HOME | DD
rontufox — Murmoose and Kettleson sketch page
Published: 2012-04-28 18:39:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 697; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 5
Redirect to original
Description
The two protagonists, initially together until everything hits the fan of course~Murmoose is a Deru warrior living in Aheya since childhood, the makeshift ambassador to the equally makeshift Aheyan figurehead Kettleson, both of whom also happen to be best buds. Kettleson is meant to have a quiet, somber demeanor, and that kinda shows here, but since we're not all that sure about Murmoose yet, he just kinda seems worried in each of these lol. Whoops.
That loom's a real contraption, called a back-strap loom.
If you're interested in seeing more concept art for ~Spatty and my project, head this way ~
____________________________________
Stuff for
-night scenes~ I was mostly testing palettes and they turned out better than I thought they would haha
-I like the grass stylization in those top two panels more than how they've been handled before (like in that one ramallo pic)
-the kid pic of them at the bottom, I tried to draw them at like age 8ish but they look like freaking four-year-olds lol, and they're not that great
-does Ket's side-view look alright?
Related content
Comments: 31
I really really love your drawing style,, and these colors are gorgeous! keep up the awesome work! ;3;-
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow, thank you! I'm glad you're digging it, it's always hard to know if what you're doing is working. So thanks again!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You're more than welcome! ;u; <3
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Ah, so beautiful
I really love the sketch of Ket with his loom.
I'm in agreament about the grass. I know that the grass in that ramaloo pic (and this sketch of Ket n his loom) is more unfinished, but the top two panels here look more refined and a lot more like grass...
Yeah, the bottom pics of their kid versions... I dunno how you can adjust it... Maybe if their faces were just a little longer? Or if their eyes didn't look so big in their heads? Moomoo may pass for more for an older kid while Ket looks very young.
Ket looks good of course
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah~ We hafta figure out a way to show him using it before the Slavel thing.
Also the grass in the top panels is a lot easier to draw
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I dunno though, cuz they're supposed to be migrating, right? That might make him look lazy lol
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh, whupes...
Well, he could be doing it during a break in the migration, like during a meal or nap time or waiting for another part of the group to catch up, or after they've reach their destination, etc..? I'm sure there'll be an opportunity to show it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah, the problem is time, since I don't want things to go slow in the beginning... we'll see.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
oh yeah... uhh, we could just show him using it for one or two panels, before a scene shift or something?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Whoops, you're right about the neck. And Murmoose's build. In general I was only paying attention to their faces, then throwing something pretty lazy down for their torsos and limbs lol. In truth I didn't expect the colors to make the sketches look as polished as they do, maybe I shoulda been less lazy with the underdrawings~ 
As for ages, yeah, the only section where they're not young adults is the bottom left one. They're meant to be 18/19. I didn't really give much thought as to whether or not they actually look it... Maybe I'm not as worried as I should be lol?
Geez, I'm so glad what you said about the hands. I'm trying really hard to pose hands in expressive ways (while still being lazy with detailing them lol) cuz I feel like character is 1/4 facial expression, 1/4 body posing, and 1/2 hand posing lol. They're ridiculously important. I'm not great at hands or posing them, but I'm trying! 
Yeah, draw comics too!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Wow, reply fail.
If anybody notices this, reply and laugh at me.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Gee this is really cool! this really looks like an animation, like screen-captures of it!
and it's so interesting to see native characters like that, with those clothes, I mean it's like a mixture of native and digital art together. and the way Kettleson is weaving, and their child faces! so nice!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You're too kind~ 
Glad you like the style and colors! And I'm surprised you like the weaving pic, I thought no one would care about that at all
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aww you're the most welcome! sure I love the style!
and the weaving pic, actually I wanted to ask yo where is that from? because it's so look like the way native people weave where I was born!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh really~? Well the Aheyans in this story are pastoral nomads, so initially I was looking at the Bedouin people for inspiration. Then I found inspiration from the indigenous peoples of Australia, and the WoDaaBe of Africa.
For the loom specifically, I was first looking at the Bedouins, since they have portable looms to fit in to their nomadic life. But their looms are little different since they stake them into the ground. Then I found out about the backstrap loom, used by native South Americans, which attaches the loom to the weaver's back and either a tree or the ground. Then whilst searching for images of backstrap looms, I found the example you see in the pic, where the wearer uses their feet--that came from southern China.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Woow! Amazing!!!
my! you really delve about everything!! that's perfect!
haha, yeah I've never seen this backstrap model of looms before 
Thank you so much for letting me know Rontufox!!! 
