Tag: the legend of jamie roberts

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“Jamie Roberts Explores a Temple”

the legend of jamie roberts visual design temple environment sketch

This is a sketch I finished yesterday, to practice making stone textures in pen. I feel like I somewhat succeeded, but I still need to practice illustrating depth. For example: that sculpture of the goddess is supposed to be sitting in a recess in the wall. I don’t feel like I did a good enough job of showing how deep the recess is. It could be fixed with tones, though, probably.

Oh, let me explain what this sketch is showing:

Jamie Roberts, the figure in the foreground, is approaching the entrance to the abandoned temple/city of Kinyaht. Kinyaht is entirely underground except for the entrance, which is covered in sculptures of the Goddess.

In their mythology, the Goddess created the World, and when people and creatures die, they return to an otherworld called The Way. In this mythology, the easiest way to get to The Way is through caves and going underground, so some people got together and built Kinyaht, an underground temple.

By the time Jamie and her friends find this temple entrance, though, it’s revealed that no one has been in Kinyaht for over 500 years…

I’m looking forward to developing this environment further, and practicing more backgrounds, landscapes, and environments. It’s something I want to get better at.

Thank you for reading! I’ll see you tomorrow with a new post.

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Goals for 2015

It’s not yet New Years, but I wanted to talk about this early. That way I’m not too lost in the flood of New Years’ Goals posts that are sure to flood across the internet.

Sure, I have goals for 2015. There are personal ones like walk everyday, send more cards, that kind of thing.

But this blog post is being made to share the goals for my comics in 2015.

Why am I sharing them?

Because I want you to hold me accountable.

In sharing my goals with you, I hope that you can keep me on the right track, so I don’t lose my way, so I can succeed, and not back out of promises I made to you.

In return, I hope to hear about your New Years resolutions in the comments. So that way, I can help you do the same!

So, for 2015, I have a list. A list of things I wanted to accomplish. These things are…

Of course, a lot of those goals are not specific. So I broke them down into do-able chunks and came up with…

  • Write every day,
  • Publish 1 new eBook a month,
  • Finish 1 new painting a month,
  • Post 4 items on Storenvy every month,

Breaking it down even further, I have goals for every week and even every day! They are…

  • Write 1000 words a day,
  • Draw 2 Sketchbook pages a day,
  • Finish 1 new mini-comic a week,
  • Post 1 new item on Storenvy a week,
  • Update this blog Monday through Friday

To help me keep track of my daily goals, I borrowed from Karen Kavett and Charlie McDonnell (and Jerry Seinfeld) by printing up copies of the Don’t Break the Chain calendar.

The idea of this calendar is that you have a goal to accomplish everyday. Every day you do the thing, you check off the day on the calendar. Do it everyday and you start a chain of check marks, so don’t break the chain!

One of my big goals is to update this blog Monday through Friday. That will start January 1, 2015, this Thursday.

I actually tied a few goals together for 2015: I intend on reviving the Women Warriors Project by making one new painting every month for it. By finishing 1 new mini-comic every week, I’m making one new item to sell on Storenvy every week. By sketching 2 pages everyday, I’m making content for eBooks I’m publishing every month. When I finish a sketchbook, I’ll make a video and upload it to YouTube.

I like combining goals. It makes accomplishing them more fulfilling.

What are your goals for 2015? Let me know in the comments!

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Thursday.

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Snafus, Sketches, and New Projects, Oh My!

You know, I was hoping to actually make some comics today. I was raring to go and everything!

But then when I went to get my prescription at the pharmacy, there was a snafu with my insurance and that took TWO HOURS to fix. Me and insurance companies don’t really get along, especially after last year, when I was in a car and got hit by ANOTHER car. That wasn’t pleasant.

Thankfully the prescription snafu was not on the same scale as the car accident. Two hours is nothing compared to five MONTHS of paperwork.

And thankfully, too, the people at my pharmacy and the person on the customer service line were VERY friendly and understanding. Faith in humanity restored, even if insurance is asenine.

Anyway, I didn’t want to bore you with medical crap (however, quick PSA: take glucosamine. It lubricates your joints and I’ve noticed that my formerly-broken wrist snaps a lot less often since I started taking it).

