P is for Pilar

P is for Pilar, another character from a-NOTHER story I'm planning.

Pilar is a Hispanic woman who suffers an immense life changing tragedy. She joins a Muay Thai kickboxing gym in the hopes that it'll help her relieve stress and give her something to do, but she never anticipated how much she would fall in love with it. The story is about finding purpose in your life again after life cruelly rips purpose from you. It's going to be a lot of fun, I hope, filled with fights and drama and I hope, actual warm hearted stuff. I know I write a lot of tragedy and sad stuff but I do like seeing these characters happy. Sometimes.

Tools: Zebra brush pen
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

O is for Oscar

O is for Oscar, another story I've yet to draw but want to get to eventually.

Oscar is a sheltered Hispanic boy who lives at home with his very protective and close knit family. Since he was small, he's always dreamed of being a fine artist, his favorite field trips were to art museums and he's read every book on fine art in the library. However, his parents don't want him to be an artist, at least not professionally. They would rather he get a normal job and just do art as a hobby. This stifling environment starts to eat away at Oscar, so he signs up for a life drawing class as an act of rebellion. This class will change his life, and also he's never been in the same room with a nude woman before.

While this isn't how my life as an artist started, I know that this is a pretty common story for young artists. The feeling that your family or friends are trying to reality check your dreams is a real one, and I wanted to explore that in cultural sense as well. I hope it'll be a fun book!

Tools: Pentel pocketbrush pen and Copic multiliners
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook.

K is for Kal

K is for Kal, the A-Z character thingy goes on. I'm still having fun so that's good.

Kalypso is a Dominican woman who has led a hard life. She found herself learning Muay Thai to defend herself, but soon became enamored with the art. After leaving her home and her troubles behind, she and her lover started their own Muay Thai gym where she teaches others, men and women, how to defend themselves and to push themselves further than before. Kal is a tough woman and is a fighter who has earned the tiger stripe tattoos on her back and arms.

These drawings of characters who haven't been drawn in comics yet are so much fun. I haven't yet started the drawings for this story, so a lot of the character designs are sort of floating around in my head. Drawing them like this makes them more solid and I can now better imagine her in the story. I hope you'll enjoy it when I draw it!

Tools: Pentel pocket brush and Permapaque marker
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

F is for Frey - A to Z Character Challenge

F is for Frey! Another character from my series Wolves of Sariel.

Frey was a Mexican American man who became a very important member of the Wolves, which is the same group of psuedo-religious vampires that Delilah was a part of. Unlike Delilah though, Frey saw the importance of having an organization as he knew that power is often the only language that people can understand. A potent boxer before he was turned, Frey's existence on the streets made people think twice about crossing the line into evil, and his use of a bizarre object to create white flame meant that every body he left behind was a torch to remind people that he was out there looking out for good people. Unfortunately I didn't get to draw all of the most interesting scenes of him, but maybe one day I will.

Tools: Zebra brush pen and Pentel pocket brush
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

B is for Bellona - A to Z Challenge

B is for Bellona! Continuing on the A to Z thingy I started yesterday, which I hope the people who read this are enjoying it as much as I am!

Bellona is a character from my story Hybrid Ghost, an update of the old "Hibrida Prima" comic that is lost in the dusty hallways of this blog. The updated story focuses on espionage and diplomacy. After decades of long brutal fighting, a tenuous peace has been established, but like any real conflict, not everyone is done hating and fighting. Bellona's father was a soldier for the humans and he was stolen away from her when she was very young. She holds a grudge against all aliens but especially the one who is responsible for ruining her family life. Bellona is half Irish half Hispanic and is a strong boorish woman with no empathy for anyone who doesn't have roots on Earth. She is a main figure and villain in the story by the halfway point and she is one of my favorite characters to write because villains are oh so INTERESTING! I'm not giving a ton of detail here but I hope that sounded at least somewhat interesting.

Tools: Zebra brush pens, Copic multiliners, and the Pentel color brush
Paper: Stillman and Birn Gamma sketchbook