Whew! I’ve been busy-ish today. My class this morning got out after only 1 hour, teacher had to go somewhere, so I came home, took a quick nap and then got to work. I’ve finished laying out the prologue and am working on inking. I’ve also figured out how to fix most of my resolution/printing problems, now that I’ve realized that all the previous pages were done a bit too low-res (sigh).

Continuing the introduction of the 6 main characters:

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Name: Noberu Weaver
Wonderkind Power: Elementalist (Lightning/Electricity)
Class: Year 2
Noberu is both the class clown/goof-off and the star athlete. He’s nearly mastered all major techniques of his Element already, and though he doesn’t seek out conflict, he’s more than a match for most challengers. His easygoing, laid back nature sometimes frustrates those who have to struggle and work hard to make progress on their own. Noberu is friendly, charismatic and popular with his classmates, especially girls, but doesn’t let it go to his head. If he has a weakness, it’s academics. He’s prone to sleeping in class and is often late (fashionably, of course). Unlike many young Wonderkind, Noberu does not come from a wealthy family or Wonderkind clan. Being anything but uptight, Noberu wears his uniform shirt unbuttoned and untucked, with extra baggy pants. Noberu usually appears to be entirely unaware of Tanya’s affection for him.

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Name: Tanya
Wonderkind Power: Manifestation* (Specialty: Flight)
Class: Year 3
Tanya is a bit of a wild child. Boy crazy, flirtatious, boisterous, and confident, she is well-known among her classmates. She makes no secret of her love for Noberu, whom she contantly pursues. Despite her wildness, she is studious, participates in many organized student activities, and often works as a teacher’s aid, among other things. Being very active and social, she is privy to all the gossip and rumors around town. The few things she doesn’t know about inspire great curiosity, giving her a reputation among her friends as someone who constantly has her nose in someone else’s business. Tanya and Maddie bicker back and forth a lot. She shows her softer side when she takes the shy 1st year student Chiori under her wing. Tanya wears large droopy socks and her shirt untucked, and usually partially unbuttoned as well. Being a 3rd year, her uniform is green.

*Manifestation is a type of power in which raw energy is concentrated and formed into something of use to the user. Examples include wings for flight, weapons, armor of some kind, or a raw energy pulse. This power requires an intimate connection with and understanding of one’s own internal energy flow in order to conjure up enough power while maintaining the concentration required to direct the form the energy takes. This differs from Elementalists, for whom the form of the energy is chosen by the Element they use.

As we all know, school uniforms are an integral and essential part of any school-based story, whether it be a novel, manga, game/visual novel/eroge, anime, or something else. Ever since I first began coming up with the concept for The Wonderkind story, the only constant in the uniform design has been the general color scheme: green, blue and white, along with an abundance of stripes. Other than that, pretty much everything has gone through a gauntlet of change. Yesterday I finally sat down and started hammering out the final design, which is good, because provided I keep working on the comic, I’ll need to have the designs worked out a few pages from where I am now. All this design progress has come at the expense of valuable time which I should be spending on my presentation for History of Graphic Design.

Anyway, for this and the next 2 entries, I shall introduce 2 Wonderkind characters with brief descriptions. First up, the “main” characters, Athen and Maddie.

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Name: Athen
Wonderkind Power: Double Elementalist (Fire + Water)
Class: Year 2
Athen is the “main” main character. He joined Year 2 despite not having completed Year 1 because he was enough advanced, however, he’s unaccustomed to life in a school for Wonderkind. Accessories aside, Athen wears his uniform pretty much according to standard dress code, with no modification.

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Name: Madeline “Maddie” Wehr
Wonderkind Power: General Telekinesis, “Black” Magic
Class: Year 2
Maddie is the heroine, more or less. She comes from a wealthy family and is very outgoing, and also a little mischievous. She also wears her uniform according to standard dress code, probably out of obligation stemming from her involvement in student government.

Yeah… I know, I suck. I really have been busy, I promise! There’s been much to do for school, what with presentations, assignments, projects, and exams. Plus, I’ve been trying to make more progress on the comic. Still won’t be able to say for sure what will come of it, but I can say I’m enjoying the work, and it’s quite challenging. Many of the locations, angles, poses and other things I’m having to draw are things I wouldn’t normally attempt. They slow me down a bit, but it’s good experience. I feel like I’m filling in more of the gaps in my skillset. Anyway, I’m sorry for the lack of updates. There hasn’t been much blog writing, sketch submitting, video showing, or adding of finished art to the gallery in a while. I can’t say when that will change, what with school and finals and A-Kon coming up (I got a table! Yay!), but at least be assured I am doing stuff =) Rather than just lumping around all day.

Ah, once again I’ve let this site sit idle for too long. School has been keeping my busier than usual, and I’ve been working on a few things on the side:

Yes, I finally started The Wonderkind comic. And by “started”, I mean I’ve done 3 pages 8D but those three pages (along with a TON of planning and concept-izing), were all done over the course of one Saturday afternoon and a couple hours today, so I’d say that’s not bad! For me, that is.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed about still possibly getting a table at A-Kon’s artist alley this year, while simultaneously kicking myself for missing my chance. I sure wish I knew where I was one the waiting list…