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Welcome to the World
by Woodbee
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Timmain and her crew's descent to the planet of Two Moons is the pain all of us have felt, as our numinous visions and nascent inner worlds collide with harsh reality. Like them, we can suffer and struggle to maintain our integral selves as they were before ... or we can let our vision be diluted, polluted some would argue, by what we encounter, and learn from it - learning more about ourselves in the process. Which is more appealing, a pure untouchable dream or the rawness and complexity of life? Must we choose?
Posted June 17, 2025, 08:54:43 PM
Timmain, palace, strongest man, Kaslin, Gibra, first troll, Haken
Posted June 17, 2025, 08:54:43 PM
Timmain, palace, strongest man, Kaslin, Gibra, first troll, Haken
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| Sefra and Murrel | The Long Walk | Welcome to the World |
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Amberfox
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Comment #1 - Posted June 17, 2025, 09:25:42 PM
Very compelling! The description is even more so but captures what happened to and with the High Ones once on the World of Two Moons. Timmain is absolutely gorgeous in this, but I am definitely drawn to the group dynamic in the background! Love to see Gibra, Kaslen, and Haken, and their initial reaction to the events. Such effective poses, each for the personality of the characters. Great to see the firstcomer troll, of course saving the sparklies and...looks like a harp. Seems Timmain us already looking toward the future of this new world with the same determination and resolve you used for Timmorn in "The Long Walk." Perfectly matched illos!
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Marl
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Comment #2 - Posted June 17, 2025, 10:06:32 PM
AHHHH! Timmain looks so alien and beautiful at the same time! Your illustrations are so lovely! It is so cool to see them here
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Treefox
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Comment #3 - Posted June 18, 2025, 05:24:53 AM
AAAAGHHH! I can't handle the genius of this! Man, I can also agree that it's so so wonderdful how alien the Firstcomers look. So fragile and the way you painted that Opal on her forehead. *chef's kiss* Lover your description and love, love, love the whole concept of these covers. I always liked the stylish approach to the Father Tree Press covers. So, how do you achieve this look? Would you be willing to share some of your are secrets? Do you actually ink traditionally by hand? I'm so curious! But also just so happy that you are sharing this with us!
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Woodbee
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Comment #4 - Posted June 18, 2025, 07:43:12 AM
Process! Okay so:
First, sketches. I have a template I made, of the Father Tree cover design, so I know where the title will be and how big a circle I have to work with in the background. I sketch my whole design (in pencil) on a (physical, printed-off) copy of that, and gradually refine it: sometimes I do anatomical studies on another piece of paper so that I know how the body of the foreground character works beyond the page. Eventually, I have something clear enough to ink. I trace a clean copy to another piece of paper, then. Two pieces, actually. I've learned it's best to make the background circle separate from the foreground character. Much easier to color, resize and adjust positioning on the computer if they're separate layers. I ink the foreground character with a brush pen. I ink the background scene with a micron. Liner brush and nib pen would also work, but I'm working without a lot of studio space, so very contained ink (not open ink bottles) is the way to go. Once both are inked, I scan them into the computer and layer them on a copy of my cover template in Clip Studio. I resize, adjust, trim... and finally I start coloring. Big rectangle of just the background cover color first, with a circle cut out for the framed bit in a different color. On top of that, a layer with the basic color blocks of the background, then the background linework, then the color blocks of the foreground character, then the foreground linework. If I'm doing soft shading and gradients, those are another layer (or two). Once I have the color blocks, I'll refine them with cel-shading, and blend the cel shading into softer transitions where it seems appropriate as almost the last step. Last step for the artwork, I color the lines. Just lasso-tool and bucket fill, and usually pretty dark, dull colors, but it makes a huge difference. Then I draw up my title, drop that into the template Elfquest-and-circle layer on top of everything, and figure out what color I want that to be. To display, I make a copy of the big file, flatten, resize, and convert to png. |
Marl
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Comment #5 - Posted June 18, 2025, 12:59:37 PM
Woha, no wonder they look so loved. You work really embodies a lot of care.
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Treefox
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Comment #6 - Posted June 18, 2025, 02:29:20 PM
Oh thank you so much for taking the time to explain your creation process! Wow, that's fascinating and sounds like quite a lot of work indeed. I'm still blown away that you can ink like this... phenomenal. And with a brush pen to boot! Man, I am so so in love with these covers. So much thought and work... Just perfect.
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