3-20 A Fresh Soul
Friday, October 12th, 2007– Commentary –
Craig: So when J.D. and I were figuring out who Rex’s lieutenants would be — that is, the ones in the know, as opposed to Hal’s group — we decided that he would have three. One is Argaddon, whom we met last week, and one we haven’t met yet.
J.D.: And the third is this creepy lady.
Craig: I knew that I wanted one of his lieutenants to be female and creepy, but I wasn’t quite sure what kind of creepy I wanted. Should she be like some kind of witch, or a frightning warrior, or some goth? I was quite surprised at what lept out of my pencil.
J.D.: I thought she was intruiging, and immediately started conceiving of who she was, independent of Rex.
Craig: After some brainstorming and discussion, we came to realize what manner of creature she is, why she wears a mask, and what her relationship with Rex is. In fact, it ties in very nicely with some of the clues we’ve dropped as early as the prologue… but I guess that’s all I can say about that for now.
J.D.: Since we’re going to see her again later.
J.D.: I had fun painting her. It’s very easy to work with large masses of one color, as opposed to Argaddon with all of his hair. He’s interesting to work on in his own right, but he’s not easy and he takes a while. Her hair was another story.
Craig: I’ve been doing a lot of studying to try and improve my art skill. One method of drawing hair suggests that one draws it as though hundreds of ribbons were springing from the character’s head. I tried this method with the masked girl and found it to be very effective, if time-consuming. It gives her a very distinct look.
J.D.: Especially because no one else has hair like that in the comic.
Craig: I love working on Penance because it gives me the opportunity to practice and try new things, and also to work on a really big story. There’s a tension, though, between experimenting with new styles and methods, and maintaining artistic consistency in the comic.
J.D.: Well, when I go back to the prologue, I can see immediately how much you’ve improved since then, without losing the recognizability of the characters.
Craig: I’m glad. I feel like my artwork still has a very long way to go.
October 12th, 2007 at 1:14 am
Wicked.
October 12th, 2007 at 9:10 am
The girl reminds me of Vega from the Street Fighter series (well, Vega in the US version — the mask wearing matador).
Layne
October 12th, 2007 at 11:00 am
The woman with the mask… reminds me of the lover of Lucifer, in the Sandman series (Neil Gaiman rocks!)… In that serie, Lucifer has a kind of lover who has a mask covering half of the face (the one which is rotten; just bones).
October 12th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Ah, those were good old days 🙂
I thought Vega was supposed to be male though?
Gosh, this comic has twisted darkly, rock on :p
October 12th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Wow. Um…uh…wow.
Right. Other thoughts…chicky girl has purple eyes, yet she’s obviously thinking for herself at least in some way. Also interesting that she doesn’t *ahem* physically have any resemblance to a half-breed of any sort. I’m just as curious *what* she is as *who* she is.
October 12th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
…oh, and “holy men disagree with me.” Heh. Well done, really.
October 12th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
The mask covering her face could hide features that show the she is a half breed. I don’t think we know enough to know whether or not she is one.
October 13th, 2007 at 3:02 am
OMG! It’s Leia’s evil twin sister!
October 13th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Rex’s eyes are missing their purple hue.
Maybe Mask-lady gets her eyes from the same place Rex gets his?
October 18th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Now that is a very interesting suggestion Jason. I hadn’t even thought that could be a possibility.