Degree show's finished

Today is hand in for me and it's also the time i have to set up my degree show. This was a fun and stressful day as at first I was unsure wether my work would fit on the wall however, I did get all my intended work up and am extremely happy with how it turned out.

Below is my board ready for marking.
 

I decided to place two interiors and two cipher pages as the both showcase my work on Black Voyage but also me as a creator as all my work includes ciphers and codes. The image in the middle is my cover and I think it brings the pages together.

The Opening is on the 2nd June if you are in the UK and Stoke area between 6pm - 9pm 

Future conventions

Apart of being a comic creator is to attend conventions. Now a day’s comic conventions are popping up everywhere in the UK, this makes it a difficult choice when choosing which one to attend and which ones to leave.  This becomes an increasingly difficult when you’re a student and on a limited budget. 

To tackle this I decided to look for conventions close to me and only one day events.

I chose this as my decision process as it cuts the need to pay hotel fees and I only need to pay for the transport to the event.  From this process, there are three conventions I could potentially attend in 2017.

Stoke con Trent April 9^th 2017 -  

This convention I did attend and sold copies of Black Voyage and the old Transplant. I chose to attend Stoke con because I at the time attended the university so it was easy to get too. The cost for a table was also subsidized because of that factor so I saved some money there. The main reasons I picked to attend Stoke con was that it fit my checklist perfectly. The convention experience wasn’t the best so I am debating whether to apply for the event again later this year.

MCM Manchester 29 -30^th July 2017 –

After doing MCM London last May and enjoyed it I have been looking for another opportunity to attend an MCM event. I would love to do Manchester because I live a bus ride away for the venue and feel Manchester has a better vibe when it comes to the Artist alley. Per their website applications go live soon, I have sent them an email inquiring what day but no reply so far. I also chose Manchester’s MCM as some fans of Covenant of Arcana have been asking if I will be attending another MCM and if it can be Manchester.

Small press day 8^th July 2017 –

Small press day is a celebration of self-publishing, grassroots comics across the UK and Ireland. This event isn’t a convention but a chance for indie creators across the UK to showcase their work in participating stores. I was asked in 2016 if I would like to participate but I turned it down due to my commitments to MCM London. However, this year I have no commitments during this period of time and have emailed Traveling Man Manchester if they are doing anything this year and my interest of being involved.

MCM Manchester and Small press day are event I would love to attend this year; however, they are a luck of the draw. So, if I cannot attend these conventions I will promote and create comics in preparation for 2018s event cycle.

These posts seem familiar

If you are looking at the blog and reading the posts and thinking that these have been posted somewhere else you'd be correct. Most of the posts were originally posted on my main blog and in due time they get posted here.

I post on this site mainly for university as it makes it easier to make posts related to my projects as on the other blog  I also do reviews and posts related with external work.

If you want to check them out you can click the link here. tgcovenantofthearcana.blogspot.com


I have also started a new blog on Wordpress. This blog will link to my university projects but the posts will be in depth and be in a structured manner I haven't been able to get out of Blogger yet.

I chose to create a new blog on Wordpress because that site is deemed more professional to critics and consumers. This blog will not be a place of Reposts but a blog of original posts that will add to this blog.

To see the content sofar click here https://mosbyscovenant.wordpress.com 

Inking - when I first started to now a journey of development

The inking progress is a part of the comic I use to hate as I felt like all I was doing was tracing over my pencils. This thought stayed with me for a long time and it shows in my art as in my early comics which I will analyse later. My latest comic Black Voyage shows my development as an inker and this post will show that journey.

2014 - PIPER

In 2014 I did a comic called PIPER and as you can see the inking is very simple. That's were I was at with inking, I used the ink to go over my simple pencil work so it was easier to color once scanned. This effect my pages as scenes had no sense of depth or personality to them. In panel three the inking is so minimal that it is barley noticeable which is a shame as I think thicker lines would really improve that panel.

In 2015 I understood more the power of inking with my comic Transplant but it still didn't feel like I was 'inking' the pages.

2015 - Transplant (version 1)

 Transplant is by no means perfect as there are many issues with this version. One of the positives with this comic was my inking technique and this page above is a perfect example of this. My line work is still simplistic as I use the same line thickness for a majority of the page and comic. However, in Transplant I explored with shading with black, most of which being in blocks.

This added inking made the pages work far better than they would if I continued to ink the pages like Piper. This is because there is an added depth of detail that enhance the page. There are still elements of this page I change when I was inking to improve them more.

I did not consider these until 2016 when I was drawing Black Voyage #0. Working on this comic change the way I see and produce my inking.

