REKIRA - Promotional Work

I proudly present, the newly updated design for Rekira, to be used in my comic!

This pencil sketch was drawn on the morning of December 28 (the 2nd Anniversary of my grandmother's passing), while I was on vacation in the Outer Banks. It's the same design I had last time, but this time, I simplified the arms and legs, removing their yellow markings. I also reintroduced the padding into the talons (along with the already-added paws and webs).

As I learned especially from superhero designs, simpler designs have more appeal. Look at the original costumes of Spider-Man, Green Lantern, and Captain America, for example, from the classic comics, and compare them to their upcoming movie counterparts! Yes, they look very cool and detailed, although they're waaaaay too busy! Can you picture a little kid trying to copy these designs? Even an adult artist will need reference material at all times! So it's a good idea to start Rekira off with a fairly simplified design.

And let's face it, even Godzilla's design is so basic that it's both appealing and iconic! Thus, the designs of Godzilla's many adversaries are a metaphorical challenge to his own appeal and set a sort of contrast, as a basic-looking monster fights other monsters of contrasting designs that range from equally simple (Angilas, Rodan, Mothra - monsters he was often sided with), to borderline complex (King Ghidorah, Gigan) to complex (Mechagodzilla, Destroyah). So imagine how Rekira's own foes would look in contrast to him!

On January 30 (2 nights ago!), I did an inking/coloring test on Flash, using my Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet, and it turned out just as I expected!

I am very happy with the test, and you will certainly see Rekira looking like this in the comics, which I am currently storyboarding! I hope to maintain this level of simplicity to keep a consistent deadline.

I also played with doing a B&W version:

I really like how it came out! I can imagine how I'd have to do the comic in B&W.

Here are three promo images (all finished just last night), using the new design:

English:

Japanese - Type A (Horizontal Lettering):

Japanese - Type B (Vertical Right-to-Left Lettering):

More updates as the project develops!

Happy New Year - 2011!

To ring in 2011, here's the traditional last drawing I did of 2010, while on vacation in the Outer Banks, on New Year's Eve (about an hour before the new year):

Displayed in this pencil sketch are Rekira and Lily Merriweather, waving goodbye for the end of 2010.

And below is the first sketch I did on the evening of New Year's Day (another tradition). It was started on at about 11:30 PM (Mom and I had gotten back home from the Outer Banks during the day), and I was very busy for much of the day, so it was a half-hour sketch!

April 23rd of this year will be the 20th Anniversary of the creation of Rekira (as I discussed in a past post), and I am, at this moment, preparing the first issue for this year, in commemoration!

The bottom half of this pencil sketch has little headshots of characters who have anniversaries this year! In case you don't know, there's (top row, left to right) Ultraman, Kanegon (from Ultra Q), Masked Rider, Spectreman, and Silver Mask. Between first and second row is Ambassador Magma (Goldar). Second row is Mothra, Astro-Boy, Hedorah, and Mirrorman. And in the third row are Batman and Mr. Spock. I could've sketched more, but I was running out of time!