Between Worlds

It's been a while... I have been sketching a lot and working on the continuation of the comic, but I haven't produced much that is postable. Unless you like to see my scribbles. It does mean that I'll start posting layouts again soon, so there will be some more reading material for you :).

The picture above is my first ever A4-sized colour pencil illustration. Actually it started off as a sketch on a stray sheet of Bristol board, but when I'd done the face I liked it so much that I thought I had better turn it into a complete illustration. Because it wasn't at all planned, I improvised all the way. The main reason why this turned into a mysterious night scene is the falling star on the left. It wasn't a falling star. It was a few random lines to try out the feeling of my colour pencils on the sheet of paper. And I found I couldn't erase it. So I had to incorporate it into the picture somehow. Disenchanting, eh? XD

I really enjoyed working with colour pencils here, and Bristol board is the perfect carrier, as far as I am concerned - though I'll go for a heavier sheet in the future. However, I was also reminded why my original idea of doing the comic in this medium ultimately had to be discarded. It's so terribly time-consuming. I probably spent about ten hours on this, everything taken together. But it looks pretty :-).

I'm thinking now that I did something stupid buying Classicolor pencils. I love my Caran d'Ache and the colours are great - but they are water-soluble. At the time, I thought that was an advantage, but now I'm not so sure anymore. I probably should have bought Pablos rather than Classicolors...

As for Morgana, I'm thinking this more or less settles her look. You have seen her in purplish/grey and black habits, but I have settled for white. I like the idea of Morgana and her nuns as ghostly (white) Wise Women ("witte wieven", "weisse Frauen", "Dames Blanches"). These legendary beings have the same combined association with mischief and wisdom that I'm looking to give to Morgana. In the picture, she's also wearing the Celtic cross I found for her - not your classic Irish cross, but a continental one, because the Irish crosses that we know so well are really too recent (8th century+).

Finally, I had been thinking about how Morgana does her magic. Magic in my story is mostly organic - Morgana, Morgause and Ygraine make things happen just by being somewhere. Ygraine walks across a field and stuff starts to grow. Morgause ditto, and when she touches a wound, it heals. Morgana can kill with a touch. But she's powerful enough to do magic from a distance, as well. I don't want her to use spells, though, but a special gesture would be nice. Now, I was reading Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, in which wizards use the index and middle fingers of their right hands as a kind of conduit for their magical power. This gesture looks like a religious blessing in the West. Well, if that isn't perfect for my Morgana, I don't know what is :-). So here we are. Lots of stuff settled in one picture *g*.