic form is based on an Ibis, one of the god's sacred animals. I'm trying to make him look as snooty as I possibly can. He's about the size of a football which makes him good for kicking.

Creatures of Khemet: Part 2

One of the main reasons I loved reading mythology as a child was the monsters. I imagine the old story tellers sitting around trying to think of new ways to frighten the kids.

"Okay this time, a donkey, but with SIX HEADS. That's bloody scary."

"No way man, in this one we need something really damn weird. What are the most dangerous animals we've got?"

"Hmm, crocodiles are pretty bad?"

"Great! And they're ugly, that's good. Let's have that be the head."

"Oo oo! And it needs great big claws and powerful arms, it could have a bit of lion in it."

"Nice. If it has a lion mane too, that would hide the bit where the crocodile head joins. Now then, the backside. What's the scariest bum in Egypt?"

"Uuhhh, a hippo bum?"

"You're a goddamn GENIUS"

The devourer, Ammut. Wonderfully retarded, the best of all the Egyptian demons. I wonder if I'll ever manage to make it actually scary?

Sekhmet

(Gosh this is up later than I'd hoped! Sorry all!)
Sekhmet, lady of red linen and Queen of Khemet. She's the only known living god
and has ruled the galaxy for hundreds of years. Famously attempted to massacre all of mankind once, but was stopped when the other gods got her very very drunk. No one talks about that anymore. They would rather not have their heads ripped off.

I think I'm still trying to find her a little visually, she's meant to be a warrior goddess so I want her to be huge and athletic. Also mature. Yeah a goddess like Nut (see my first page for the comic) who represents the sky is going to be a little sexy and elegant, but Sekhmet needs to look like she can smash your face in with her thumb. Currently I worry that she looks a little too much like a guy in drag. But part of the fun of this blog is showing you all how the development is going, and I'll keep you up to date.

Birmingham Comic Con

Well Dave and I had a very enjoyable weekend, meeting up with some incredibly cool people and handing out fliers for our comics whenever we could. Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I got some much appreciated critique on my work for the comic, and I'm really happy about the direction it's going in right now.

We're already in the process of booking tables and hotels for the Bristol convention in May, hopefully we'll be going with quite a few of our colleages so our tables should have a few very different comics for sale.

Expect some new sketches and comic images here tonight!

Sketch Dump 4

So it's been a while! Again. On top of the Tom and Jerry colouring work came a few other paid jobs and that can only be a good thing. Funding for our personal comic work for example! I intend to regularly keep posting new sketches in the run up to the Birmingham convention in October, which I am definitely attending. Here are a few sketches from the last few weeks to kick things off.