I also wanted to share with you some quick sketches I found on my hard drive the other day because EFF YEAH SKETCHES and EFF YEAH The Legend of Jamie Roberts!

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The last one I actually drew the other day. This is Egyt, the Bushwoman on the outskirts of Maliwe. In literary terms, she’s known as the Threshold Guardian, giving warning to our main characters of what has been happening in Maliwe.

Let’s see, what else has been happening…

I’m now collaborating with Rocket Blast Comics to help promote their work, so yay!

I’m also in talks with someone right now about starting a graphic novel project. I’ll let you know what’s up as we hammer things out…

Speaking of projects, I’ll be finishing up some new work for the Free Comic Book Day Event this Saturday! I’ll be at the Apache Junction Public Library in Phoenix, AZ, talking about comics and showing off my process of how I make my own, plus selling a few new things. Events start at 1:30. Be there? Please? I’d love to see you.

By the way, I’ve been changing a few things here on the website. I hope you like the changes! It’s mostly just button art and a list of appearances I’ll be making this year.

That’s all I got right now. Come back for a new post tomorrow that’s not about status updates and sketches. What will it be about? …You’ll just have to come back, won’t you?

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Jamie Roberts is…Postponed (Again)

7_JamieRobertsbadass

I should really stop announcing when The Legend of Jamie Roberts will be up on the web, because every time I do, the fates overhear my plans and jump on me.

This story is going to be shelved for a bit as I work on other projects. Once those are done, I can edit the work and give it the proper treatment that it needs.

When will that be?

I’m not saying just in case the fates overhear my plans again. I’m going to keep them on their toes, just to spite them.

Does this mean I’ll stop drawing the characters/world/creatures of the story? NOPE.

Anytime I draw anything related to The Legend of Jamie Roberts, I’ll post it here on the blog.

Here’s what I have so far…

JamieRobertsEnvirons1

 

Developing worlds, including this underground city of Kinyaht…

 

 

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Daniel, one of Jamie’s best friends and an excellent archer…

 

 

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Qatool (or Queen) Norsa, Dragon Queen of the city of Dogona…

Thomas

Thomas, another best friend of Jamie’s…

Mocktaw

Creatures of darkness, called Mocktaw, who emerge from a spiritual realm called Dream…

And the deadliest character of them all…

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Raguna Ranki, the banished Dragon King of the Sun.

Why are these Kings and Queens called Dragon Kings/Queens?

LordRankiDragon

 

BECAUSE THEY CAN SHAPE SHIFT INTO DRAGONS. BOOYAH.

I should probably note right now that I’m very heavily inspired by African arts and history for this project (mostly history. It even shows in The Women Warriors Project because a LOT of African Queens are appearing on that list.). The myths and legends of many African groups stuck with me, as did their patterns and art…and it also helps that I took two semesters of African Art History in my undergrad years.

“But none of your characters are black” I’m working on it. Why do you think it’s not ready to be published yet?

Jamie, Thomas, and Daniel are suppose to be culturally different from the rest of the cast because they’re Touloy pirates from the North. (I still need to change their skin tone a bit, though, if only to make it more red for all the years of sun-and-wind burn.) Most of the story takes place in the southern continent of Corith. I’m going to be doing character design tweaks to the other cast members I have so it’s not so white-washed. I’ll share as time comes.

And I want my African inspiration to be a bit more evident. Right now, it shows in the locations and the cities they visit (which I haven’t drawn yet). I want to add more patterns and art to the mix, though I have to be careful with that – different patterns from different groups are considered sacred and shouldn’t be replicated. I have to know which ones to avoid.

That’s all for now. Let me know in comments what you think!

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What’s Jamie Roberts Up To?

JamieRobertsEnvirons1

The Legend of Jamie Roberts is now fully scripted! I’m at the point now where I can draw concept art, like the art above. That tiny person towards the bottom is Jamie, and she is standing in the abandoned underground city of Kinyaht.

There will also be a LOT of editing over the next month. I’ll be obsessively using How To Revise A Novel as a reference during the process. If you’re editing your own work, USE THAT LINK. It will save you a lot of stress.

More updates soon!