Fathoms III - previews!

Yes! I have done it - I've finished inking Fathoms III, and am basking in the glorious, glorious light at the end of the tunnel!

All I've got left on this chapter now is to clean up some inking-mistakes, letter all the dialogue and do the cover/title page! 

I have to say, in my own humble creator opinion, this chapter is going to be a lot better than issues 1 and 2. Not only is it going to look better - I've levelled up in crosshatching, making me like a Level 4 Inking Mage at this point - but it's also going to be better because stuff is happening in it, unlike in issue 2, in which absolutely nothing happened except for a flashback.

It's going to introduce some new characters!

Like Khazri. Who can high-five you, flip you the bird and steal your wallet - and still have one hand left over to scratch his nose.

Also, Gilavar - Transportation, Beast of Burden and Totally Awesome Flying Whale Pal.


... There's an awful lot of whales in this chapter. And clouds.

And of course, a repeat performance by the leading man with the fantastic nose, Gale:


Talassa returns as well, sometimes looking like she has for the past two issues:

... that is; worried, scared and not entirely sure she trusts these weirdoes and their flying acquatic mammals..


... and sometimes looking like she might actually be having a good time.

Also whales. Did I mention whales? Because whoo, boy, did I ever crosshatch a lot of whales in this chapter. They might be outnumbered in appearance by the clouds, but if so it's by a very slim margin. Still kind of proud of myself that I stuck with it and didn't just throw up my hands somewhere mid-chapter and go "AAAAGH! Whatever - this comic is going to be about talking heads in a white room with no windows!". I mean, I even drew a cityscape on one of the later pages.

The final plan is, right now, to release parts III and IV as separate issues, and then take a bit of a break and trying to finish the whole thing - which will then be collected in one complete volume, with extras and bonus art and all sorts of good stuff.  I haven't got any ETA date on the complete volume, but I'm hoping to have part IV finished for Stockholm's International Comics Festival in April 2013.

If you want to get in on this whole "fanzine"-thing, you can check out the previews of the previous two issues here (along with all sorts of concept art). They're both available for sale for the cheap, cheap price of 35 SEK/4.76 USD (with reservations for changes in currency-value) each, plus shipping to wherever you are in the world. If you want one, or possibly two, just contact me with your address and name, and I'll get back to you with my paypal info and total price.

Fathoms+sketchdump

Okay, time for another update!

I've been working on Fathoms III lately, and am making some rather impressive progress (impressive, that is, because I didn't really intend to make so much of it): 12 out of 24 pages are pencilled!

Here's a piece of page two:

I feel as though I'm filling up each panel better in this chapter compared to the previous ones; yes, there are panels where there's just the head/shoulders of a characters and a speech-bubble, but most of them have more stuff going on in the background and a more solid sense of place.

Speaking of character-only panels... Here's one of my favourite panels I've ever drawn of Gale:

It just... seems to capture his whole look somehow.


Here's a few warm-ups from the last few days:

Daily sketchbook dump Sept. 6-10

Entirely Fathoms-focused! How 'bout that? Warning: babble follows.

I've been worldbuilding lately, because as a world, Fathoms is pretty empty. There was just Talassa and Gale, and that four-armed Whalerider guy who would turn up in chapter three. I've been playing around a bit with the Whalerider people (as evidenced by my earlier sketchdumps), but I decided they needed some more people.

So, I invented the Moonface-tribe.


It started as a doodle, which grew into something more - and it was only after drawing a few of them that I realised they all looked like fat axolotls.

Then I started thinking about the markings on their foreheads.

All of the markings are simplified phases of the moon. Children have crescent moons, adults have half-moons and the ones I've labelled as "Speakers" have full moons. Male Moonfaces have moon-markings that curve to the left, while female Moonfaces' curve to the right, to set them apart. It's definitely easier for non-Moonfaces to identify them that way, since they otherwise have no outward physical traits setting them apart.

The Moonfaces are divided in two main factions - the White Moon and the Black Moon. And no, the Black Moon-faction is NOT evil. They just represent another way of living, the same way an eclipse represents another phase of the moon.

I haven't completely figured out what the different factions stand for, but I'll get there. It's fun to play around with politics and religion and imaginary societies.



I've also been tinkering with the plot, and have decided that in some future chapter, a Seer is going to turn up. Below are my initial ideas for the Seer's design: