Open Desert - Supporting Cast

Here's part 3 of my posts about a pitch Project I'm working on atm. I'm simultaneously working on a bunch of different projects, including several NEW pitch projects, the first Transpose Operator Graphic novel, setting up my second webcomic, working on commissions and a ton of other things.

Anyway! Back to Open Desert- this is part 3 which is about the supporting cast and notes about how the pages are planned.


SEIF: The leader of a band of desert nomads, he's a strong leader with an upbeat personality. Feena and the others meet his tribe by chance after escaping the prison. He leaves a strong impression on the three of them, his aid saves their lives and makes them start questioning the way they view themselves. Originally Seif was a bigger player, but having 4 main characters was overload, and I actually like him way better in a back-up capacity.

Man is this concept sketch rough, I'm not really pleased with his outfit in this, but I think it's given me a good start. Originally Seif had an eye-patch  but lucky for him I decided to give him both of his eyes as a final design decision.

Above we have Deemer, Anokee, and Hastor.

DEEMER: The head prison guard at the labor camp, he's a smart and brutal man. He's able to catch onto the fact that Feena and the others are planning something but he's not sure what. He makes it a point to keep an eye on them, and punishes them whenever there's even the slightest opportunity to do so. He's the 'villain' for the first part of our main character's journey.

ANOKEE: She's a knowledgeable sage of sorts and the matriarch of a small village of spiritualists who have taken up residence in an ancient abandoned city. She welcomes Feena and the others into her village, and her influence pushes them to make some hard decisions  The Anokee arc is about halfway through the story and I'm really excited about depicting where Anokee and her people live because not only is it an ancient abandoned city, but it's a half submerged abandoned city. Since the planet is mostly a desert it's kind of a big deal. This arc is also my biggest motivator to do the story in color because I know it would be awesome in color.

HASTOR: The main antagonist of the story, he shows up really early on but waits to make his move. His goals and motivations are very secretive, and as you might guess, he is not a nice guy. He's extremely underhanded and sneaky, often getting others to do his dirty work. His involvement in the final arc is a major game changer for everyone.

I was messing around with the idea of having a prologue to 'Open Desert', but I'm still not completely sold on it. I think I would have to thumbnail and script the entire thing to be sure about how necessary it would be. Below is my first attempt at it.

I like the concept of having a prologue. I think this sets up the situation and Feena and Nalo's relationship pretty well, but again I would have to plan everything out to be sure this was the best way to start the story.

And that's the end of part 3! I'll be revisiting this story at a later date, and posting some of the original art I did for it later this year.