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Montemarte — Haunted Library Competitors sketch
Published: 2015-11-29 09:15:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 1110; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 1
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I cannot wait for the Haunted Library OCT to start, and I get the feeling I'm going to have to fight the urge to draw every new competitor to enter it XD. Look at these guys! You can tell Katherine is going to be utterly kickass, Elem is a precious cinnamon bun anddon't even get me started on the design of Visianne and Oole.I love Sugar so so much, that dress and those colours, just...gah. Too much.
This sketch dump is just going to get bigger and bigger.
Burdrehnar - Elem and Katherine
Chaos-force - Visianne and Oole
RiskPig - Sugar Dangereux
vchannel - Malachite and Ike
masterofthebad - Jess and Arthur
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Comments: 88
I'm looking to join-in, too 
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You made Jess look super cute! It's so fun to watch this thing expand!
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Thanks! I've drawn more people who haven't submitted their auditions yet but I think I'll only add them to this dump once they've done so.
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Good call! I know I've seen a couple character sheets floating around for this tournament that haven't officially been submitted, yet.
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Me too, it looks like there'll be some tough (but awesome) competition. It's nice to know that even if I don't get in there'll still be some great stories to follow.
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eeeeeeeeeeeee! these are so gorgeous I LOVE IT!
Oole and Visianne are so adorbz in your style,plus Elem is pretty well done too and Sugar is finely drawn
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Thanks so much 
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aww,I thank you very much~ I tried to make her interesting while simplifying her since I'm still learning to do proper comics
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Wish I had thought of that. After I posted Sugar's complicated dress, I was like "Oh, crap, I forgot that I would have to draw that over and over and over." XD
Well, that just proves you have better foresight than me. That should give you a solid edge ahead of me.
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aww,well that only means you put more work into it and it'll end up gorgeous~!
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That's really smart and it's really cool that you're jumping straight into it.
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well,gotta get onto it somehow and an OCT setting with deadlines n' such should be enough to get me off my lazy ass. though I should probz get a tablet someday to help
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For sure, but don't be discouraged if you can't get a hang of the tablet at first. It takes a while before it stops feeling like a step backwards, or it did for me at least XD I bet we'll see tonnes of improvement in your art over the tournament and I can't wait. X)
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Wow, it's so fun to see the competitors in different styles! SO MUCH HYPE!
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I hope the hype keeps growing, it's not a fun contest unless tonnes of people enter
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True! I'm working on my audition now!
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Oh wow, just looking at your gallery know it's going to be an amazing audition, I can't wait to see it!
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Aw, what a sweet thing to say! I'm hoping this tournament will help me work on my speed and sequencing. n_n I'm so excited I keep getting distracted at work so that I can keep picking at my character sheet and audition!
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Me too! Work has just become a countdown to when I can draw again and I may or may not secretly doodle while I sit there. Pshhh totally productive.
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Same >.> I may have made an enemy on my train ride home yesterday because I took up more than my fair share of the table to work on storyboards. XP I have a long commute, 50 min+ each way, and it's the perfect time to work on looser drawings. But I have to hoard the space. *sheepish smile*
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XD I'm sure they got to enjoy looking at you create stuff, fair payment I'd say. That's so cool how much time you're throwing into it, are you working on both the ref and storyboards at the same time?
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Well, he was sitting across from me so he couldn't see my screen. XP I would have been happy to show him if he'd wanted to see, though. I used to be leery about letting people watch me draw, but now I don't mind. I caught this teenager sneaking glances at my sketchbook when I was working on Inktober and I just asked him if he wanted to look, haha. When I was his age, I would have hoped someone would let me look at their sketchbook full of cartoon characters, too!
Yeah, lots of time in lieu of a social life or any other holistic activities, hahaha! I am kind of working on them at the same time. I got my front view and back view lined and flat-colored and some supplemental pieces sketched, but I always get stuck at shading so I decided to work on the storyboards and hope my motivation comes back. I'm collaborating with a friend who will be contributing a character of her own, but she's been busy and sick for awhile. So, we're in limbo! My character is a reincarnated alchemist and my friend's character is a steampunk monkey.
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That's so nice of you! I'm still quite shy about people watching me draw, unless it's a sketch I'm well into and know where I'm going with it. I hope you friend is able to jump into the project with you soon because those characters sound so so cool. How will the collab work? One draws the other colours? Or are you splitting the drawing 50/50?
