Tag: comic book

Stubborn grandmother: Mrs. Arum

mrs. arumMrs. Arum is a stubborn sort. When I wrote her part in the comics, I decided she’d be Jake’s mother. I took my time designing her. I shopped around some for her look. Plainly seen from her hair, Arora gets her appearance from her grandmother. The difference is Mrs. Arum keeps her hair in a French braid instead of a ponytail.

The idea behind her character is to be a balance of feminine and masculine and *minor spoiler here* since she’s a retired construction worker, wear appropriate attire. Clearly, from her blouse, she chooses to show her profession, but the lace collar shows also that she’s still female. She picked her wardrobe carefully so she wouldn’t be a distraction in the workplace, but would still retain her femininity.

Retaining her femininity with such a commonly masculine profession presented a problem for me when it came to designing her outfit. I finally settled on a fitted blouse with lace on the collar to be the primary feature. From there, it was a matter of the color and print of the blouse. I thought of using a flowered print, but Dad found the flannel with construction equipment that might as well have screamed her name.

According to the story, she doesn’t trust Dream Angel or her friends in the slightest and doesn’t want her “Jakie” to have anything to do with them either. Naturally, she doesn’t know who Dream Angel is: her granddaughter. This tends to cause unwanted friction when the heroes are struggling to keep her safe.
Even Jake has to take a more stern approach to getting his mother out of harm’s way, much to her displeasure. Luckily, when she realizes what’s going on, she does finally get out of harm’s way.

What do you think? Is she an interesting character? She makes her comic book debut in Dream Angel #7, which is available in the shop. Getting the books that came before it is highly recommended so the story makes sense! Also available in the shop is her plush action figure.

Mercenary sense of humor: Lauren

laurenLauren is a mercenary, but what you don’t know about her is that she doesn’t always join the conflict for personal gain or money. Sometimes she’ll join the conflict just to laugh. As the conflicting parties wind up in a state of complete confusion as a result of something she said or did.

She doesn’t often admit it, but she doesn’t approve of what Nyxus and the Keres do. To keep her neutrality, she’ll betray both sides and laugh at them.

Ah, but all that’s common knowledge, you say. Well, here’s the uncommon knowledge: her outfit idea came from an ice skating outfit. Why do you need to know that? Well, it’s a nice bit of background trivia. It’s like asking why you’d need to know that a fly on a drawing table inspired Spider-man.

Lauren’s the mercenary with a heart and a conscience, as well. If she feels responsible for the destruction between hero and villain, she’ll find ways to help the victims. She and Teikou no Senshi are the ones found sifting through rubble, searching for victims in spite of a rocky relationship.

She’s also known to be a sort of referee between the heroes and villains. Though she has no power of her own, besides intelligence, she does sometimes get between battling pairs and break the fight up.

I could go on and on, so I’ll speed things up and summarize with a list:
Lauren:
1. is a mercenary
2. is intelligent
3. goes searching for victims
4. sometimes feels responsible for the victims
5. has no power of her own
6. loves a good joke
7. plays pranks on both hero and villain
8. doesn’t approve what the villains do
9. gets the job done
10. her outfit idea came from a skating outfit

Still pretty common knowledge, but then I didn’t promise anything you might not already know. Just stuff you need to know about her.

So, what do you think of Lauren? Is she an interesting character? Lauren makes her comic book debut in Dream Angel #7, which is available in the shop. It’s a good idea to consider getting the books that came before it so the story makes sense! Also available in the shop is her plush action figure.

Police Lieutenant Larissa Arum

Larissa Arum is a tough one by nature, but still a loving mother. They say opposites attract and that is the case with Larissa and her husband Jake. She’s always straight and doesn’t crack jokes. If she does, it’s rare. Jake tells jokes all the time to lighten the mood and get people laughing. Most of all, he loves making Larissa laugh.

larissaHer daughter is more precious to her than even her own life at times. When she found out her daughter’s secret, she vowed to keep it and help her any way she could. She’s kept that vow in many ways. She started by getting Arora some small, lightweight communication equipment. So when she’s out flying around she can even help the police force by reporting problems.

