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Characters – Luca

Characters – Luca published on No Comments on Characters – Luca

[For the hiatus, I’m going to be posting a bunch of the development art I made for the series. It’ll be posted in the order it was made, leading up to the week the comic resumes]

{ORIGINAL COMMENTARY} I haven’t changed her proportions much since her conception, but I have changed her outfit and personality a lot since I drew her first.

I had a ton of trouble trying to get her markings just right. So few looked good to me, but I eventually found I felt comfortable with a sort of diamond theme to the black marks on her (along with her adorable chest heart one).

Originally I was going to go with an outfit that had some big neck-ware thing going on, but I couldn’t figure out how to make everything connect nicely. Instead, I went for a more simple robe thing that clicks together along her stomach. She’s got a shirt on below that. I wanted something that kind of split the difference between Trinity’s more naturalistic outfit and Ms Shepard’s more official look.

The patches on her shoulder marking her as being allied with both FA and FB were shifted into being little bandannas things she wraps around her arms. Since her arms are bare in the outfit, I wanted to add something to make them stand out a little more.

Gonna need to keep practicing this leg structure. But I’m very satisfied with how she looks. I’m still debating a bit on the Tecktrins wings, but I like this well enough for now.

As for her personality, she’s usually pretty grump or tired…
OF PEOPLE’S NONSENSE, THAT IS.

{NEW COMMENTARY} As you can tell by her actual appearance in the comic, I dropped the arm bands; ironically I felt that made her design too busy.

Since… another character is going to fill the grump role, I’ve changed Luca into being more exasperated with everything going on.

I’m probably going to add more to her coat down the line, but we’ll see.

Characters – Trinity

Characters – Trinity published on No Comments on Characters – Trinity

[For the hiatus, I’m going to be posting a bunch of the development art I made for the series. It’ll be posted in the order it was made, leading up to the week the comic resumes]

{Original Commentary} Looking back at my first attempt to draw Trinity, I didn’t really feel satisfied with her design. I know I wanted a very tall and very thin figure for her to sort of match the “idea” of her character (which is what the world thinks of being the perfect figure).

I eventually settled on like a very tall triangle-like figure for her body and legs, which I’m satisfied with. I like her way more with really long legs. She’s tall as heck!

I also knew almost instantly what outfit I wanted for her, so I didn’t end up using more than a page to figure it out. 😆 It’s kind of like a belly-dancer outfit, I’ve realized (mainly an excuse for me to show of her cute white tummy fur). But of course, she’s also a respected researcher, so she’s got her white lab-coat.

(It’s a weird solarpunk future and she’s a genetics researcher don’t question it)

{New Commentary} Now that’s more like the Trinity I remember! It wouldn’t be until we get into the comic proper that she gets her muzzle, though.

One of the earlier mistakes I made when designing characters was not having a strong grasp on the colors they would have (given that the designs are all black and white). If memory serves, I still didn’t know what color her fur would be at this point.

Going into the comic, you’ll notice that I went back and forth minor details about her; mainly her lab coat and some parts of her fur. Knowing myself, I’ll still be changing those right up until the end.

Character Sketches – Melody

Character Sketches – Melody published on No Comments on Character Sketches – Melody

[For the hiatus, I’m going to be posting a bunch of the development art I made for the series. It’ll be posted in the order it was made, leading up to the week the comic resumes]

{Original Commentary} Leon’s sarcastic but loving sister. The siblings don’t get along, but that’s mostly Leon’s fault. Melody’s really shy and introverted, and Leon’s self-interested personality doesn’t mesh well with her.

As with Cat Comixz before, she’s tall and thin. I have had her design more or less down before I started (though I was still getting used to exactly how tall she is). It was just nice to draw her again. She won’t be in the comic for long, but she’ll play a pretty important role none the less.

{New Commentary} Once I started to color her, her design changed a bit (most notably the sleeves).

I know the earlier bit makes it sound like she’ll only appear in the prologue, but she’ll be appearing a few more times before the comic ends…

Character Sketches – Leon

Character Sketches – Leon published on No Comments on Character Sketches – Leon

[For the hiatus, I’m going to be posting a bunch of the development art I made for the series. It’ll be posted in the order it was made, leading up to the week the comic resumes]

{Old Commentary} You’d think after all these years, I’d know how to draw my main kitty, but he’s still changing so much.

At least by this point, I actually have an idea of what his proportions are. I decided to make a stylistic choice where his eyes will always show up over his hat & hair. I like it. Looks more cartoony that way.