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Yeah, that makes sense. I used to be really shy too...I'd cover my drawings with my arms while I worked on them at school so no one would see. But after high school I worked at Walt Disney World as a custodian and I learned to draw Mickey Mouse on the pavement with my broom and water for the guests when work was slow. People got a kick out of that and I found it was really rewarding to let them watch me work because their excitement and curiosity was infectious.
I'm doing most of the work since she's busier than I am (in other words, she actually has a life instead of being a self-absorbed hermit like I am XP). I'm doing the writing, sketching, and painting the backgrounds, then she'll line and add flat colors, then I'll add the speech bubbles and atmospheric effects to pull it all together. We have a big collab webcomic project in the works, and we want to use this OC tournament to see if our workflow is going to...well, work. XD I'm already picking up shortcuts, so the learning experiment is working! I'm going to aim to have my character sheet up by the end of next week. I'M GONNA DO IT.
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You worked at Disney World . That is so amazing, was it only Mickey or did you build your repertoire over time? Cause from what I can see you're pretty darn good at the disney style.
You've got so much work ahead of you, and don't worry if you're a hermit then at least you're a talented one
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That emoticon kills me! XD!!!!!! I also did Minnie (just add eyelashes and a bow XP ) and I could do Donald but I didn't usually like how he turned out. I actually taught a class to show other custodians how to do it. n.n I couldn't do them too often because they were really hard on my wrists. It was fun while it lasted! I miss working there in the sun and magic doing a physically and socially demanding job. Now I live in Utah and I have a desk job and I suffer in the cold D: But the pay is much better and my family lives here, so. XP You win some, you lose some.
You are too nice!
I thought about using my webcomic mains Spark and Vahaadi but they aren't a good fit for this tournament. They can travel through books so a library would hardly be a compelling place to trap them, hahah. Evie and I decided we wanted to use characters from projects that have been shelved for awhile. It's fun to revisit and revitalize them! Are your competitors from an existing project or did you create them for this tournament?
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Yeah I was wondering why you'd passed over those two cuties X) I suppose the book surfing powers aren't the most compatible with the tournament's purpose. Do you have a story in your head for those two?
Nena and Mouse were from a pre-existing idea, a super super old one. I figured now would be a good time to dust the characters off (as you said, revitalise them) , especially as I already know them well so figuring out motives and such wasn't a problem. Conveniently, Nena's story already blends in quite well with the OCT's premise X)
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I do! Basic premise is that a comics-obsessed teenage girl encounters an evil djinni and wishes to be a superhero. Spark becomes caught up in a battle against an evil force that causes "fictional" worlds to bleed into and destroy each other (which is how the djinni ended up on Earth) and the djinni Vahaadi is dragged along as her grudging "sidekick." My pitch still needs work but I'm working on the second draft of the manuscript now!
How old is "super old"? Like "first OC ever" old? I'm sooooooo excited to see Nena and Mouse in action. :>
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Ah that sounds like a story that you can take so many places. Definitely a great for the premise for a comic, and that title is an excellent hook. Is Vahaadi somehow bound to Spark? That he can't leave? (I get the feeling he'll eventually like her, as is the way with storytelling and character development) Are you a fan of superhero comics yourself?
I started Nena's story four years ago, and that feels like a lifetime ago because I have so much art of her from that time (and boy is it bad XD). Her story has always been the one I've planned to tell first, because it has a relatively simple storyline and limited characters in the beginning. Hopefully I'll be confident enough to start it someday soon in the future.
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I think the story will remind people of stuff like Kingdom Hearts, Inkheart and The Pagemaster because of the similar story-traveling themes, but I'm making the effort to make up my own stories instead of having them traipse through classics. It's making it take longer, but I think it will help it feel less like a fanfiction, haha. XD Vahaadi wears a locked collar that prevents him from traveling more than about a hundred yards from his lamp, and he can't move his lamp by himself. He can't even touch it. Spark keeps the lamp with her, so she very literally drags him. XD He would like to kill her, but he can't physically harm his mistress unless he can trick her into wishing for something disastrous. So, until he can find a weakness to exploit, he's stuck playing the Robin to her Batman.