Larissa often makes sure she’s first on the scene to help with crowd control. Also preventing fellow officers from shooting at the wrong target. She has a get-it-done attitude and there aren’t many who’d argue with her.

In practice fights, Jake and Larissa are an even match. Both are masters of self-defense and hand-to-hand fighting in various forms. Between the two, Arora is well trained in the defensive arts. Larissa stepped up her daughter’s training when she learned her secret. She explained to Jake that it was time she learned the more advanced techniques. Having mastered the ones Arora had been learning from Larissa all along. Jake accepted that and also stepped up his daughter’s training.

If there’s one thing Larissa hates, it’s repeat offenders. She’s stern with the first timers, but if she catches a repeat offender, they get a much tougher attitude. Nothing that could be “police brutality,” just enough to discourage another repeat offense. A good amount of the time, the repeat offender doesn’t repeat again after meeting her.

What do you think? Is she an interesting character? She makes her debut comic book appearance in Dream Angel #1, which is available in the shop. Also available in the shop is her plush action figure.

A real life saver: Kiano Tadelesh

Kiano Tadelesh is an interesting character. Though his appearances in the comics are pretty brief, he points out some interesting facts to Dream Angel. Like just about everyone else, he doesn’t want to get on Nyxus’s bad side so he’s careful about what he says when he knows others are listening.

kianoHis passion lies in his desire to save lives and when he sees Dream Angel doing exactly that, he decides she’s not trying to hurt people the way Nyxus wants people to believe. Most people know about Dream Angel and everyone knows Nyxus, so Dream Angel’s presence at the scene of a disaster is no surprise to Kiano.

Scenes like this: 

Are fairly commonplace for Kiano. Although earthquakes aren’t common, he’s used to her being around areas that look a lot like this as the damage is usually the result of fighting.

I decided some time ago that with all the destruction Dream Angel’s fighting would cause, would result in injuries and of course, there’d have to be medical personnel on the scene to help them. Not long after that, I decided my books would have a good amount of diversity.

So, I fussed and played with the design of his character. Once I got the uniform right, I made him look good in it. Picking out his name was a bit more challenging, but I finally settled on Kiano, which means “The wizard” and Tadelesh which means “Tools of”. A little ironic since he uses tools in sometimes magical ways to save lives as part of his job.

What do you think? Is he an interesting character? His comic book debut is in Dream Angel #6, which can be found in the shop. It’s a good idea to get the books that come before it so the story makes sense! Also found in the shop is his plush action figure.

Using 3D to make comic books part 4

Using 3D to make comic books, as I’ve said, is quite the challenge. There’s a lot to take into consideration and I’ve only scratched the surface so far with these little postings. It’s definitely recommended you read parts 1, 2 and 3 before this one.

Okay, you’ve rendered awesome scenes, put them together in Comic Life and made them into a cool book. Now what? Well, this is actually the hardest part: getting it to sell. See, 3D is more widely used for porn comics, which makes it tougher to sell to other people. Add in the common complaints about it that I’ve read about and you’re going to find a lot of very harsh critics that won’t even give you a fair chance.

What are those common complaints? One is “stiff, lifeless figures.” Well, this one is harsh on rookies with the medium. Unless you are a fast learner especially with lights, cameras and textures, figures are going to look awkward while you’re learning. The same can be said of hand drawn characters, too though!

Ask for comments to learn from and ignore the ones that are blatant put-downs. You’ll probably be asked if you modeled the characters yourself. Odds are, you didn’t but don’t let that bother you! You’re still learning! So am I! So is anyone that can call themselves an artist. If they claim to be a master and don’t think there’s anything left to learn, they’re never going to grow as an artist and their work will go stale.

Another complaint is stiff clothes. On this one, I’m willing to agree, but only to a point. If you’re like me, your computer’s limits are where you have to draw the line. Realistic cloth simulation is possible and looks incredible, but uses an unbelievable amount of power from the computer!

Explosive Ker

Ker has a very volatile temper… literally. Getting her mad has very explosive results. She’s the youngest of the Keres, but no less dangerous than her older siblings and mother.

kerHer one weakness is that she’s incredibly vain. Put her in front of a mirror and she won’t move for hours; on the other hand, scratch her skin or get her dress dirty and you’d better start running away as fast as you possibly can.

