Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Finding Gossamyr Variant Cover


It has been a while since I've posted artwork that isn't Wormworld Saga related. Today I want to show you one of the very few freelance jobs that I've worked on in the last 12 months. When David Rodriguez contacted me to commission a variant cover for the first issue of "Finding Gossamyr" I was hestitant at first. A job like that was going to take several evenings for me to finish and take away from my Wormworld Saga time. However, when I had a look at the story I knew that I wouldn't be ableto turn down the job.

"Finding Gossamyr" tells the story of autistic boy genius Denny and his caretaking sister Jenna. In order to get a scholarship at a renowned institute, Denny is challenged to advance the solution of an ancient theorem which has never been solved. The theorem happens to be the key to a dimensional portal behind which an evil empire awaits to enslave any civilization that is foolish enough to open it. In order to prevend a catastrophy, Denny and Jenna have to travel to Gossamyr, a fantastic world in which math unleashes magic and where Denny hence becomes incredibly powerful.

David Rodriguez' writing is sensible and the story is well paced. The autistic little boy and his overstrained sister are great characters and the first issue leaves you wanting more. I'm a big fan of Sarah Ellerton's artwork which is very painterly and makes great use of the dramatic qualities of light. Sarah was among the first fellow web comic authors who sent readers over to the Wormworld Saga (from Phoenix Requiem) when the first chapter was published and I'm very happy to be able to contribute to this extraordinary comic project that is "Finding Gossamyr". If you like the Wormworld Saga you will definitely enjoy it.

And if you are into collecting comics and also happen to be attending San Diego Comic Con, go and visit Th3rd World Studios at table M-13 in the Small Press Section. They'll have about 20 issues of "Finding Gossamyr" with my variant cover over there and I was told that there exists a total of only 100 issues of it. So, get one as long as they are available!

To wrap things up, here are my initial color sketch and the preliminary drawing of the artwork:



4 comments:

  1. Nicely done! Do you find it hard to switch gears from something you are so deeply into to doing something out side of that? I could imagine it could be kind of refreshing in a way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It definitely is refreshing, yes. However, "Finding Gossamyr" shares a lot of characteristics with the Wormworld Saga so it did't mean to switch gears completely. I guess I'd really like to try to do something completely different at the side. Since years I'm thinking about doing something inspired by H.P. Lovecraft for example. I have no idea if I will ever have the chance to do that anytime soon but I would definitely enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That sounds like it could be pretty cool actually. And maybe just breaking away to just conceptualize stuff not even a story really yet just some doodling is enough to help break the day to day on working on the same thing.

    I don't know if you ever played it, but one of my favorite worlds was from the game Final Fantasy 6. As far as types of genres or styles go I think it would be interesting to see a bit more of that steam punk style. It's not exactly steam punk but the mix of fantasy with not so advanced technology. I don't know how to explain it well haha, maybe Ill just have to draw it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. So... a link to where to buy this thing, like... anywhere, would be nice. All I can find are great reviews and the free comic book day issue.

    ReplyDelete