I've not read any that I've liked, to be honest. >.> I like the masks and the punny names and the banter, but I've just never gotten into them. Evie likes them, though, and that's why she created Spark. I'm more familiar with the Magical Girl genre of "superheroes" and one day I pitched an idea to Evie of making a Magical Girl story for Spark just for fun where she gets her powers from Vahaadi instead of a mutated gene, and we were both so amused by the idea that it just took off. We're combining Evie's interest in western-styled Superheroes (ala Superman) and my interest in Magical Girls (ala Sailor Moon) for Loose Canon, haha. Spark's got a American-styled look (body suit and mask vs. frilly dress and heels) but she gets her powers from magic instead of a sci-fi explanation. And she'll have a magical transformation sequence if I have anything to say about it!
There's nothing quite like looking back at old art @_@ You should GO FOR IT, MAN. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS. I don't know if it will help you, but the best motivator I found for moving Loose Canon along was participating in NaNaWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo. It could have stayed as just a ragtag collection of ideas forever...but NaNo provides a great community to force you to put out that first draft. You should try it! THE WORLD NEEDS NENA AND MOUSE. DO IT FOR THE WORLD, MONTEMARTE.
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That's super cool, the book travelling idea really does need the revamp. I love that Vahaadi is literally being dragged into the adventure, I'm sure it'll spawn a whole lot of interesting and funny conversations. Also, combining the cute sparkliness of magical girls with the badassness of superheroes is such an amazing idea. I love her outfit so much and seeing a transformation sequence would be so cool. Someday I wanna see Vahaadi in a frill magical girl costume for sure!
I haven't written a comic script before, though I've made a few attempts. Every time I get started I just feel super aware of how dumb it reads XD I'm hoping that this OCT will give me the practice I need. You're too sweet X) and so motivational! Haha~ I'm gonna save this comment for days where I'm not feeling inspired <3
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It certainly spawns some cussing on Vahaadi's end. XD He's not used to his masters being hyper excitable teenagers that can fly and are prone to zooming off in a flash. She actually breaks his neck at one point because she takes off too fast. D: Fortunately, he has regenerative healing so he recovers within a few minutes, but he's pretty ticked about it! She has to learn to make sure he's ready before she takes off or else face his wrath.
Oh gosh, no frilly magical girl costumes for Vahaadi! XD He does wear fancier clothes than she does...but, she'd happily wear the same geeky tee shirt and skinny jeans every day if she could get away with it with her mom. Vahaadi, on the other hand, was a clothier by trade when he was mortal. Since he doesn't sleep and can't go anywhere unless he's *taken* there he has looooooots of free time to just sit and sew clothes for himself. Spark thinks it's funny that a tough guy like Vahaadi does "arts and crafts" all day, but he always looks hecka sharp.
Yeah, scripts are kinda hard! It's weird to just write dialogue and really basic descriptions/actions instead of prose. But it's fun too, once you get into it! Even if it sounds dumb, the important thing is that it's at least out, and it's much easier to feel out something that exists in a visual form than to just rearrange it in your head! If you ever need more encouragement, you hit me up! We creators are in this together!
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Haha! I love Vahaadi already, I am going to draw him and Spark at some point for sure. It is so cool that he makes his own clothes and I can picture Spark ruining more than one potential outfit by zooming off as he's making the final stitch. Can he live in his lamp? Is it a bigger on the inside type of deal?
Thanks so much for all this help ;v; You're just too nice, you can't be real XD For the OCT I'm going to be using a panel style like the one used for Ava's Demon, but I'm hoping to branch out during the tournament and try a couple of other things, because panel layout is something I really need to work on. Can I ask if you studied/are studying art at university?
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Naw, he doesn't physically live inside it. It seems that way, because if his lamp isn't touched for awhile he disappears into a between-place called the aetherealm, and when the lamp is touched again smoke comes out and gives him back his physical form. Some of my concepts for Vahaadi don't mesh with pop culture depictions of genies (part of why I chose the spelling djinni instead) so I'm thinking about putting together a silly handbook called "The Care and Training of Your Soul-Bound, Wish Granting Djinni Slave from Another World" to talk about what makes him tick in a light-hearted way, illustrated with pictures of Spark and Vahaadi as if it's some kind of handbook for new pet owners. (Possible bullet points: "tips for getting the most out of your three wishes!" "Advice on avoiding your own brutal demise!")
