In highschool, I took a creative writing class, hoping to refine some of my story ideas and turn them into viable plots. But I found that some things were easier to express in pictures than words so I’d fill the margins of my rough drafts with doodles, planning to return later and translate them into proper literature.
However, my instructor eventually realized that I was spending more time drawing in his class than writing and suggested that I pursue a career in the comic book industry. I wasn’t a big fan of comics (too much spandex!) but he introduced me to manga and I was blown away by the varieties of genre and art style. I was instantly hooked and started re-imagining several of my stories as full-fledged comics.
One of those stories, Sink, is a project I’ve been working on since that creative writing class almost eleven years ago. It takes place in a fictional cluster of islands off the coast of Venezuela shortly after the Golden Age of Piracy. It’s about a boy, Paolo, who wants to join the Spanish navy but is refused because of his father’s treason against the crown several years prior. Paolo sets out to clear his family’s name by locating and raising the sunken treasure ship Gloriana, whose demise his father was partially responsible for, and returning the haul to Spain. But he’ll need help from his estranged siblings, a pearl-diver, and a pirate (or twenty)– all of whom have their own agendas and shifting loyalties.
Here is a sketch of a few prominent characters from the first chapter: (Left to right) Paolo, Miri, and D'ego. These are their final designs but I'm still playing around with color, hence the lazy sepia wash.
This project has amassed reams of sketches and notes and has undergone so many plot changes that it’s not really even the same story I first wrote. But it’s finally reached a level I’m satisfied with and I want to start releasing pages by the end of this year. I’ll be posting some character designs, scenery sketches, and a bunch of random content from the comic over the next few months. I’d really like to get some feedback as these posts continue so that I can improve elements that need it and clarify issues that may be confusing. I’ll also be posting helpful comic-creating resources as I run across them and I’d love to hear from other artists who are tackling their own comic projects!
~Dalliann