I couldn’t resist having a go at drawing Clint after hearing about the Stardew Valley 10-year anniversary stream earlier today, and hearing who the new marriage candidates are. :D
Clint – sweater version
Forgive me if his body type isn’t accurate – since he’s a blacksmith, I imagined him having a husky but muscular build (banging at that anvil takes strength, right?). But he might be more idealized than he should be, since this is another of the construction anatomy practices from imagination I’ve been doing.
My purpose with those is practicing my recall of muscle groups, (also why there are likely anatomical errors).
This is also why he is shirtless lol. It’s intended as a playful drawing, and my hope was no one took it too seriously. I was just excited by the announcement. :D
Commission for Skylark finished for this past Valentine’s Day, as a surprise gift for their partner! Above is the mesmer virtuoso, “Tarcisio Chiavetta,” who is Damedarosa’s character! (Names mentioned here with permission.)
Above and below are detail crops.
Process sheets below!
Sketch 01: Initial sketch ideas.
For this piece, we began with a general range for the budget. I was given a fair bit of artistic freedom, and I offered to draw a series of thumbnail during the initial sketches, across a range of complexities within their budget. This way, the client could choose the idea which both appealed to them most, and matched their desired budget. The original sheet lists quotes underneath each thumbnail idea, which I’ve omitted here for the client’s privacy.
Sketch 02: Revised sketch, pose block-out
First-round revision after the sketch idea was chosen.
Sketch 03: Revised sketch, background block-out
Here is blocking out the background more before the painting stage began.
And here is the finished piece once more! This illustration has two versions – a “mesmeric magic” version at the top of the post, and this version above which places the focus more on Tarcisco’s figure.
Thanks so much again to Skylark for this commission!
Work-in-progress crop showing “Eparos,” one of the characters from my original setting. Plus a sliver of another character I’ve shown before (though I’m realizing not on this blog), who I’ve since given a more thoughtful, less throwaway name, haha.
Well, I should show the earlier artwork of him below, then, as well!
Quick pose study of the pistol animation for the “Harbinger” elite spec from Guild Wars 2 (not to be confused with Malyck being the “Nightmare Harbinger,” or with “The Harbinger’s Path” comic) (I always thought it was an amusing decision they decided to name the elite with the same term. Such teases!).
I remember when I first tried out the Harbinger spec on my reaper, I really enjoyed watching the animation for the pistol’s attack animation. I thought the posing done by the riggers/animators was fantastic, and I couldn’t resist doing a little study from the in-game pose.
Unrelated to the above sketch – I’m not sure how this happened, but I might be formatting 2 comics for print this month/into next month. I’ll have more info next week, most likely. (It’s small, nothing major.)
Updated typography | Ch2 Title Page | The Harbinger’s Path Link to live page here.
I’m here with an update about The Harbinger’s Pathprint book’s progress!
As of this writing, I have finished the first edit pass for all of Chapter 1, all of Chapter 2, and I am now up to pages 5-6 in Chapter 3. These edits include adjusting the pages to factor in margin, bleed, and trim, for when the pages are cut for printing. I have also retouched the art for certain pages along the way (one of them might even be live on the site!).
Book Dimensions and Page Count
I can also share some of the physical attributes of the book. It will be 5.5 x 8.5 inches, which is slightly wider than A4Correction: A5.(I always mix these two up, forgive me.) This is a standard size for US printers – a size below the standard 6 x 9 in for many US comics. This made figuring out some of the cost logistics easier. The current page count, including the cover, front and back matter, and bonus material, is 84 pages. This version will also be perfect-bound (like a standard book/not like a magazine).
With the comic pages themselves adding up to 55 pages, this means the remaining pages are bonus material! This page count will likely change as I continue working on the book’s layout, but increasing the page count from the original ~60 to the current 84 had a negligible effect on cost (to my surprise and delight). And, it is giving me an excuse to refine and polish several illustrations of Trahearne and Malyck I’ve started over the years – some I’ve shown before, but a few I never have!
Typography Updates (Live)
In addition to the above book info, one of the updates I wanted to show are typography updates!
Below are comparisons of the updated versions with the previous typography, as I’ve updated the title pages for all 3 chapters on the live site now.
Left is the updated version, right is the previous version.
One of the changes that’s always been in the back of my mind was updating the typography for the chapter title pages. I don’t know why I didn’t think to try this before, but I tried out using the same font I used the the cover (“Gloucester MT Extra Condensed”), and I much prefer the look of this one compared to the previous version.
I remember I spent a good amount of time with the typography in the original, as I was never quite satisfied with it. I should have realized it was my choice of font face! Once I changed it to this Gloucester font, it fell into place quickly.
I’m fond of that previous edgelord font, but after trying it for 3 chapters, I’ve realized it isn’t the best fit for the tone I want to convey in this comic. I still love the font, but it’s better suited for a different project.
In addition to font changes in these comparisons, you might also notice the slight adjustments made to account for page trim and bleed.
Very luckily, it turns out the dimensions I used for the pages spread layout is the exact same ratio as 5.5 x 8.5 in. I am not sure how this happened, because this entire time, I was formatting the pages only with web in mind. I specifically remember originally starting with a 6 x 9 ratio, and then manually adjusting the dimensions to be taller, to fit better for web and mobile. I don’t recall specifically formatting the page dimensions for 5.5 x 8.5, but I either must have and it was so long ago I no longer recall, or this is an incredibly very fortunate coincidence.
If you’d like to know more about this print version of The Harbinger’s Path, click here or the banner below for January’s announcement post which has more info!