Oh my gosh! I want to do storyboard style like Ava's Demon, too! Ahhhhh, how cool! I like it because I hate paneling, and it makes it feel more cinematic.
My degree was in Visual Communication, so I have some formal lessons on design, but I wasn't in an art program per se. I actually had to beg and wheedle to take a figure drawing class because it wasn't in my degree plan. XP I mostly look at lots of drawing books and tutorials, and I keep a pretty well organized library of references. Are you studying art formally?
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Aetherealm? That is so awesome X) I wonder if Spark will ever get to see it? I so want to read that handbook, and I'd love to help in anyway I could even if it's drawing silly Vahaadi chibis XD The title alone is amazing and some of those possible ideas are great.
You're right! It's more cinematic, I've never been able to put my finger on what I like about it until now. I love that method of breaking it up as well, especially the planned commercial breaks. I do wanna have a go at flash comics at some point, but like you, I haven't really used it before...nor do I have it.
Actually I just got accepted into an animation course at my first choice university X3 The Little Witch storyboard was the preselection test for it, and I was chosen based on it before the early offer rounds even started. No interview and no folio presentation needed (for which I am so so so grateful). It'll be my first time getting formal art lessons, which will be a huge break from the self taught style I've been doing so far. I have a huge folder on my computer for references and tutorials, and I'd love to get some hard copy books too.
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See what, the handbook, or the aetherealm? There isn't really anything to see in the aetherealm. It's just a void. Vahaadi actually hates it there, so he avoids it as much as possible. Even if it means putting up with Spark and her antics.
I don't have flash either, but I'm thinking of doing the trial for a bit. If it works for me, I'll cave and shell out the money for the CC subscription. I'm already paying for Photoshop, and for a little more, I can have the whole creative suite. I want InDesign and Dreamweaver anyway so I don't lose touch with the skills I developed in school! But, $50/mo is nothing to sneeze at DX Alas.
AHHHHHHHHHHH CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!
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Is the aetherealm shared by other djinnis? So could Vahaadi run into anybody there? If only he could take stuff with him, it'd be funny to see him playing on the 3ds while floating through nothingness.
All the art programs are so expensive, it's like they forgot that their target market is usually dirt poor XD What's dreamweaver? Because the name sounds awesome XD
And thanks, I can't wait to start. I've already made some friends who were also preselected, so I'm feeling super hopeful for next year <3
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Alas, 'tis not a space he can share. It's his own personal hell. He can't really do anything there, it's like he's in a supernatural timeout. Spark would love to teach him how to play 3DS to pass the time! But, he's afraid of electronics! He tries to be so cool, but any mechanical noise freaks him out. XD
Dreamweaver is for building websites! There are lots of cheaper alternatives, but I like it.
That's so fun! Congrats again! I'm thinking about taking an online course for storyboarding in the spring. n.n
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He's a technophobe? He just gets quirkier and quirkier. If only he could slowly fill the place with furniture XD Just a whole living room casually floating through the void.
Is that your main 'job'? Are you a web designer? Or just a cool hobby?
Hopefully the storyboard course is really helpful, I can't wait to see what you learn get put to use.
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Yeah, I mean, he's not from Earth, so all of this modern technology is so foreign to him. Spark thinks it's hysterical that he jumps out of his skin anytime she turns her hairdryer on. He has plenty of opportunities to put some mortal terror into her too, though, so...it evens out. XP
I'm a web publisher, which means I don't get to play with code and design as much as I'd like! ;^; I just prep and upload content into templates and troubleshoot issues on the site. I know a little about design and a little about code, but not quite enough to be expert in either. I'd probably need to go back to school or invest a lot of my free time into experimenting if I wanted to pursue either as a career. But, I'm content where I'm at right now! I'd much rather use my free time to draw.
Yeah! I just have to decide if I want to part with that much money!
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I could chase him around with loud electrical objects? X) He's a cat.
That's an awesome skill set to have and you seem to really have the design aspect down. Definitely keep drawing though, you have to bring Vahaadi and Spark to life.
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Spark: Yeah! Actually, he even purrs if you play with his hair--
Vahaadi: *mortified* DON'T TELL THEM THAT
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