Some pencils from "Crogan's Loyalty"

Sorry for being so long absent from the blog, after I'd done a decent job of posting every day. I've been working on a paper I have to present at a conference in New York in a few days, and doing Crogan stuff, too. Here's one of the more recent, less spoiler-filled pages of late. I've mentioned before that I do my "pencils" in pen, so this is not the final art, just the underdrawing. Using pen and spotted black areas helps me nail down the compositions and hopefully make sure that even detail-filled areas like forests still have the visual clarity needed for a reader to know what's happening.

I'm still hoping to have Crogan's Loyalty entirely finished by the time school lets out this summer.  I have no idea what the release date is going to be - I think we're going to figure that out as soon as I'm done with the pencils/script (I do them together), but keep your eyes peeled.  In the meantime, the first two books have been popping up on a lot of "best books for teens" lists lately, so if you haven't checked them out yet, do (even if you're not a teen).

Ahsoka Tano

I was going to post this one tomorrow, but rumor has it that we'll be knee-deep in snow with no power, so I thought it prudent to drop it tonight. This is the last Star Wars pic I'll be posting for a while - the school week is starting back, and during weekdays I need to work on Crogan's Loyalty - but I wanted to post my favorite new character from the TV show before wrapping this round up.

Star Wars has been one of the few action franchises to have strong female characters.  Princess Leia is lots of fun; Padme Amidala is like a shrewish, second-rate version of Princess Leia, but at least she can handle her own.  But the show has introduced the character of Ahsoka Tano, the first Star Wars female character that, had I been a girl growing up rather than a strapping young lad, I would have wanted to play in the backyard as.  Fourteenish, daredevil, and optimistic, she's one of the more likeable characters in the whole SW franchise, at least in my opinion.  Kudos to the Lucasfilm folks for making a character that my daughter can identify with should she ever want to play Star Wars.

General Whorm Loathsom

Another one of the Star Wars portraits. This one's unfortunately named "Whorm Loathsom," but he's got a great design. I love how shape-based the new aliens in the TV show are. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Here's TV show Obi-Wan Kenobi destroying the battle droids. Using the droids for humor was a great move on the part of the showmakers - it really helps to keep the show up to the action-cartoon standard of, say, Avatar (the good show, not the bad movie). 

Hondo Ohnaka, Weequay Pirate

Here's another Star Wars drawing - Hondo Ohnaka, chief of a band of Weequay pirates, from the Clone Wars TV series.

If there's one thing Star Wars can't have enough of, it's pirates and cowboys. Well, not cowboys per se, but western-influenced stuff. I don't think I mentioned the size at which I'm drawing these.  They're fairly small - 4" x 6".

Han Solo

Here's another Star Wars drawing - Han Solo. 

Tusken Raider

I got a few Star Wars miniatures on a pretty big clearance markdown just before Christmas and stuck 'em in this display cabinet that I have in my studio that, until now, has remained empty save for a few papo animal figures that I use as drawing reference.  This, plus starting to watch the Clone Wars cartoon series on DVD, has put me in a pretty Star Warsy mood.  So I figured that when I do my keep-in-shape drawings this week I'd do some Star Wars characters. Here's the first:

Sand People.  The worst.