For my second “major” and “core” assignment for my Drawing and Imaging course, I had to create a comic or cartoon featuring the movement of figures as well as a sense of plot, storyline, and conflict. My cartoon also had to demonstrate artistic competence as well as attention to detail, shading, form, value, perspective, and general realism. I used woodless graphite pencils and papers, as well as Photoshop to enhance the quality of my drawings and to refine some of the finer and softer lines after I was done with the six pages that comprised my comic. Since my professor made the assignment very open, we could use whatever materials we wanted and make the comic about anything we wanted.
My comic is called “Steam Heroes” and is very much inspired by the steampunk science fiction genre. It is thematically a mash-up of steampunk, post-apocalyptic, urban, and dystopian fiction, taking place in a post-apocalyptic world that experienced a regression in technological development as a result of a solar “Flare” that was so powerful it incapacitated and fried the world’s developed countries, and killed millions of peoples worldwide… or so we are told at the beginning of the comic.
Plot-wise, the comic takes place several decades after the “Flare”, in a world where the survivors were forced to adapt following the disaster. Amidst the chaos and the barbaric splitting of the world’s major powers into nation-states ruled by insane, radical warlords, one man called Dimeanor rises above them to restore order and justice in the world. He forms the supernation Vittoria, where several people desperate for salvation and peace migrate to, and ushers in the Age of Steam in a world permanently stuck in the 18th and 19th century. As Dimeanor rises in power, it is implied that perhaps the legend of the “Flare” might not be as true as we are led to believe. More mysteries surround Dimeanor due to his enigmatic personality and his unwillingness to remove his mask at any time in front of his servants and loyal inferiors– leading many to question throughout the comic the man’s identity. And what of Vittoria itself– what was it prior to the “Flare”– why is its history seemingly nonexistent before the “Flare”? What could Dimeanor be hiding from others about where he came from, who he is, and what he plans to do? What of the mysterious Knights of Techplar, and their underground operations and their association with the “Old World”, and their animosity towards Emperor Dimeanor? Read the comic to find out :). Enjoy!
Below are all the pages of the comic and my initial ideas and sketches prior to creating the comic:
Steam Heroes Sketch 1
Steam Heroes Sketch 2
Steam Heroes Page 1
Steam Heroes Page 2
Steam Heroes Page 3
Steam Heroes Page 4
Steam Heroes Page 5
Steam Heroes Page 6