2016 - Black Voyage #0

 

Black Voyage was created in a short time period and due to these time restraints full color wasn't an option so Black Voyage became a B&W comic with selective color. As a result this challenged my inking abilities as before I only used inking as a way to make coloring easier but now I needed the inks to convey tone and shade without the need of color.

From the page above I think it's safe to say the inking on Black Voyage is the best out of the three examples as it conveys detail and has it's own personality. This page and the issue doesn't need color to know what is happening or what they are.

My drawing ability still needs work but my inking has massively improved and I believe if I continue to develop by practicing I will have visually appealing art.

Black Voyage #0 only has selective color as a result, the main article will also be B&W with selective color. This was so Black Voyage had continuity and I believe my work looks better without full color and as long as my ideas work without color that's how I'm going to work.

     The page above is a preview of Black Voyage #1 go give an example of how it will work. The inking on this page does round off the page but I think I over did it on the first panel as I think this panel may of worked better if there was some background to the scene.

On panel two you may have noticed that the wall behind Elizabeth is fairly blank this is intentional. During Black Voyage #0 I drew alot of walls and in some cases they blended with the characters, and I did not want this to happen in this scene. That is why I went with the minimalism approach as it give the hints of a building without being overpowering.

Black Voyage will be released soon in the meantime you can check out the first 6 pages on Patreon                                                              https://www.patreon.com/mosby

    

Split's inspiration on Black Voyage

The film Split by M.Night Shyamalan main theme surrounds the condition Dissociative identity disorder (DID)and the struggle and effects that has on a person. This inspired me when I was writing Black Voyage to delve deeper into the mind of my characters and their motives.

This is when I discovered the 'conditions' Ego-Dystonic and Ego-Syntonic which gave a name and understanding of Elizabeth and Jack The Ripper's motives.

What do the mean?

According the the medical dictionary Ego- Dystonic refers to  aspects of a person's thoughts, impulses, attitudes, and behavior that are felt to be repugnant, distressing, unacceptable, or inconsistent with the rest of the personality.

This means that a person's thoughts conflict with their own beliefs and actions. This condition is most commonly associated with people who suffer from OCD and know about it and try and control there actions.

Link to this source here.- http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ego-dystonic

Ego-Syntonic is different as it refers to aspects of a person's thoughts, impulses, attitudes, and behavior that are felt to be acceptable and consistent with the rest of the personality.

This means that a person's thoughts coincide with their beliefs and are never questioned. This can be associated with  people with personality disorders.  An example would be a psychopath as their action are consistent with there personality and behavior.

Link to source here - http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ego-syntonic

How do they fit in Black Voyage 

Spoiler warning 

In Black Voyage issue 0 (out now) I redefined Jack's victim pool and motives by having Jack only Kill Prostitutes who have suffered misfortunes like a miscarriage or from the Green Sickness. This misfortunes have happened to Jack however she can't accept them so Kill anyone else who has suffered in the hopes that will cure her.    

This results in Jack suffering from Ego-Dystonic.

In Black Voyage issue 1 the main protagonist suffers from Ego-Syntonic that manifests itself after a incident that happens to her in Kew gardens. This incidents affects her mentality and when she meets her assailants again she does a heinous act that she feels right and justified  this leads her to do it again and again without ever questioning her actions.

Why use real conditions?

I decided that having real medical conditions kept the story in the realm of believability. I also think to have these medical conditions adds another layer to my characters personality and gives the readers a better understand of the characters.

Thanks for reading if you have any questions feel free to ask and if you want to support me or my work you can donate to my pateron.

https://www.patreon.com/mosby

Work in progress meeting- How did it go.

A few weeks ago I had a WIP presentation for Black Voyage. Here I will talk about how it went and what I will be doing going forward.

The presentation itself when really well as I was able to explain and showcase my story in an effective manner. I also believed that the panel understood the story and what was going to happen.
However my beliefs were just misconceptions as when it came to the feedback it wasn't the greatest.

The panel did not understand the concept of the story or it's execution. This was disappointing as I have worked hard to make the story the best it can be. They stated that the concept was too much as some elements were over though.

The panel also did not like ideas's I had involving selective color. The main reason for this was because they didn't listen to what I was presenting and presented there own Ideas. I also could be that I didn't explain what I was doing well enough. I will now make sure my ideas I fully explained and understood and due to this I am unsure what they actually think of my selective color idea.

I now have this feedback and will take it into consideration when I finish Black Voyage. I am still going to use selective color as I worked in #0 and will enhance the story (in my opinion). The story will be reworked a bit, however I am not 100% convinced they hated my story as the panel member that hated the story got a bad review by me on their latest comic.

