A Cricket’s Tale Page 2 Color Preview
February 16, 2012
Page 2 is now in full color and can be viewed below! Mel’s been experimenting with adding a texture to the page, which can be seen in the image on the right. As always clicking on the image will show you a large version of the page. Use the poll below to tell us what you think!
A Cricket’s Tale is an 8-page prequel to A Steambot’s Tale that will be featured in the upcoming A Steampunk Anthology #2 from Illopond.
A Cricket’s Tale Page 2 Inks
February 6, 2012
Page 2 of A Cricket’s Tale is in progress, and here’s a sample of what’s to come (click the image to see a bigger version):
One of my favorite parts of Mel’s art are the creative gutters between the panels and the way they really help to create a cohesive page and help give it more of a steampunk feel.
A Cricket’s Tale is an 8-page prequel to A Steambot’s Tale that will be featured in the upcoming A Steampunk Anthology #2 from Illopond.
Stay tuned for more updates!
A Cricket’s Tale Page 1 Preview
January 23, 2012
A Cricket’s Tale is an 8-page prequel to A Steambot’s Tale that will be featured in the upcoming A Steampunk Anthology #2 from Illopond. We’ve previously shown progress on a couple of panels on this page (done beautifully by Mel Kirk), but now we can show you how it looks finished! Check it out below (click image for full size):
Mel is hard at work on A Cricket’s Tale and we can now show how the previously posted panels are coming along!
Our first post showed a preview of two panels from the first page with flat colors. Here that is again:
Flat colors, no shading
Now, Mel has added some shading to the image.
Panels with shading
This is a good example of how shading can add a lot to an image. Already, there’s a lot more dimension and detail that wasn’t there before. I’m especially blown away with the gears inside Jumper, our clockwork cricket. The shading on those gears really makes it look more like it could come to life at any moment. Little details like that, the swirl added to his leg, and the shine on the goggles’ lenses are the kind of details you sometimes don’t realize you’re missing until they’re put in. And once they’re there, you wonder how you could ever do without them!
Of course, these image isn’t finished yet, and as progress continues, we’ll continue to post updates!
A Steambot’s Tale @ Anime LA!
December 15, 2011
Our artist extraordinaire, Mel Kirk, will be hosting a table at Anime LA‘s Artist Alley next month. Besides having our Preview Book for sale, she will also have an assortment of custom fragrances, steampunk jewelry, various prints, and other awesome stuff! She will also be doing commissions, both for art and custom-made scents!
As soon as we have a table number or any other info to share, we’ll be sure to let you know!
A Steambot’s Tale Prequel?
December 12, 2011
One of the biggest thing to come out of APE for us this year was the connection we made with Sam Kirkman and the Illopond Creative Collective. Illopond published A Steampunk Anthology last year, and for 2012, we have been invited to participate in the second volume of the anthology! Needless to say, we’re very excited about this opportunity and are hard at work at creating a short tale to include in A Steampunk Anthology #2.
And what kind of tale are we working on, exactly? Why, a steambot-y one, of course! A Cricket’s Tale will be an 8-page short story based around the creation of our resident steambot cricket, Jumper, at the hands of an 8-year-old Akai and her somewhat grumpy mentor, Gramps. This story takes place before the main Steambot’s Tale, but is a completely optional read and is mostly for fun. Mel has free reign over this cute, short project, and based on the work she’d one so far, it’s going to be spectacular!
Here’s a glimpse at a couple of work-in-progress panels from A Cricket’s Tale, showing lil Akai working on Jumper:
Why a story about the cricket? We knew we’d only have a few pages to work in, and we knew we’d want it to be something fun. And this story will definitely be a fun one! The story for A Cricket’s Tale is by Marlan Moore, with Mel Kirk taking care of the script and art.
More updates to come!
A Steambot's Tale 