These next two pages were created much the same way I inked most of Arcadia; with a Japanese G-nib. Fortunately, it turned out to be PERFECT for what I needed to do here; Increase the space (even though, technically this page is supposed to still be at night) and leave room for the emotional heft to weigh in the air, and also to give some great detail to the fir trees.
Ink on Bristol board.
-RD
Citadel is © 2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved.
Another page I’m very thrilled with. People had some major complaints about the tree in the lower tier bleeding into the Arcadian soldier’s armor in the middle teir, and I see their point. Next time I’ll be more careful about that kind of placement. I love the texturing I was able to do with the brush on this page.
Ink on Bristol board.
-RD
Citadel is © 2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved.
That big middle panel was supposed to have the internally-opposing armies of the east assembled to agree to a truce to fight the common enemy in the west…but I apparently forgot all about it!
Ink on Bristol board.
-RD
Citadel is © 2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved.
I got a mixed bag of praise and criticism for the layout of this page. I guess from a purely visual standpoint it can be hard to tell where to go, but that’s why I let the text do it’s job and lead the readers eye to the next landmark. I hope it was successful enough.
Ink on Bristol Board.
-RD
Citadel is © 2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved.
Between the creation of the two stories that make up this book I had made some significant changes to the way I thought about and actually created my comic pages. The biggest change was the commitment to the Brush as my primary inking tool. I began inking this story from the middle and worked my way towards the ends, and I did this first page second to last. I feel this is one of the best-rendered pages in the whole of the comic.
I also made a very different approach to the way I was going to tell the story of this part. Where I went into Arcadia with the idea of having an omniscient narrator, or even full dialog, I came at Daikogen as a silent comic. This allowed me to focus on telling as much information as I could about the story/world/character with actions, which as we all know speak louder than words. It wasn’t until my final critique session before Thesis was due at CCS that I was told it needed just a little more, and I added again the omniscient monologue. This monologue of course is much more simple, fluid and not as heavy as in Arcadia.
I’m very proud of this part of the comic and hope to improve even more as I work into the first chapter of the true story arc.
Ink on Bristol board.
-RD
Citadel is © 2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved.
One child has reached the TRUE beginning…but there is another. Cover inks for Citadel – Daikogen. Part two of two of my fantasy adventure Citadel.
Ink on Bristol board.
After much consideration and a little bit of reading up on Orson Scott Card’s “How to Write for Science Fiction and Fantasy” I’ve decided to delegate this first chapter of Citadel as no longer the first chapter, but a sort of Prologue. Two stand-alone stories that are connected to each other, and merely serve as the format in which I chose to do my world building, character development, and lay the history behind Miles and Amy that would give them cause to go out and try to save the world!
In the coming ((REAL)) first chapter of Citadel, the actual story I want to tell will begin with the expectations that all of the information presented in these two prologue stories are unknowns. Essentially, the readers are not supposed to know anything going into the main story arc, as well as some of the characters within the story.
However, that does not entirely devalue Arcadia and Daikogen. They are two very important stories to me, stand on their own, and are still very much a part of the world I have created, and hope to explore with all of you for a very long time.
-RD
Citadel is © 2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved.
Here’s the final page of Citadel Chapter 1, part 1 – Arcadia.
Disobeying once again the law of the land, and the laws of his household, Miles, now in his late teens ventures into the Forbidden Forest to answer a call heard late in the night. Just what WAS the power that would propel him into sure-fire trouble? You’ll have to wait until next chapter to find out!
In coloring this page, I wanted a stark difference between the two pages of the spread in terms of the color, as we move both through a large portion of time as well as night and day. To do this I simply laid down an “underpainting/coat” in the Photoshop file of a cool blue. By placing the color layer then in Multiply mode I was able to lay down my chosen colors and have them pick up the cool tone below it and create the atmosphere I was looking for! I had used a similar technique on the previous 5 or so pages set in the marketplace in early morning, then using a pale yellow.
Ink on Bristol board, colors in Photoshop CS4
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
With this page, I mark the end of the first part of Chapter 1 of Citadel. An experiment in every sense of the word, I am somewhat pleased with the results of my playing with color, culminating in the last two pages. I would LOVE feedback on how you all think I did. What works, what doesn’t? Should I go more cell shaded…more painterly…more…anything!? Be sure to check out the archives and leave comments!
Starting next week we jump right into Part 2 of Chapter 1 – Daikogen (Great Plateau.) The country at war over the centuries with Arcadia, and home to our second protagonist, a young girl named Amy. The second part of this chapter I approached with much more understanding of the world, story, and comic making techniques and I know the growth shows. I hope you will continue to read and enjoy it!
The big announcement concerning part 2 however, is that I will NOT be coloring these pages. I found in doing Part 1 that it was immensely time consuming. As you know, I missed a lot of my update slots and by the end was reduced to a single page a week. This cannot and will not happen again. Since it was mostly an experiment, I have to problem reverting back to the original black and white art where I put all my true effort and understanding to begin with!
POKEMON: Pokemon posts will return! With the time I’m saving by not coloring any more Citadel pages, I hope to use that time to do more Summer Poke-sketch-a-mon pieces, these WILL continue to be in full color.
Web-Week: Web week will continue all this week with my model series, next week I’ll have some other various images and sketches that I’ve been doing for web-design. The site is near launch and I will definitely be sharing the link when all is ready to go.
N-MAN: There are many things happening in the world of N-Man and Friends: Tales of the Uncanny. I’m working very closely with Steve Bissette and many of my classmates on this amazing project and I hope to make many frequent updates about it as time allows, and as we get closer to the release of Volume 1.
Final Fantasy and Fuse4 – I also will continue to do many streaming shows of both art work/comic process and Final Fantasy Classic games (I-VI) in the coming weeks, including a stream tonight around 11pm, continuing my playing Final Fantasy I! Come on by and hang out!
I’m also in works to join the Fuse4 network, in what capacity is yet to be determined, but my good friend Dave MacCauley is working hard to get new recruits ready for action! More details to come!
Thanks all and have a great rest of your work week!
-RD
Citadel is © 2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved
This page actually is part of a 2-page spread to end the chapter part. I stuck to a 6-panel grid to increase the impact of the trees in the bottom tier as they continue into the next page, which I hope to have up next week. I have found I enjoy those montage-y, aspect to aspect transitions like in the middle tier, tho I think I should cut back a bit in the next chapter, as I have at least 3 in this one alone!
Next week: the final page of this part and an update of what’s to come to wrap up the summer and this chapter of Citadel!
Ink on Bristol board, colors in Photoshop CS4
-RD
The pivotal page 13…where our two main characters finally meet face to face, though not under the best circumstances. I feel like I nailed the expression in the center panel, and put a lot of effort and re-drawing into just that one. Amy’s awakening is the key purpose of this scene, but we won’t discover that until the next part of this chapter. Within the city limits of Alexandria, weapons are prohibited.
Ink on bristol board, colors in Photoshop CS4.
-RD
Citadel is ©2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved
Despite winning the war, Arcadia has become a dark place, especially it’s ancient and capitol city of Alexandria. Thieves and black market traders are everywhere, hiding in the shadows of alleyways. On a delivery route with his father, Miles is forced to react…not thinking of the consequences of unveiling his blade, but it will set in motion events that will decide his future.
Ink on bristol board, colors in Photoshop CS4.
-RD
Citadel is ©2010 Randall Drew
All Rights Reserved
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