Hey everyone,
Last week's comics focused on the Vaulters in the last moments of their flight from Auriga, and in particular a couple of lovers in a dangerous space-time. As we've done before, we thought you might be interested in learning more about the backstory and the production side.
Early sketch of the Zolyas, Ilona & Judit
An early challenge we had to face was managing to convey the kinship between the two female protagonists, Ilona & her daughter Judit. As Judit is a Sentinel, that is, a military commander, while her mother wears garments that are much more practical, we couldn't use clothing to underline the bond between the two. Therefore, we had to do with the faces. The first sketches of Ilona gave her a fairly weathered look, and while it stood to reason that the burdens of command had taken their toll on the Vaulters leader, it clashed quite a bit with the treatment given to Judit. The contrast between a more realistic and a simpler, almost anime-like style for Judit was problematic, so Yoon, our artist on this comic, removed a few wrinkles and gave Ilona a more angular face. Even then, with such a short format, we ended up reasserting their relationship on page 5, panel 4.
Something we had a lot more fun with was Dara's shop, a treasure trove of artefacts from all over Auriga. We wanted the room to have a warm, cozy feeling about it, hence the enormous bookcases covering the wall on the right, and the heavy drapes over the doorway. To underline Dara's origin as a Roving Clan merchant, we introduced a lot of nods, subtle and not-so-much, to other Aurigan cultures. Can you find them all?
That's it for today! We hope you enjoyed getting a little peek behind the scenes. Our next comic will be a long time in coming, but many of you have helped us with the direction the story should be taking.
