A Sun Experiment

Just a quick experiment in Photoshop with some paper textures.

Merry Christmas!

I've been having a crappy kinda week so far - I know it's only Tuesday, so I guess it's been a lousy couple of weeks, but anyway.

To cheer myself up and try and banish this overly dreary mood I've been in, I decided to have some fun and threw together this little piece.  

My little gift to all you who have been keeping an eye on my progress over the past few months.  I love you guys!

These were done in Illustrator - I've been working on a Christmas card with a similar "cartoony" theme and started messing around until I had all of these.  Anyway, I hope they make you smile.  I did when I was making them.

Happy Hols!  

Character Sketch - Shep

Okay, it's finally up!  I've decided that I'm not quite happy with the design/presentation concept yet - I think it still needs . . .  something.  But that's the great thing about this - I can come back and revisit things as much as I need to until it feels right.

As always, I love feedback so let me know what you think!

The Beginnings of an Airship Crew

Goal 1 of 3 - DONE!

What's steampunk without an airship and it's crew of fan-freaking-tastic characters?

• Elle - The owner of a small, varied fleet of airships.  She performs a hodge-podge of services like shipping and delivery, long distance message running, sight-seeing, etc.  She's slightly spastic and usually stressed about something or other, but with her driven work ethic and the help of her crew she's developed a reputation for excellence and getting the job done - no matter the circumstance.  
• BT - Elle's engineer.  She's competent, capable and she can build or fix anything - out of anything - before you can spit.  All without chipping a nail.  She's kept Elle's ships flying through circumstances that would have crippled bigger and newer ships.  Her inventive offensive security measures have made many a merchant glad that Elle and her crew haven't turned to piracy, and many an air-pirate wish they hadn't.  
• Sun - an accomplished medic and Elle's younger sister.  She's a little spitfire - and her mouth is sharper than the needle she'll use to sew you up.  She's amazingly shrewd and she can ferret a secret out of anyone - if she has to.  If it's advice you need, she's the one to ask, because ten to one, Sun's already thought of it. 
• James - a kind of Jack-of-All-Trades, he's Elle's primary helmsman.  A fantastic pilot as long as you're not wanting to, well, dock or maybe land.  But you know what they say about any landing you can walk away from.  An eternal optimist, he can see the humor in anything and he's always ready with a joke.  He's one-half of a rather dynamic and fantastic duo with his friend Shep. Nothing is impossible with the two of them on the job.  
• Shepherd (Shep) - very much a renaissance man, Shep knows a little of everything and a lot of other things.  He works the communications systems for Elle, and he'd like to see anyone do it better.  He's a visionary with grand dreams.  If you have a moment to give an ear, you might find yourself caught up in his ideas, too.  Just don't get sucked into one of his and James grand and intricate schemes to track down the fabled and elusive Granny Mede's Shack of Snacks . . .

Cpt. Marcus' Men

I've already introduced Marcus and Matthias in the post A Quick Intro to Some of the Characters, but here are some of the other soldiers on his team:

• Bob - Bob is big.  And kinda scary - mostly because he's not too bright.  But he's got a heart of gold and he'll never back down from a fight.  Marcus would rather have him at his back in a firefight than anyone else.  
• Ericson- Ericson is the funny man of the team.  Once he and Marcus get started, they're hard to stop and they can keep a crowd in stitches for hours on end.  Yet for all his humor, Ericson has an abundance of deep wisdom that belies his age and his advice is worth his weight in gold.  
• Sam - Sam, Marcus and Bob went through training for the military together and were friends long before that.  Their paths parted ways for a few years as Sam pursued officer training, but the threat from the rift has brought the trio back together again.  He is brilliant and has studied under some of the foremost universities and worked with some of the most prominent generals of the ACS.  He's quiet, but don't let that fool you - if you find yourself glued to the outhouse seat one cold morning, it's probably Sam's fault, don't get taken in by that whole innocent face act.  He could convince his grandmother that tiny Martian men tried to abduct him and that's why he's late for dinner.  Really, he had to fight them off, he almost died!
• Ged - No comments on his height now; he makes up for it with sheer tenacious will.  There's no problem he wont tackle, no fight he wont take on.  And he's possibly the best cook in five states, so really, only comment if you don't want to eat.  

A Quick Intro to Some of the Characters

These are a few of the characters that will take the stage in this experiment.  The names have been changed of course to protect myself from future harassment by the people they are based upon.  This is fiction guys.  As the Law and Order franchise so elegantly states: "The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event" (emphasis mine). I'm not telling who's based on who.  You can't make me.  No, Mark, I said I'm not telling . . . 

• Marcus - a career military man who now operates on behalf of several ACS governments to coordinate attacks and the gathering of information against the invading enemy from across the rift.
• Matthias - Marcus' younger brother, a mechanical and strategic genius, he works with his brother to defend the ACS against the people from the other side of the rift. 
• Cate - a longtime family friend of Marcus and Matthias, she's a brilliant scientist, but very unconventional; she loves to be in the middle of things and is fascinated by the world around her.  
• Andreas - one of Cate's research assistants, he's a quiet steady young man with an eye for detail who can fix almost anything.
• Kris - another research assistant of Cate's and Andreas' sister. As quiet as her brother and never without a smile, she has a boundless and fantastic imagination and the mechanical skill to bring some of her more fantastic designs to life.

Eventually, there will be posts on each character going a little deeper into who they are and the part they play in the "story" along with sketches of them and their attire.  There will be a lot - I have a big "family".