100 ARAW ng KOMIKS: Karma says “NO” to smoking(?)

Did you know/notice?

The very first sketch I made of Karma’s characters had Dominic smoking a cigarette. I’m not exactly sure why I did that, but it could be because my dad smokes?

However, This aspect was later removed because I felt guilty about telling the kids that angels smoke. x.x;;;

There is further evidence of Dominic’s “habbit” in the last page of Chapter 1 (page 9 in the manga section), where Dominic is apologizes to Reign about being late and later complains about having to take his client home! He wasn’t adjusting his glasses in that panel, he’s actually holding an invisible cigarette to his lips! xD;;;

On another note, I need to stop writing these at 3 in the morning. *u*;;;

100 ARAW ng KOMIKS: Karma’s Chapter 1 Characters

Did You Know?

Fact 1: Karma’s characters are not original to the series. In fact, they are a form of doujinshi or “fan comic” of my own work. Just as Chapter 2 is a doujin of A.illusions, so is Chapter 1 a doujin of my first novel, “Guardians of Celestia”, which was supposed to be my first manga. It was later renamed “Vanguards of Heaven” for my college thesis, but never made it past the first installment.

Fact 2: Cecila Marx’s personality and appearance are based on a real person that I had unfortunately encountered. Her hairstyle was tweaked so that I wouldn’t get in trouble if she ever found this comic! xD;;; Her name was changed dramatically for the same reasons.

Fact 3: Cecilia is the only character who has not appeared in the first installment of Guardians of Celestia. However, she was set to appear as the college dean in the second installment; a fact that could change if Guardians of Celestia rises from the ashes.

Fact 4: Julian Angeles, Dominic Hunter, and Reign Shuei’s real names are Julian Lee, Sean Allen Kreuz, and Sean Vincent Kreuz respectively. Their appearances remain the same in Guardians of Celestia, with the exception of Dominic who has a long braid as Sean Allen.

Fact 5: Dominic and Reign are brethrens (brothers not related by blood) in Karma. However, Sean Allen and Sean Vincent are identical twins of the Kreuz Family.

Fact 6: Sean Vincent Kreuz’s personality makes a complete turnabout as Reign Shuei. He is kinder, happier, and more approachable as Sean Vincent, whereas he is cold and distant as Reign.

Fact 7: Dominic’s representation of Fire and Reign’s representation of Water have the same significance as Sean Allen and Sean Vincent in the original series.

Fact 8: Christine Angeles is loosely based on the younger version of Claire Angela Lee, another character from Guardians of Celestia. One of the main differences are their eyes; Christine’s are green while Claire’s are brown. Christine’s bangs are also parted in the middle, while Claire has full bangs.

Fact 9: Christine and Julian are siblings in Karma, which is the pretty much the same with Claire and Julian in Guardians of Celestia.

Fact 10: The events in Karma Chapter 1 holds certain secrets to the first installment of Guardians of Celestia.

Mist: Interlude

I could tell you why I drew this and what exactly is happening in this scene…

But, some things are better when left in the eyes of the beholder.

What do you think is going on? *^_^*

Mist Preview?

Not quite! This was supposed to be a sketch of how magic works in Mist… B-but somehow, it ended up like this. ;x; It’s like I can’t post work that isn’t properly inked anymore.

In a way, I guess it is a manga preview, since this is how I will be “toning” my pages.

So much work to do for this series… *yawn~* Time to get some sleep.

Prey and Predator

Just thought I should add this in my gallery now that they're been approved by the boss~ Because he is a stagwolf, I thought I should draw my inner artist in the form of a bunny.

Ok, that’s a lie. I actually asked around to see what animal people associate me with. I was hoping for something cool like… I dunno, a tiger or lioness?

However, most seem to think I am just as scary as a bunny rabbit. ;_; Why why why… Now my boss will eat me. ;o; And look! I am shorter than he is too! T-this is very bad. ;~; I don’t want to be eaten!

100 ARAW ng KOMIKS: The Beginnings of “Karma”

As part of the ongoing 100 Araw ng Komiks (100 Days of Comics) campaign to promote Philippine Comics, I would like to talk about my very first attempt with manga, “Karma”.

Karma was a story that came from a horrible experience. During my third year in Fine Arts, our professor was angry with another class, and decided that she would fail our class’ final grades. I was striving for the honor role, and getting the lowest passing mark from her class would have landed me a Cum Laude at least, but alas, her mind was made up, and with it my dreams of ever being in the honor role.

That summer, still angry with what had occurred, I picked up the latest issue of Culture Crash, which was calling for entries for one-shot comics, 8 pages long. My initial thought was “that’s impossible! How can a story start and end in 8 pages?” But I decided I needed to take my mind off of my professor and my school work, and this was the best way to focus on my real dreams: to become a comic book artist.

This was in 2003, and I didn’t own a computer then, but that didn’t stop me from trying! And so, Karma was created; drawn in oslo paper, inked with UniPins, lettered in the same way, and colored with watercolors. I was warned that watercolors are one of the hardest media to master, but the soft shades were all I needed to create the effect I wanted.

Sadly, perhaps thanks to my constant pestering in the CCCom Office, Karma was never chosen to be part of the historic comic-magazine. However, in 2008, I decided that hey, this is my first work, and I am still proud of it, so I might as well post it online.

I translated the original Tagalog script to English to cater to the international audience. Although the current version’s computerized lettering looks… terrifying… it is still a learning experience! And now that Chapter 2 is currently being worked on, I plan on re-drawing Chapter 1 and expanding it so that the story makes a little more sense!

That’s it for now! Come back tomorrow and I will tell you more about the characters and some random trivia about the series!

bunny-hiko

bunny-hiko by *kurohiko on deviantART

As part of my duties in Mist, I had to come up with a chibi me for the “About” section in the site. I’ve also drawn Nilo already, but I will save that for another post. :)

In other news, I can’t seem to upload my drawing process on Colors! I need to figure out why before I add Claude in the gallery. ^^;

I need so much sleep and time and coffee…

DS: Claude Faustus

Requested by ~Yoshitsony (´▽`o)

I can't upload in the Colors Gallery, not sure why. Maybe the file is too big. *_* I will link the drawing process when it uploads successfully.

Yes, this was drawn on my NDS. (* ^ ω ^) He looks like a much younger Claude. ( 〃▽〃) I should have used a reference!

- kurohiko (dA 2011)