Shadow and light

 This version of the Repeat Offenders focuses on shadow and light.  Also the twisting of the torso is more prominent to display more action in the characters.

Film Noir Offenders

Changed my method in sketching the Repeat Offenders.  First, I created the line drawing then applied grayscale by deducting white spaces from the layer.  This allows shadows and light to be created first before I applied the color.

Offenders, mainlander villains

The mainlander villains resemble ICE agents who herd and terrorize islanders.  Their faces are masked, and they are heavily armed.  The insignia on their sleeves resemble a faded American flag with the star emblem completely washed out.

 

Offenders, character design

These are the designs for the characters in The Repeat Offenders, the Vamp, the Muscle, and the Whatever.  The horse is more defined in color as well as the scale of all three characters.

 

The Repeat Offenders

In 2025 I changed the concept of the Pearl Diver into a new super hero group called The Repeat Offenders.  It's a trio of heroes who go against a corrupt country and its denizens.  Its members are as follows, the Vamp, the Muscle, and the Whatever.

Damsel In Distress

These are the short drafts for The Repeat Offenders rescuing a damsel in distress.  I've fully recovered from shingles and am slowly working my way back to deliveries.

Repeat Offenders

Here's an Easter Sunday comic to celebrate the occasion.  The white borders were created in Sketchbook Pro. 

green solution

Here's a quick comic strip for Saint Paddy's Day to keep me in practice, while I wait to recover from singles.

Diver Noir

Am still on bed rest from shingles, but I managed to sketch a short strip of the diver in the style of Sin city.

DIVER 2024

Pearl Diver 2024, this is an impromptu comic that came to my mind on New Year's eve.  The white border makes a huge difference.

Ross Andru

Here is the diver again with a sample story of her tracking down killers.  The sketch is a homage to one of my favorite comic book illustrators, Ross Andru.  Andru worked on The Amazing Spiderman in the late seventies and is known for his use of foreshadowing to make his poses more dynamic.

Once again the sketch was started in sketchbook pro, first using the pencil pal to draw the foundation of the sketch then using the signature ink brush to darken and accentuate the lines.  Later a blend mode called glow was used to make the color of the diver less uniform. There's not much of a setting for the story just a lamp shade, a chair, and a door.  The objects, however, serve as a place holder for the characters.

This sketch has its share of mistakes that's worth noting.  First the panel right below the yellow arrow was mistakenly drawn from left to right (hence the need for an arrow.).  In the panel where the diver kicks the gunman her bikini bottom was mistakenly rendered in blue instead of grey.  The grey color of her bikini was supposed to transition to the grey color of her leg.  Another shortcoming for the sketch are the dialogue bubbles without the use of tails. Finding a quick method to draw the tails with the same width as the bubble is still a work in progress.

Once again the final sketch was composited in procreate.  First a similar blend mode called color dodge was used to replicate the initial blend mode from sketchbook pro, then a more vibrant color was achieved by adjusting the curves.

At this point in time the novella for the diver is now in its second draft.  Hopefully the story will come out more condensed and cohesive.

final image

Novella

Here are the preliminary sketches of the characters for a short novella for The Pearl Diver: Rupert, Amelia, the old storyteller, the diver, the rat, Torquemada, and Sancho.  The protagonists, antaggonists, and side characters are all roughly sketched out but still need work.  The essential outline for the story is already drafted, but not the dialogue.  Once the novella is finished, the graphic novel will come next.

character sketch