This panel meeting has given me the motivation to make Black Voyage the best comic I have ever produced and prove the critics wrong as I really do think Black Voyage is a good story.

Costume design research

Whenever a new comic,film or TV show is made, the characters have to wear a specific costume. This is really important when the events you are depicting take place in the past, as the costumes have to be historically accurate.

This post will be mostly about my costume designs but some of the information I take about might be helpful to any other designers.

The comic I am currently working on Black Voyage takes place in two different times. Issue 0 takes place in the 19th century, while issue 1 takes place in the 18th century. This means that the costume designs will be different for each issue as the fashion and trends were different during each century.

As Issue one takes place in the 1700s, I needed to research what people wore, which is easy enough when we have google. However, most if not all the clothing are on mannequins this to me doesn't give a full picture of how they fitted on a real person.

So my next step was the research TV of films that were set in the the 18th century, this allows me to see authentic clothing from the century and how they fitted and worked with the human body. There were two properties that caught my attention those were 'The Duchess' and 'Outlander'

These two franchises were perfect as there costumes represent the different classes and style of clothing as when you google search all the images are clothing belonging to the upper class. Outlanders costumes helped with designing costumes for the lower class and male costumes.

Below is a GIF of the moodboard I created from both these shows, to inspire my costume designs.

Now this seems like a rather long and tedious process for costume design you may only use once. Well it was, but from this research I found a better and much easier way of researching costumes that historically accurate.

I found a site hosts a wide range of costumes from films. The purpose of the site is a place of research on movie costumes. I found this site very helpful as they have a section on georgian clothing in films.

This is a great site if you want to research a particular period in time to give the costumes that historical accuracy or need some inspiration.

Here is the link to the site: http://www.costumersguide.com/index.shtml


Another way to research costumes especially historical would be at a museum, as then you will be able to create the right perspective and understand how it looks from a 360 degree angle.

Hope this has been in some way helpful or informative.  

New promo test part 1

If you have not already seen on our Facebook and Twitter pages the logo has had a little make-over.
Links below if you haven't.

https://www.facebook.com/covenantofarca1/

https://twitter.com/covenantofarca1

If you do check them out you may have also seen the promo I have done for the brand ( link below) Well now that there is a new logo I thought it was time to produce a new promo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dLRwZ84k0g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doXhlJ0nD7s


The promo is not finished but I though I'd share an out-take of what I have so far.

There are some obvious glitches with this animation and that is why it's an outtake once the full video is done I will be first posting on my pateron I am setting up then on youtube.

Why are my female character's face so square?

It has been pointed out that when I design my characters especially the females, their jaw line is too square. So this section I will talk about why that is the case and how & if there are ways to improve this.

Evidence

Here is a section of characters faces I have designed from past and current projects, so you can see how I currently draw them. This will give this section context.
As you can see from the three examples all of them have quite angular jaw lines. The first design is too angular and looks more masculine compared to the others as even though their jaw line isn’t rounded they are still quite feminine in appearance.

Why?

Why do my female characters have such jaw lines?  Well that is because of the reference models I use. When I am designing characters I research different faces, so when it come to the drawing I can create a wide variety of designs. The one constant is the images I reference they all have a square or oval shaped face.
These are some of the woman I reference to illustrate my point.
As you can see all these women have strong square like jaw-lines. I tend you use these images as stating points and that is why my characters have jaw-lines more angular than expected.
Another reason I use theses face types is that I find them, the easiest to draw from the 6 basic face types.
 

Improvements

Now that I have explained why my characters look the way they do, I will now address the improvements needed to them.
The most obvious is that even though the references have square-eques jaw-lines they are not as pronounced as I have drawn them. When I do my redesigns I will take a lighter approach to the jaw and give them a slight rounder edge.
Other ways I could improve is if I look at other face types, this will broaden my capabilities of drawing female faces.
There are 6 face types and I think that every time I design a female character one of the face types will be of the other face shapes. The six face shapes are as follows:

Oval: Forehead may be slightly wider than the chin, and the length of the face is about one and a half times the width.

Round: Prominent, rounded cheeks with equal width and length of the face.

Square: Prominent jaw and square chin, with forehead and jawline roughly the same width.

Oblong: Often confused for the oval face, though an oblong face will have a longer shape that is not as wide as oval — often with a narrow chin.

Heart: Wider forehead and cheekbones with a narrow jawline and chin.

Diamond: Narrow forehead and jawline with cheekbones at the widest point of the face.

I hope this has addressed any critique my designs have faced and with the points I have made I will make my improvements.

Black Voyage's cipher & spell book research

Black Voyage and my other projects involve reference to secret codes and text, and to make that seem real and authentic I do alot of research into these matters and for Black Voyage I will properly introduce an ancient book that was key in Transplant.

First I am going to talk about the codes and cipher that inspired parts of Black Voyage.

Templar cipher

The templar cipher is a variation of the pigpen cipher which exchanges letters for symbols which are fragments of a grid. This cipher's origin is unknown but records go back to at least the 18th century. This works wonderfully for the continuity of my story as it is set in the middle of the 18th century.

The templar cipher intrigued me not because of it's history but because of the way it is written. I can encode objects in my comic but only a select few will know it's there as other will see it as a weird pattern. I already used this cipher in the first part of Black Voyage on a poster and will use it again in the main issue.

The Templar cipher consists of variants of the Maltese cross. This is a eight pointed cross that form four "v" shaped elements. (example below)

Voynich manuscript

The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex that is written by hand and in an unknown writing system. The book has been carbon-dated to the 15th century and has 240 known pages as some are missing.  The text has been studied by professional and amateur cryptographers, yet the text has still not been deciphered.

This text intrigued me the most as it was created before the events of Black Voyage. This means that it is plausible that Sophia would have it in the 18th century. The fact that it has not been deciphered also is the main reason I chose this book to be in my comic as these code can be interpreted how I want them to be. This gives me a opportunity to add weight and plausibility to it's power that I will give it in Black Voyage.

These are the codes and texts I will be using in Black Voyage. I hope this gave some understanding as to what these are and why I am using them in Black Voyage.    

The script - Changes and editor decisions

WARNING This article may have elements that may upset some

The script for Black Voyage #1 is now complete, I produced three drafts of the script to get to the version I will use to create the comic.

Version 1

The first version of the script told a very linear story that lacked a lot of detail and connection between the characters. This was noticeable in the opening scenes as there are some character introductions but it was pointed out that the dialogue was very dry and didn't establish any character dynamics.

It was also pointed out that because some elements are real events, it parts that were vague on detail should include some historical detail to make them believable.

These were points I took on board and used when writing the second draft.

Version 2

With the second draft I reworked John & Marys interactions with Elizabeth so it was more obvious that they were old friends but also a reason to be in the gardens at the time. This allowed the first half to flow smoothly with a steady pace.

The next thing I worked on was the aftermath of the incident (which will be discussed at the end)
To show why the character behaves the way she does for the remainder of the comic I needed to show a characters true colors without feeling insensitive. I took inspiration from Joe Hill's The Fireman when constructing this scene. I think I got the character's emotions and interactions just right as it wasn't undermining or over the top.

The next parts I updated were a death scene to add context to what had happened in the story and with the conclusion I changed how parts happen to justify the actions taken and the importance of objects in the story.

Version 3 Final version

After reading the script it was pointed out to me that the story was too linear which took some of the impact of the story out. So with this version I did a complete redo.

I reworked my narrative so elements would now be shown as flashbacks and in a distorted order that was still readable. This idea was inspired by films from directors like Quentin tarantino and M. Night Shyamalan.

This improved the story massively as it allowed me to cut down on filler pages and focus on the important elements of the story. It did also give me the opportunity to connect the ending more to the overall story and not feel jarring.

The second version and third also gave me the opening to research on ancient texts and books that could be included in the comic, this gave some scenes context and kept them in the realm of believability.

THIS IS THE FINAL WARNING THE NEXT SECTION COULD BE DISTRESSING FOR READERS    

The Incident

This section will talk about how I came to the decision to include this event in my comic.

The event I am talking about is that Elizabeth is sexually assaulted in the comic, this will result in her developing the mental condition Ego-syntonic meaning she feels no remorse for the actions she takes after this incident.

I chose to included an sexual assault because I wanted to have a reason for Elizabeth to develop this condition and for the actions she takes later in the comic. I wanted the incident to have a significant impact of Elizabeth and her mind. That's why I didn't pick to physically assault her as there would be scaring and visible evidence but I wanted there to be no physical evidence so when the aftermath happens it comes as a shock to the people around her and possibly to the reader as well.

I thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Mary Rossetti - Before the redesigns

This is the full design for Mary Rossetti. Mary is the wife of John and best friend of Elizabeth, they met each other at a gala and have been friends since. She is a shy person who rarely steps out of the shadow of John. This attitude allows Johns other side to be free and live without consequences, resulting in the events of Black Voyage.

I did two designs for Mary, this is the first design.

I didn't chose this design as the final design because even though I liked the dress, it didn't seem regal enough to complement John clothing. I like the simplicity of this dress design as it leaves itself open for the colorist to add the details, patterns and colors. The facial designs do not work here as she looks too old compared to John and for the times. I do like the hair which I will keep when I design her looking younger.

          

Here is the second and inked design I did for Mary. I liked this design more as this dress, felt more upper class. I stuck with making the design simple as like the previous design I think it looks better and give the colorist more to play with. I reworked the hair a little so it wasn't so tall to give the appearance of a widow. I also gave her a rounder face which did de-age her, which gave a age matching that of Johns which i'm happier with. This design also is reminiscent of Marie Antoinette and that era which helps give the character historical believability. 

This is the final colored version of Mary and like John is may be the only version as the final comic may be in B&W. I chose the blue for the dress as it seems an appropriate color for the time. This dress this color also give off the vibe of a jane austen novel, this is the vibe I want as this is the type of character I want the audience to see Mary as before the event. I gave her white hair as common for the upper class women to wear white wigs. 

Edit - I may have stated this is the  final design however is it heavily out of proportion as her shoulders are too broad and her chin is too pronounced. I will be conducting new designs that will address these issues. The color scheme will hopefully stay the same as I still believe the color scheme works.

I think this is a strong character design, that I look forward to drawing more of in the final comic.

To read the story so far you can pick up a copy here: https://sellfy.com/p/tUY8/

For more news on Black Voyage follow me on Twitter and Facebook

https://twitter.com/covenantofarca1

https://www.facebook.com/Covenant-of-Arcana-1676184302657368/timeline

    

John Rossetti- before the redesigns

I chose the design on the left as I felt this design made John seem more upper class, which John is. This design also had more details and features to play with, which I found more interesting to draw when it came to the inking (Below)

 

When it came to inking, that's when I added the face. I went for a young face as I want John to look in his mid 20s and I think this face captures that. The left side of the design however, is off as the shoulder is too high giving the left side more space to work with. As a result, the left arm seems alot bigger than the right.  The colored version takes your eyes off shoulder however. (Below)

This is the colored version however it is not the final version. The gold design on the jacket there is an empty space, that is because there is a design that goes there that will not be revealed until you read the comic. I went with this color scheme as I felt they worked well together and gave John a regal feel. There is one problem with this design and that is John head. On here it looks too small for his body. That may be for one of two reasons, either the head is out of proportion with the body or his Jacket is too big making his body seem larger than it is and his head looks smaller than it is. 

This version of John may appear in the comic he may not as I might stick with the first issue and do the comic in B&W. This will be a decision I officially  make once I have inked all the pages. This is because I will then know how much time I have until it goes to print. If I have enough time I will color, if not I will leave it B&W. 

This will help with the symmetry of the story as well if the coloring process stays the same.  

Check out our Twitter page to see a WIP video of me coloring John 

https://twitter.com/covenantofarca1

You can also pick up a copy of Black Voyage #0 from our website.

covenantofarcana.wixsite.com/covenantcomics

  

   After reexamining this design, I found that it was wildly out of proportion. So even though I said I like this design, I am going to do a redesign that will be in proportion and I will be keeping the color scheme for the new design as I still like the colors used.

New character designs

After the events of issue 0 of Black Voyage there is a need for new characters. Here will be the final inks of the designs along with some pencil and alternate designs. With this post I am not going into detail about the designs that will come in later posts I will dedicate to each character.

          
The first design are of Elizabeth as this issue will delve into her origin and she will be wearing a different outfit from the one she wears in issue 0

 

Here is the design for a new character John Rossetti below is the design for his wife Mary Rossetti these two characters are key to the motives of Elizabeth.

 

That's it for this post but I will have follow up posts individually analysing the designs and characters.

Black Voyage progress

Here is a update on what is happening with Black Voyage. I have completed the overview and script for the next and final part of this saga. I am very happy with how this will play out however I am sending the script off to an editor just to make sure it's the best version it can be.

While that is being reviewed I will continue with my character designs as I have added more character's since the first issue. These include John and Mary Rossetti and a new look Elizabeth (Below)

I am also in the process of producing my page layouts using my current script. I am doing them now so that if I have to make changes I have a better idea of how they will look making it easier to move the narrative accordingly. It will also cut time of crating the final artwork if they are no changes to be made.

That is the progress of Black Voyage so far.

To keep this progress going you can donate to us here:
http://covenantofarcana.wixsite.com/covenantcomics/donate