Well, its been a long time since i last posted anything. I have been busy with work and life... i have done a great deal of drawing wich will be posted here shortly. I have focused a great deal of time into the novel. I am midway into chapter 5 and its going rather well. Also i have completed a great deal of updated concept art. well much more to come....

a icarus ruff done on the renfe train ride home.

here is a ruff Icarus I did on the train ride home. Its a bit femanine, somethingI wanted to capture.... but it was way more soft than intended. Take for granted it was on a long train ride home after work. But over all im happy with it. Im sure I will clean it up and take another shot at it.

Here are some old concepts of Icarus, who was originally gonna be called ANGEL. But then Josh came out with his Angel in BUFFY SOOOOOOO... At any rate I feel Icarus fits more in line with the character and his disposition. This character was co- created and helped along in development by the artistic SAVAN... if not for her I don't think he would have evolved into the character he is today.THANKS SAV!!

Later I went with the addition of the mask... the mask was inspired by my love of black mask lore...ZORRO, THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS,KATO, THE BROWN HORNET ETC... I also went with a bit of a take on the crazy 88 guys in Kill Bill, as Icarus and Giests agents are yakuza/ mob styled gangsters who sport that masked look too. That I will keep bc QT was inspired in the same way. So deal with it...I plan to do some concept work for them soon as well.

ANTI HEROIC TRIO

This is a concept image, that leaned pretty close to the final view of the main three cast members.This was meant to show the general idea and i like how the glowing tattoos came off on Quan Lee.That was something that I was pretty sure on. The mask would have the same effect on the tribal markings that do not appear on this version. These are kind of the trademark icons to my similar to Batman's bat or Superman's S.

The Chaos blade which is his huge sword will play a major part in the story as well, but I'm pretty sure this is the not the final version of the sword. I still really like the sword, its just not what I had in mind completely.

Icarus comes off well too, showing his elements... the domino mask,red coat and magic card. and finally Old man Giest. At this point we were still trying to sort him out. I kept coming back to him as this Ming The Merciless looking guy. In my early concepts i saw him as this wise master type more commonly seen in the Shaw Bros flicks. there may be a few more attempts on this look but i think we ended up adding some dark ends to his hair giving him a more salt n pepper look... in my mind now I see him more as an older man of Mediterranean decent, which plays more to the characters magic prowess and class as a sorcerer. All in all I was just planing to abandon some of the more stereotypical roles. I'm sure living in Spain has helped open my eyes to a wealth of new material to work from.

Given all that i would say this image is a fair representation of the final versions of QUAN, ICARUS, and GIEST

Quan Lee and the Leviathan. the concept changes

SO... to start the new year I wanted to start with new things.I wanted to show the process and kinda explain some of the craziness I have created here with the world of Black Water . In the near futureI will give a further explanation of who and what the leviathan and Quan lee are... but for now I want to focus on the idea of what i wanted. For starters. Quan Lee is an immortal who plays host to a symbiotic titan, the Leviathan. for majority of the story I will use the leviathan in a more symbolic way, or used as a more smokey aspiration. I wanted to hint at the idea of something being there... but not clearly there. I think I will use the image of the leviathan in Quans shadow or in reflections.

The other thing I want to show is evolution. Quan as a whole will just becoming accustomed to this power that he has and what effects it has on him. when he taps into the power of the leviathan he is covered in thin film of black that acts much as a second skin. a second skin able to withstand sniper shots and fully automatic gun fire. I would say he is nigh invulnerable. I like that he cant actually be killed by conventional weapons, but they do hurt like a bitch and hinder him if he is kept under constant assault. So to combat that I have given him a basic vest like top. In my mind its like ultra thin bullet proof vest but not so much for stopping the bullets as to not be running around shirtless like its the 80´s. He is usually wearing jeans or cargo's, boots and a Jersey or some other t shirt. since he will have to come into his magical abilities he will actually have to put on the vest which is normally kept in the trunk of the car along with a duffel bag of goodies.
The coat will come into play about half way into the 1st arc. The coat, in may ways IS the leviathan. It is woven from the manes of kirins, royal lions, and dragons. Then its maker added in several magical spells giving the jacket an array of abilities that feed from the leviathans powers, making the jacket useless to any one else but the leviathans host. For years I was toying with the idea of how the Leviathan as a hero, or rather anti hero would look. We went back and forth on it for a long long time.we thought that maybe it was a mask and then maybe it was his actual face that transformed. It ultimately came down to if it was a physical mask like the vest or if it was just more manifestations of the leviathan like the second skin.

In the end the manifestation idea won. I wanted the leviathan to be a physically different person from the host, in which I felt like he and Quan would trade places, much like if one was the person and the other was the reflection, but when the Leviathan fully emerged they would switch places and the leviathan would be on the outside where Quan would be the reflection.

Once the story moved to the middle of the first arc we would be aware of what the leviathan was up against and we would be aware that the simple second skin,though highly dense and protective ...would not serve him completelyaginst the types of enemies who he will soon face.

Through the story I had written in these little side jaunts, where he would seem to be collecting things. These items he collected will be taken to a blacksmith in the story that would forge a series of weapons and a second magical armor. This armor would be reminiscent of the originals more bulkier armor but streamlined with a more modern and practical feel to it.

It also gave him a bit of a super hero or again anti hero look. Thats the end for now but I have many more post to come. so I hope you come back for more.