Larissa was the first to discover she could push Ker’s buttons during one of her earliest encounters with the Keres sisters. Since they wanted her as a hostage, Ker couldn’t lose her temper and Larissa could keep making her madder and madder. Just after Dream Angel rescued her, she delivered one final insult that set Ker’s temper off the rest of the way and she exploded, making it impossible for the villains to pursue them.

She has an interesting design history. I must confess that I didn’t design her outfit, but a good friend of mine (who’s been involved off and on in these comic books) designed it. I’d designed the other four Keres with mildly sexy outfits – at the time, Stygere was a girl – but I was stuck on what Ker should look like. I asked for help designing her outfit and she came up with the outfit Ker now wears. It’s changed some from my friend’s design, but overall, it’s the same.

What do you think? Is she an interesting character? Ker makes her comic book debut in Dream Angel #2. It’s a good idea to consider getting the book that came before it, so the story makes sense! Also available in the shop is her plush action figure.

Creative Katrilina

Katrilina has a secret and interesting history. Her first design was a Barbie (no copyright infringment etc intended) in costume that won first place at the county fair. It was a simple leopard skin outfit – fake fur, of course – but it was well made. Tragically, the doll was stolen while still at the fair, so all that remains of her is the video taken at the event.

Where did the inspiration for her come from? That’s easy: the She-Ra: Princess of Power villain known as Katra. Compare the two names: Katrilina and Katra. Similar spelling. Not exactly similar design, but she does have Katra’s long black hair and ability to become a cat. Katra could only do a panther, though. Katrilina can do all 38 feline species. Useful in battle, to say the least.

All right, I’m really betraying no secrets about her here, am I? Here’s one you haven’t heard: she was originally a villain much like Dragonball Z‘s Vegeta. She was originally written to transition into a hero, pretty much the way Vegeta did. Maybe not quite as violently and certainly not as dragged out, but she would transition from villain to hero over time.

In the earliest stories, she was pretty quick about the transition from villain to hero. One or two battles and she’d turn. Why would she turn? She thought Dream Angel could help her be free of her feline appearance. All along she was merely the victim of extreme prejudice venting her frustration on anyone that dared look her way in a way she didn’t like.

When she met Dream Angel, she saw pity and warmth in the girl’s eyes even while they were fighting. Although she didn’t care much for the pity, the warmth got her attention. She’d never encountered the emotion and when she learned of Teikou no Senshi’s healing powers, her hope of being free of her feline appearance began to rise.

Although Teikou no Senshi couldn’t free her of her feline appearance, the attempt at helping the two girls made showed Katrilina that not everyone was prejudice. When the pair coaxed her into attending school and Arora shared her secret with her, Katrilina found trust as well. When she “met” Ellie, another bond of trust was formed when Ellie offered to let her live with her as Katherine.

What do you think? Is Katrilina an interesting character? She made her debut comic book appearance in Dream Angel #1, which can be found in the shop. Also found in the shop is her plush action figure outfit for Katherine.

Clever Katherine!

Katherine is a hard-luck case. Arora and Ellie found her living on the streets as best she could and coaxed her into attending high school with them. Although Gina made the experience unpleasant at times, she managed to graduate with the other two and along the way, enjoy Shin’s admiration.

katherine

When Shin learned her secret by accident, he made it perfectly clear he didn’t care. His affection is for her personality, not her appearance. This attitude shocked her, since she’d always been mistreated because of her true appearance.

With Arora and Ellie’s help, she was able to design pants to hide her tail, convince teachers that the hat was due to a rare contagious allergy, and find false teeth and contact lenses. In her eyes, being proud of who you are is one thing, getting mistreated for your appearance is an entirely different matter.

Since she wanted to attend high school without incident, she decided it was best to hide her ears, tail, teeth and true eyes. Only Gina caused trouble, accidentally knocking off Katherine’s hat and revealing her ears and then continually trying to remove it to prove what she claimed to have seen.