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
No problem
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I really love the bright colors and detailing too
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Haha, there isn't much detail, I was super lazy, but thanks!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
this looks awsome! like the concept from these two boys^^
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! I'm glad you find them interesting
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I really love your style for drawing human faces. It's very unique, cartoony, and holds a great accuracy for a variety of expressions. It's quite inspiring, actually. Keep it up.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh geez, you really think so? That psyches me up so much cuz it's totally my goal haha. To make them cartoony without turning them into caricatures, especially when it comes to facial expression. I want them to be charming and endearing, but also cool and able to be taken seriously.
Augh, so glad you're inspired by them Confidence +1
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
You're probably gonna hate me for these critiques. XD
For the side view, I'd say it looks fine, except for the neck. It looks either a little too long, or a little too thin (like a lollipop neck, which is fine for a more wacky cartoon style (one that breaks anatomy on purpose), but doesn't quite fit with yours, since you style is generally more anatomically accurate, if that makes sense.) The character Kettleson actually looks pretty young anyways, is he supposed to be an adult in all the pics except the bottom-left one? I'm asking, before I start dishing out suggestions/criticism, in case I misunderstood something. xD (Both characters look very young, I'd say about 15, but at least Murmoose has the facial hair making it clear he's not a child. In all pics, I think Kettleson could be any age from about 12 to 20... it's really hard to tell.)
One other thing that bothers me, is that if Murmoose as you say is a warrior, then in the bottom-right pic (which I take to be him as an adult, since he has the goaty?) I would expect him to be a little more muscular? I could be wrong - I don't know the details of the story or the character! But his upper body does look unusually average for someone who spends a lot of time in physical excersize. :\
Critiques aside.. homg, I am jealous of your skills! Its awesome how you portray emotions through hand gestures and whatnot, I especially like the 'need to talk politics panal'. The way his hand is raised is just a simple gesture, but yet makes the characters look so much more alive and relatable. A lot of people have problems drawing interactive scenes - making characters talk with one another but looking more alive rather than just standing there like statues. But you do this really well!
I'll admit that I have pretty much nil idea about what's going on, but that's because this is a single page taken out of context, haha
I think the pallat looks great, btw. Your pallats always look awesome, dude.
Ok, I've done many sketchy comic panals like this, but never got inspired enough to finish them. I think you just helped give me a kick in the inspiration xD
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
.....deviantart erased my comment.
siiiiiiiigh
Whoops, your right about his neck. And Murmoose's build. I was only paying attention to their faces and then throwing something really lazy down for their torsos and limbs lol. In truth I didn't realize the colors would make these look as polished as they do, maybe I shoulda spent more time on the underdrawings so the mistakes wouldn't be so obvious
As for ages, yeah, the only pic they're not young adults is the bottom left one. They're meant to be 18/19. I didn't really think much about whether they looked it lol. Maybe I'm not as worried as I should be?
I'm so glad about what you said about the hands. I'm trying hard to pose hands expressively (while still being super lazy with the details lol). The success of a pose depends very heavily on hands, but I hardly pay much attention to them at all so I'm trying to change that.
Yeah, draw comics too!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aah! Yes, the colour work did make it look like it was supposed to be a lot more refined, like an actual finished page (or WIP for a finished page, ya know?) Though maybe the critiques are still of some use... yeah, I don't think you need to be -that- worried about little errors, in that case! 
I know what you mean about hands! Well, body language in general is very important, especially for a comic where characters are interacting, and you do it so well. I see so comic pages where on devart, where characters are standing like trees
Blech, yeah, I need to work on my comic, but I gotta go back to basics with it, because the story is just a jumbled up confusion of mess at the moment! And the character designs are just.. bleh... I'm not happy with 'em! Maybe in a couple of months when I don't have homework that I should be doing, I will revisit it (don't tempt me to find yet another reason to postpone homework!)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh! No lol, this is totally just a glorified sketch page
Critiques are always welcome though, cuz things pointed out in a rough stage will help me keep them in mind for when I finalize things!
I feel like it takes me way too much effort to succeed in capturing expression though, I have to redraw and act things out over and over for a single character
Ohohoh, I know exactly what you mean. How you're describing the state of your comic is exactly where ours was before. We had to do a major overhaul to finally get things in order and zero in on what we wanted to do with it. It's so easy to get jumbled up and lose focus.
But I guess I won't tempt you, since you really should be doing homework... So... Forget about developing your dear creation! Leave it by the wayside, abandon it, it doesn't have feelings!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0