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.