No Kings

Well the next stage of the calendar pic is posted over on the Facebook group thanks to my beloved wife. You can also check it out on The Underground Comic forum over on the Dimestore site, thanks to the also lovely Chris Walker! This is pretty close to the finished product, as the only thing left to be completed is the colours, and I'm sure you're all going to be really pleased with the result.
While discussing different t-shirt possibilities over on the Dimestore site, Chris brought up an interesting point regarding Ant kings. For those of you who are all caught up on the Insect-O-Facts, you'll remember that most insect colonies (Ants included) are led by a Queen. So why then is this Ant King? And why would he be included in the Ant's Life Cycle Diagram? This sounds like a job for...
INSECT-O-FACT #11!!!!
"No Kings"
As many of us are aware, ant colonies are established, and nurtured by a queen. Often referred to as a Queen mother, because she literally births the whole colony. In creating The Underground, many true life facts have been interwoven into the fabric of the story. One such fact which we have been faced with is the existence of Kings AND Queens. The predicament is that Kings, at least in our traditional understanding of them, do NOT exist in insect colonies.
Where the Ants are concerned, the old saying 'King for a day' can certainly take precedence. The Queen is born with wings, and takes to the air for what is referred to as a 'mating flight'. Several male ants (also winged) will chase the Queen as she soars through the air. Finally one of the males will make contact with the queen, mate with her, and fall to the ground. While the male disappears after this point, the Queen will discard her wings and tend to her colony-to-be.
For the benefit of the story, and certain themes; Kings have played a role in The Underground. Now with this research in mind, the readers will find that any introduction of a 'King' is often short-lived...it simply is not meant to be.

The Scale of The Underground

As we look into more and more corners of The Underground, research further, and flush more out, I'm looking at many different aspects to be considered in developing the story. My next idea is what I'm calling 'Size Benchmarks'. I stole the core of the idea from The DC Heroes Roleplaying Game, but it's something that just makes sense when designing the book. I'd like to continue mixing in elements of Man's world into the lives of my insect characters, but in order to do so a level of scaling must take place. How big is Cyrus compared to...a Frito? OK. Maybe a Frito doesn't need to be considered, but things like coffee cups, bottle caps, toy cars, and such would definitely be common elements. So we'll be spending some time going over some common backyard items, measuring them in millimetres, and then drawing scale pictures of them.
In the second round of The Small Press Idol competition we were asked to submit our character designs/rotations. At that time I drew each of the characters on graph paper, to keep them in relative scale with one another. Now I'll be able to do the same thing, and hopefull we can start making use of alot of fun items to add more depth to this world. What about a watchtower made of a Tim Hortons cup? You never know...
Also! My beautiful wife has just uploaded the next step of the SPA Calendar piece. While I'm actually finished the picture now, you can go onto our Facebook group and check out the concept sketch (if you haven't already), as well as the rough pencils! I can't express enough how happy I am with the development of this piece. It's my first major work that put to use my new drawing tablet, and it was a great experience. I hope you enjoy, and as always, thanks for your continued support.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=37802346048

Miss May?

While you won't be seeing any bugs in bikinis, you WILL be seeing The Underground in the Self Publisher Association's 2010 Calendar. Oddly enough, we've been asked to submit a piece for the month of May. This is my wife and my mother's birth month, so they're both VERY excited! I am as well, ofcourse. I wanted to do a special piece for the calendar (as opposed to submitting something that I've already completed). So I've put alot of thought and care in to completing this piece.

I chose to do a dynamic mid action shot between Styx and Kronus. I also wanted to keep the month in mind, and it being May what better place to stage a fight than inside a flower. What colour flower? I'm thinking purple, as it will really pop the two combatants forward (Kronus is a nice yellow colour, and Styx a light brown). Purple is also my mom's favourite colour.

The piece is just about complete as I write this, but rather than showing it off right now, we'd thought we could drag out the anticipation. I'd also like to take this opportunity to show, and explain how I complete an artpiece such as this, stage by stage. I hope you enjoy. Featured right now is the concept sketch for the fight scene. For more thoughts and info on this and The Underground in general, the Facebook group has some great discussion topics, and resources there.http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=37802346048

We've also started designing some t-shirts, and The Underground Forum at The Dimestore site alot more ideas and discussion going on with these in mind. Dimestore is home to alot of very talented and creative people so it's very interesting to get input from so many different sources.

http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/forum/topicview/misc/the_underground_comic.htm

Again, I hope you enjoy these new developments with The Underground, because there's alot more coming! As always thanks for your continued support.

Public Input, and Explosively Addictive Insects!

So we just recently held our Creative Development Meeting for October, and ofcourse we're all walking away from it with reinspired fervour. While our direction is remaining much the same, our focus is adjusting. We've laid out a very good structure in the past month, no we're starting to pay attention to the impact that our efforts are having. Are we being noticed? