Ok, yeah, I've been watching way to much Star Trek recently. (Just wait an hour for the new Copper Road!) Anyway, sketch work has begun on the final batch of the May commissions!
I was give free reign on this one for Phil, and that is always so scary. I decided to take a proper crack at his fursona. (His look was previously used as a
cameo in the strip, but not in-character.) Since he's been having technical difficulties with just about everything he's touched recently, I drew something with him being taunted by a tech demon. (Blue screen of death demon?) As is, the demon is singling him out as his choice for torment, but an alternate idea could zoom in a bit and keep the demon to a face on the monitor. Yes, he's wearing the
SCIENCE! shirt. He said geeky shirts were good, and I chose mine!
Karl wanted a sequel to his
Derpy and Bud watercolor piece, with Derpy hunting down the jerk who took the last muffin. Unwitting subject of an impending lightning strike? Had to be Jacob. Instead of making multiple sketches, I just drew alternate Derpy poses in the empty space. I love the idea of her riding the storm cloud behind Jacob. This piece could benefit of a shift to a horizontal layout. It could also be flipped, with Jacob walking the other way. That way the eye would start on him and then move to angry Derpy. I don't like that angle on Jacob as much, so it may not happen, even if it helps the narrative.
This one started out as Autumn being territorial about her library, but drawing a full library background in the time allotted is impossible. It's a shame, because it was a good idea. (I may have to turn a variation of that into a strip down the line!) A smaller-scale version of Autumn protecting her books that was suggested was her sacrificing herself to keep a book dry in the rain. Sounds cute! If I went with this, I could do regular color or something more experimental. I think a rain scene would look neat in all blues. I may have to redraw her to show her a bit more hunched over, but the idea is there.
Here's an alternate take, showing the set-up.
I was given two options for this one: Kaitlyn and Autumn having fun together, or Kaitlyn making Autumn all poofy paranoid. Since I couldn't think of a good activity for the friendly stuff, I turned to the dark side. I'm torn over trying to make this a vertical or horizontal piece.
Hey! Wen got a commission! That's right, Roddy, even Wen got chosen before you. The question about Wen was what he does when not tormenting Kaitlyn. He's a sporty jerk, so I decided to have him playing catch. Maybe it wasn't the smartest move to make him play American football, since this for a European reader, but you must admit football is a suitably jerky sport for him. Bonus insult: I swiped this pose from another drawing I'd done... a drawing of Roddy!
Finally, I was asked to bring back Tiffany dressed as fruit, from an
old sketch of mine. It proved harder than I thought to find an alternative to the original pear look. I through inverting the shape and going strawberry would be good... but the pear shape still beats it. I suppose it'd be cheating to make her an eggplant.
There are two more commissions that need sketching, but I ran out of sketchbook pages. (That means I'm down to just two empty sketchbooks! Ack!) They'll have to be sketched tomorrow.
