Comic Book: Final

The comic is called Divine Wind. The layout and plot are as laid out in the storyboards, but with a cover added. The pages have all been redone digitally and some color has been added.

Note: There is some setting-appropriate vocabulary used.
-Samurai - Feudal warriors of Japan.
-Ronin - A masterless samurai.
-Daimyo - Powerful land owners, feudal lords of Japan.
-Kami - Japanese word for gods, demons, spirits, and other mythological beings. There is no actual English equivalent of this word, as it's really an umbrella term for all manner of supernatural beings.It's also worth noting that in Japanese mythology, "demon" does not really mean the same thing it does in western mythology. Any spirit or god with ill-will towards people could be referred to as a demon.

Comic Book: Storyboard Design 2

These are the storyboards I created after reworking the project. I kept the setting, basic plot, and story concept about the same, and didn't change the art style much for the mythological creatures.
I changed the art style for human characters, changed the layout and pacing, and altered the plot a bit.

My first design was a traditional comic book layout. In keeping with the Edo Period art theme, I based the new layout design on narrative art of the Edo Period, albeit with a more simplistic art style than most Japanese art of that era. Rather than using speech bubbles, I used narrative text with each page being sort of a reverse-haiku. Each page consists of three lines, with the first and last being 7 syllables and 5 in the middle. Each line has a corresponding image.

I changed the plot slightly, but kept the same concept and overall story. There is little exposition this time, with the plot being told in a shorter and more concise way. I also altered the rōnin's part in the plot. Now, rather than being hired as the shopkeeper's bodyguard, he is hired to protect a woman (this also went through a couple of iterations. In the 1st draft of these storyboards, the woman is a shopkeeper's daughter. In the final version, she is the lord's daughter). He and the girl survive the battle due to the rōnin's humility. He bows to the kami and asks for the girl's life to be spared.
I felt like this was fitting for the Edo Period Japan theme, as respect and reverence for nature, spirits, and even other people was commonly expected of people in that era. Whether the kami are taken literally or allegorically, it seemed fitting.

I started with pencil sketches and then inked each one before creating the digital versions for the next part of the project. I've posted the pencil sketches and the inked images below.

Note: There is some setting-appropriate vocabulary used.
-Samurai - Feudal warriors of Japan.
-Ronin - A masterless samurai.
-Daimyo - Powerful land owners, feudal lords of Japan.
-Kami - Japanese word for gods, demons, spirits, and other mythological beings. There is no actual English equivalent of this word, as it's really an umbrella term for all manner of supernatural beings.It's also worth noting that in Japanese mythology, "demon" does not really mean the same thing it does in western mythology. Any spirit or god with ill-will towards people could be referred to as a demon.

Comic Book: Storyboard Design 1 (scrapped)

I ended up laying out 8 pages of storyboards before starting over from scratch with a completely reworked layout, a different art style, and very different pacing. This post details the first, ultimately scrapped, designs.

My idea for the plot was that sometime during the Edo Period (1600s-1800s) in Japan, a wandering masterless samurai(known as rōnin in Japanese) happens upon a small town that is preparing for a war with the gods themselves. The lord of the town had claimed to be more powerful than nature, the spirits of the world, and the gods. This had angered the gods, and they were sending armies to attack the town regularly. Most of its inhabitants had fled. The lord only had a small army left, and is preparing them for a last stand against the demon armies. The rōnin decides to stay in the town, hoping to make some money protecting on of the remaining villagers and see what a war against gods looks like. Eventually, a battle erupts between the samurai and the demon army, which ends in the destruction of the town. The rōnin would survive this encounter, collect his payment, and move on.

I only got about halfway through laying out this idea. At 8 pages, I hadn't even gotten to the battle yet. The entirety of the storyboards I made for this idea are exposition, with none of the planned action scenes completed by the time I changed course.

Comic Book: Preliminary Sketches

I've brainstormed and sketched out a variety of ideas for the comic book I'm making. I've decided on a theme and basic plot at this stage. The setting is Japan during the Edo Period, with some fantasy elements based on Japanese mythology. I'm drawing inspiration from Edo Period art for the theme.



Initially, my plan was to use stick figures for the humans, but slightly more detailed designs for the mythological beings. My thought was that I could more easily depict action scenes this way and streamline the process of making an eight-page comic.



I really wanted to focus more attention on the kami(Japanese for spirits, gods, demons, and other mythological beings) through my drawing, so I put more detail into their designs than that of the human characters.

I also tested out another option I was considering, using actual Edo Period style art for the figures in the comic.




I decided against this option, as I wasn't really confident in my ability to accurately depict Edo Period art throughout an entire comic book without further practice. I decided to proceed with the stick figure idea and lay out the storyboards for that. After completing eight pages of that, I ended up scrapping that idea and going back to sketching to rework my designs.



These are the designs I ultimately chose to use for the human characters, though I did still use the character designs from image #2 up there for the kami.