US Ch. 2 Pg. 11

You may remember that as Chapter 1 opened, Kaleem was having a drink with two friends. Well, here they are again--only this time, we're actually introduced to them. :P Their names are Will and Mickey.

Sorry about the lack of dialogue on this page. As soon as I finished drawing the top panel (which was really fun, by the way!), I realized that I didn't know where I wanted to put the speech bubble that belongs there. So I left the rest of the page textless too, since why leave only half the dialogue on a page? It wouldn't make any sense. I may decide to keep future pages like this, too.
Note: the little x marks indicate spaces that will be digitally filled with stars & such later.

AND OH GOD WHAT IS THAT ON WILL'S CHEEK. He does NOT have a mustache. That must be a random line that didn't get erased! Oh god, it looks so weird. I'm gonna fix that. Right now.

Edit: I fixed Will's scumstache thing, not to mention the fact that Kaleem's hat is not only the wrong color, but nonexistent in the bottom panel. However, I'm feeling rather lazy right now, so you'll have to take my word for it. >:3

Character Sheet: Kay

Kay is one of my favorite original characters. She's also going to show up in Chapter 3.
For some reason, her character design has changed nearly every time I draw her, and every time I say to myself: "Okay, this is going to be the final version." But they never are. Maybe this one will break the streak?
Also, drawing her may seem... oddly timed? Seeing as how I'm in the process of playing Katawa Shoujo right now. And I'll admit that I did borrow one of these facial expressions from Rin. (I just LOVE that expression!) But her character is largely the same as when I originally imagined her, about two years ago. Funny how these things happen.

Edit: Oh, sorry about the phantom face at the top left. I was doing some experimenting with hairstyles for her on the back side of the page; I didn't think it would show up on the scan. Hmph. Makes me want to digitally clean up the whole page, but that would be a waste of time, I think. This isn't supposed to be a big important piece of art. 

Some drafts

I'm jumping the gun a bit, as these locations will only come into play in Chapter 3, but hey. I felt like it.

Without References 2: Fire Emblem

It didn't turn out that great, but hey, it was fun. And that's the point. Well, experimentation is the point, but-

Also, my current 7-day plan for drawing seems to be:
Days 1-5: Draw nothing
Day 6: Draw a bunch of art
Day 8: Upload said art; apologize for not drawing more; repeat.

So sorry about that.

Nebulas

 

I was messing around in MSD4. *shrug*

Without References 1: Farscape

So I had a thought: I kinda like working with pen, completely without any other materials or drawing references, so I'm going to start a little experiment. Without References will be whatever I want to draw, as long as I only use a pen to do it, without looking at anything other than the page in front of me.
I also reserve the right to call said drawing a complete and total failure--as I did with two of the sketches in the middle.
I actually think this turned out alright... Durka's head is wonky, Chiana's hair is wrong, and Scorpius could be better, but hey. I'm normally so dependent on references that I'm still calling this a win. :P
...
I'm humming then 1812 Overture again. Damn you, Farscape! 

Loneliness is an Empty Pod

Yeah... not really sure where this came from.

Redesigned armor

I was looking through some of my old concept art, and decided I really didn't like some of my armor designs... so I redesigned this particular one.

New American Syndicate

 Let me explain this one a little:
About a year ago, when I was writing Under Stars, I was also still getting into EVE Online. I think I may be somewhat atypical among EVE players, in that I was recruited into a corporation (read: guild) almost instantly, and stayed with it for over a year.
That corporation was the New American Syndicate: a bunch of wussy carebears that I still love dearly. :3 Anyway, since I was trying to come up with story ideas, I thought that maybe I could include some of my NASY friends in Under Stars. I got their permission, and drew some brief sketches of their avatars.
That was... a long time ago. I'm still not sure what role NASY will play in the story, or when they will appear. You can spot traces of them in chapter 1, if you're really looking, but it will still be a while before they make a proper entrance.

ANYWAY, that's who these folks are. I'm up there too, actually-- top left. :P Truth be told, this is a little awkward now. I haven't talked to most of these guys in a while, and a few of them have completely changed their avatars. But I'm sticking with the way we used to be, because this is how I remember them.
Oh, and that ship there? I sorta regret drawing it now. It's the same class as the Thunder Bay--the ship that Under Stars is set on--but it's been modified a bit. However, it still seems dumb to give a separate group an important ship that's just like the Thunder...



 Well, I said I regretted it, so... I erased it! And I made room for the other 2 guys whose avatars I'm borrowing, whom I couldn't fit on the page before due to spacing problems.



EDIT: I realized how smudged up the lower picture is, so I took the trouble of cleaning it up digitally, and posted the result here: http://0mni42.deviantart.com/art/More-NASY-303233753

US Ch. 2 Pg. 10

Oh my, those two punks from chapter 1 are soldiers? What are the odds.
Also, Kaleem really needs to stop imitating Lelouch. o.o
Most of the pages are a little... boring right now, but when I fix 'em up digitally, I'll add all sorts of stuff to the background. All this stuff on the bridge, for example: all those windows will be full of stars in the final version.

US Ch. 2 Pg. 9

This page has two very obscure visual references to things that have already happened: first, the display in the first panel (which was just barely visible on page 7) and Kaleem's two friends (who were seen in the background in chapter 1).

Kita (random)

Just a little expression practice and wardrobe tomfoolery with Kita, one of my OCs. Special guest appearance by Jace.
Part of the reason why I decided to draw her in something different for each of these is because I don't want her to be a one-outfit character. The other reason is that I still haven't figured out what I want her "default" appearance to be. Originally, it was the one in the top left, but I rather like the middle right one too...

Tribute

A little gift drawing for the person who got me into art in the first place. Happy birthday, Tara!

US Ch. 2 Pg. 8

My handwriting really is messy... Kaleem is calling Kensington "Kenny", not "Renny". XD

Amnesia Grunt Sketches

I've been sitting on a few pieces of art for a while now; I hadn't scanned them because I was too busy relaxing. :P

Anyway, these are the two sketches that I used as references for making the Amnesia Door.
...am I the only one that finds Grunts strangely... endearing? I won't say 'cute', because they're disgusting, but... I like them, for some reason. o.o 

 

Amnesia Door photodump!

 So school is out! And I'm going to get back to art soon. In the meantime, here's what I've been doing to my beloved door over the past 3 months...

Oh dear, he seems to be getting closer... 

OH FUCK, he IS getting closer! 

 Fun bonus pic; this was before I filled in the details. :)

 Oh dear. This could be bad.

 OW.

 OW OW.

OW OW OW OW OW
(Pictures don't really capture how this looked in person... it was much more uniformly red. >_>

Noo, those aren't bloodstains, why do you ask? ;)