The poncho thing he’s wearing is something that may show up in chapter 2. The main body of it is planned to be orange, with a white stripe, bigger black stripe, and another white stripe. On the one hand, I want him to wear it so he’d feel like he’d fit in better with the Solarpunk setting, but on the other hand, the way he generally contrasts with the colorful world might help him stand out more visually. It’s something I’m gonna have to debate.

Also posing him is so fun. My smug little kitty.

{New Commentary} And he’s changed quite a bit since these sketches! He’s got more of a tummy (along with lots of smaller tweaks), and I’ve gotten better and understanding what he looks like in 3D space.

Leon has been a major character for me for over 10 years now. It still blows my mind. I can’t even imagine what he’ll look like by the time I’m finishing Key to the Future’s Fate!

Character Ask 1

Character Ask 1 published on No Comments on Character Ask 1

A new little something I made for the hiatus! I’m allowing people to ask questions to me and the characters, and this was the first one I got. It’s from the maker of the webcomic Vulperra!

I’ve had lots of inspirations come and go, but the first one that got me into webcomics specifically was VG Cats. However, while that did inspire the creation of Leon and Melody (they were originally modeled after Leo and Aeris), the style of humor and writing is much more in-line with Calvin and Hobbes/the other inspirations listed here.

Character Sketches – Luca

Character Sketches – Luca published on 1 Comment on Character Sketches – Luca

[For the hiatus, I’m going to be posting a bunch of the development art I made for the series. It’ll be posted in the order it was made, leading up to the week the comic resumes]

{ORIGINAL COMMENTARY} My first sketches of my character Luca from Key to the Future’s Fate. By this point I didn’t have her personality as nailed down, so I mostly focused on having her look nice.

Though it probably won’t come up in the comic, she has a heart-shaped marking on her chest!

(The white squares are unrelated Friday Fan-Art pieces I did. This was made back when those shared the same pages as my KttFF sketch stuff.)

—

{NEW COMMENTARY} Honestly this was more just practice drawing Tecktrins more than Luca specifically. The middle drawing is the closest thing to her “final look” I got, and even that’s off. Very glad I went with the goggle design.

Character Sketches – Trinity

Character Sketches – Trinity published on No Comments on Character Sketches – Trinity

[For the hiatus, I’m going to be posting a bunch of the development art I made for the series. It’ll be posted in the order it was made, leading up to the week the comic resumes]

{Original Commentary} My very first ever sketches of Trinity Shepard, from Key to the Future’s Fate. I was going for someone hecka tall who tends to do alot of expressing with her hands.

(The white blocks are unrelated Friday Fan-Art things. This was back when I used the same pages for that and my KttFF sketches.)

—

{New Commentary} Wow… so my original concepts for Trinity weren’t… the best. It took another page of sketching later on to get a more solid grasp on her design… and even then, she changed a lot once she got into the comic!

Even as of writing this, she’s still a character whose proportions I struggle with at times, but she still remains one of my absolute favorite characters to draw.

… Man I wish I had keep that DNA segment decal on the back of FA scientist’s lab coats.

Page 116

Page 116 published on 2 Comments on Page 116

Huh… didn’t we see a red brick somewhere before…?

AND HERE WE GO, the official end for Chapter 1 of Key to the Future’s Fate! I’ve been working rigorously to keep this comic updating nearly EVERY WEEK for about two and a half years, so I need a break. The comic is going to be on hiatus until April 9th, 2020 so I can relax a bit and prepare for chapter 2!

This article I posted in the Comicadia Herald will give you the full scoop on the plan for the hiatus, but the short version is:

  • I’ll be posting development stuff from the first chapter during the break, as well as any submitted guest art! If you want to submit guest art, contact me on Tumblr (@catcomixzstudios), Twitter (@CatComixStudios), deviantART (@CatComixzStudios), or if you know me personally, over Discord! You can submit art until April 2020.
  • From chapter 2 onward, the comic is going to be done digitally.
  • If you want to ask the characters any (family-appropriate) questions, send them over to any of the above-mentioned places! Questions will be accepted until April 2020.

And please, if you’ve been enjoying the comic, TELL OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT IT! Word of mouth will always be the most effective way of sharing stories you love, and it would mean the world to me if you did!

Oh, also, if you’re reading this from the future, congrats on not having to deal with the hiatus and being able to just move right along. Click next as usual if you want to check out the development sketches I made for the series before this chapter. Otherwise, if you’d like to continue with the story, here’s a link to Page 117; the start of Chapter 2!