Matthew 5:6
Good old Matt, this verse fits Astrid and her monster friend so well, I think. The blog has been abandoned since quite some time, and for those who were wondering what I'm up to these days, here's a reminder. Those who still don't know, there's a wonderful kickstarter project which I feel proud to be part as a colorist. It's a comic called “The Shepherd” by Nathan "Dandy" Sage and Ron Joseph.
Inks by talented Jake Isenberg I forgot to mention!
The story follows Astrid, a young tribal shepherd on a distant planet, who comes across a wounded monster long thought extinct, with a band of maniacal poachers not far behind. As these larger-than-life forces descend upon her, Astrid must draw from all that is within her to get out alive.
The Thanacht beast... handsome guy, ey?
So I'll tell you a bit about how was I involved in such a journey, a-hem!
There was I, lurking on penciljack forums when Fabián -my hubby- pointed out a post that seemed interesting. "Send some samples, maybe you catch something!" he said. And after a while, on October of 2013 to be precise, Nathan e-mails me telling me bits of the story and requiring a color test. He sent later a sketch of Rul -the antagonist of the story- so I can do the color. Here I go, stroking, de-stroking again and again till I get satisfied. I don't like to brag, but the sketchlines made by Ron looked fairly nice with my color.
"I think this will do." I said.
But noooo! A while after sending the color sample, Nathan tells me he and Ron would better go with another artist. Boo-hoo! TTnTT I went to the corner and cried on my cat's shoulder. Later on, I worked on a wonderful children e-book called "What NOT to do at a Wedding" by Francesca and Maria Teresa Sarraga. I had great fun while illustrating this, it is such a cute and funny story!
It turned out that this book it's right now on one of the best sellers lists from
Almost three months passed when Nathan contacted me again, by that time I totally forgot about "The Shepherd" position, between work submissions and art commissions. "Hey Zoey! Wanna give a shot with this cover? I'll pay you!" and I was like "Dude, who are you?" He sent the cover with color notes and I suggested the thanacht should be in the shadows while Astrid should have a heavenly light beam upon her.
Everything was alright... after five attempts of light direction. Nathan and I had a funny skype chat while creating the color cover late that night -I should've charged him $10 bucks per each correction!- it was amazing how fast we get along! Needless to say how cool it was to meet the rest of the team! Nathan, Ron, Jake and I made click right away. I almost felt bad I lived too far away from the team.
Later on, Nathan asked me to color this beautiful double spread of Astrid leading her ghazals throughout a vast field. After given color directions, I asked if the light should be like dawn or midday, Nathan called it "Midday, ok, GO!" And it started with Ron like this:
To the marvelous inks of Jake:
Look at him go, by the way! Then, the "final" color!
Right after that, Nathan asked for a skipe AUDIO call. I nearly spit out my coffee all over my laptop. "What does this means? Is he happy with the results? Or is he going to tell me I suck and I should die of cat lice?!" I objected saying my engrish was "impossibiru". Nathan insisted. Oh God. This can't be right. My heart was beating fast, as I realized I would spoil everything with bad spoken english!
So, skype is on, and in the other side I hear Nathan's voice for the first time:
"Hey Zoey! It's so nice to hear you, you're doing a great job! But you know, the lighting... should be as if it were dawn. I know I said midday... I-I-I-I-I...!" and he begans stutter as if he was possesed!
"Dawn." I said, hands on my mouth, trying to hide the deep breath I was taking.
"I-I-I'm so sorry! I'm sorry Zoey!" and by God, Nathan Sage sounded convincingly sorry! My husband was all giggles behind me, very amused. I tried to fight the impulse of replying "Me no understand. I work. You pay!" with chinese accent, but I had to calm down that man!
"Don't worry, Nathan! Tell me what you need in a list and I'll do it!" we called it a night, and the next morning he e-mailed me all the color requirements. So after three or four tweaks, the double spread came out like this
This is a wonderful story, Ron and Jake are ready like race horses to do an amazing job and I want to color it! The Shepherd is an epic tale worth telling! Please, go to the Kickstarter and check out the pitch video and support us on these final days. YOU. WON'T. REGRET IT!
