Ragamuffin's Journal

[ragamuffin]

Thanks for the tips! Yeah, i do wanna go full color.
Thanks for the kind words too!
It may be a little while yet until i can start the comic, but i'm getting a lot done. Designing, plus writing, plus art studies plus writing studies has been kinda daunting, but it's engaging work

[ragamuffin]

Sketch 8/365

I think i intended all these sketches to be original ideas, but this one turned out as fanart somehow. It's a 'redesign', tho! I think the design itself turned out kind of uninspired, but i got a time limit for these, gotta go with it!

'X' Deploys to combat

[ragamuffin]

Sketch 9/365

[ragamuffin]

Sketch 10/365

"Daghaxes are stocky carnivores that roam northeastern Varos, growing naturally to about seven feet in lenght. They hunt in packs in the rocky terrain, and burrow underground lairs that can grow to be quite extensive.
Daghaxes are susceptive to infestation and possession by earth elemental spirits. The beset animals; usually large, aggressive alphas, progressively become even larger, and their rocky protusions cover more of their body like thick armor. With supernaturally extended lifespans, some of these monsters grow truly enormous and fearsome over the decades."

[ragamuffin]

Sketch 11/365

And also some mouth and eyes practice. I have the human face pretty much mastered, except for the eyes, nose, mouth and a bunch of other things.

[catapanoart]

Those expressions look real good. What reference did you use?

[ragamuffin]

Browsing google and tumblr, really!
Something else i do is pausing random videos with people and drawing them. I find it better than doing the same thing with movies and tv shows.

[ragamuffin]

Fusions! X, from Megaman X + other video game characters

Yeah, it's sunday, so i'm just doing this stuff instead of studying, designing or writing for my comic. It's probably still useful on some level, i hope!
Do you guys wanna suggest any fusions? This is fun

Also Sketch 12/365

[Firathion]

Absolutely love the design

[ragamuffin]

@Firathion Thanks!

Here's sketch 13/365
"To the people who can understand anything out of the clicking noises he makes, Theodore has a lot of interesting things to say. Unfortunately, there is currently only one such person."

[zanben]

I like your little sketches, do you plan on taking any of them any further?

[Jamethy]

Hey there, you've got a great sense of storytelling in your sketches! Something I've definitely got to work on myself. Your designs are also pretty cool too. Keep it up!

[ragamuffin]

@zanben Yes! The ones i like the most i wanna make into paintings (level of detail yet to be determined)

@Jamethy Thank you very much!

Here's sketch 14/365
"A Faunyr scout, identifying some suspicious tracks"

[ragamuffin]

Sketch 15/365

"Traveling has always been dangerous and uncertain for the common people of Varos; the nobility of the Empire has always relied on their magic to solve the problems of long distance communication, transport and surveillance, and have done so mainly for the purpose of defense.
But the last century has brought technological advances that have, to some extent, ended the relative isolation of population centers. Military outposts dot the main routes, with soldiers on constant patrol against banditry and monster attacks. Since the end of the last war, the imperial lands have been safer than they have ever been before, but the men on 'railway duty' are well advised to never let their guard down"

[ragamuffin]

Sketch 16/365

"Ogres have a widespread reputation for rowdyness. Warriors are what they are, by their very nature: It is how their gods shaped them to be. It does an ogre no good, to deny the call of the battlefield."

[ragamuffin]

"Dude, why do your characters dress like such gigantic dorks?"
Good question hypothetical person! To free them from the tyranny of black leather i say.

But seriously: The setting i'm creating for my comic is an "industrial fantasy": a technological level close to what we had at the end of the 19th century, in a high fantasy, high magic universe. But instead of emulating something like victorian society, i'm going for a much more "ancient" flavor... and people in ancient and medieval times dressed colorfully. Awfully colorfully.

[JesterSeraph]

"Dude, why do your characters dress like such gigantic dorks?"

Because dorks are memorable! Dorks draw your eyes and capture your imagination! If you want the world to be incredibly interesting, there has to be something interesting about it that pulls your attention away from the rest of the comics out there. Even if the colours are muted to put the dorks in the background, it'll still be a rich, noticeable palette that readers will admire. And when these wonderful dorks are the focus, it becomes "that gunpowder fantasy story."

I'd read about those dorks.

[ragamuffin]

Heh! Thanks for that, @JesterSeraph . I'll commit to my vision.

Here's sketch 17/365
"Sir Nicanor inspects the new squires, with his usual skepticism"
More info on the knights soon

[karidyas]

These outfits are actually great, very unique, especially the 2nd page, interesting combinations while still being plausible (no dumb Final Fantasy zipper overload for example). Excellent colours as well.

Your style really lends itself to a comic, excellent designs (to get straight who's who), expressive faces and poses (great for telling stories), and not overly complicated (lets you complete pages faster, always important to keep ongoing audience engagement). In short as long as your writing is as good as your art, I see big things ahead for you. Or even if your writing sucks, and I'm pretty sure it's at least competent based on your Railway blurb, you'd be in hot demand as a creative partner.

In short I like what I see and I'm excited to see where you go. Good luck my friend

[fathomcube]

damn sweet stuff here yo!! Great compositions!!