In spite of Gina’s constant bullying, Katherine managed to do well in school with Arora, Ellie, Shin and Hanaji’s help. Katherine never knew, but several of her teachers knew her secret and would help cover it up at times.

Upon learning Arora’s secret, she formally adopted the name Katherine and made Katrilina her “hero” name so she could help Arora in battle. She decided she wanted to somehow return the favor of being helped through school and even given a place to live with Ellie.

Although Arora and Ellie have no idea how, they hope to someday help Katherine achieve her dream of being normal – meaning, Katherine wants to be rid of her feline features and look more human so she won’t be mistreated.

What do you think? Is she an interesting character? Katherine makes her comic book debut in Dream Angel #1 as Katrilina, which can be found in the shop. Also found in the shop is her plush action figure.

Fascinating Foxy!

Foxy is unique. Japanese mythology tells us that the Kitsune (pronounced “kit” as in sewing kit, “su” as in suit and “ne” as in negative) is a mythological fox demon that would entrap a warrior’s mind and then kill him. The more tails the demon had, the more powerful it was, with 9 tails being the maximum.

foxy

Foxy isn’t too different from her mythical counterparts, but she has her share of twists. For one thing, she’s bio-mechanical. She chose the mechanics to enhance her power, plus she got tired of trying to find clothes that fit over 9 bushy fox tails. Mechanical parts solved the problem for her.

She’s certainly nobody’s fool and hates being tricked. She’ll fight for a good cause and frequently wins the fight. She’s also one of the very few that can go toe-to-toe with Hellbot and possibly defeat him. Clever and sometimes unpredictable, she’d rather not fight at all.

Since she is a Kitsune, her powers include mental manipulation, but the catch is her power only works on the male mind. Also similar to her mythical counterparts, she possesses the ability to shape shift, but can only hold a different form for a short time in spite of her increased power from being bio-mechanical.

Of the two classifications of Kitsune, she might seem to be right in the middle. Neither benevolent nor malicious in the end. She might pull a prank on someone one moment and help them the next with a problem. It’s not really in her nature to want to cause harm, though she sometimes does.

If she finds out she’s been tricked into doing something she’ll do what she can to undo the trick and maybe even utilize some tricks of her own to settle the score.
What do you think? Is she an interesting character?

Foxy’s comic book debut is Dream Angel #3, which is available in the shop. It’s recommended you get the books that came before it so the story makes sense! Also available in the shop is her plush action figure, who loves being hugged.

Fast, fiery, Firebright!

The last thing anyone wants is Firebright angry. This fiery steed is a stallion through and through. He’ll attack Reprobates unprovoked and without mercy.
He’s an exact opposite of his twin, Daybright who has a laid-back personality and loves to just romp and play.

firebright

The only one who can calm Firebright down is Blue Nite Soldier. This is a one-rider stallion and even Blue Nite Soldier sometimes has trouble with him.
Firebright hates Reprobates, harpies and most of all, the giant vampire roaches. Unfortunate victims of Jerigel SwampFang or not, he’ll attack.

The only other person Firebright tolerates is Dream Angel. The only reason he would is if Blue Nite Soldier isn’t around to give him direction. He may be a wild stallion, but he still looks to Blue Nite Soldier for guidance.

His special ability is to become a blazing inferno and melt through just about anything. Combined with Dream Angel’s own fiery power, the blaze can approach supernova heat. This combination leaves both Dream Angel and Firebright completely exhausted.

The Keres don’t even want to cross his path. He knows his enemies and is unforgiving. At one time or another, he has had a bad experience with all the Dream Angel villains. This has left him bitter toward them and he isn’t the type to forgive. This makes him dangerous toward them.

He’s a stunning stallion and a wonder to behold in flight. The last thing anyone wants is him to be angry. His twin tends to solve the problem squirting water in his face in play. Being a horse of fire, he doesn’t like it much, but it does calm him down anyway.

In spite of his savage attitude most of the time, he’s a lovable stallion. He has gone romping with his twin.

What do you think? Is Firebright an interesting character? Firebright’s comic book debut is Dream Angel #2, which is available in the shop. It’s recommended you get Dream Angel #1 so the story makes sense! Also available in the shop is his plush action figure who loves to be hugged and cuddled.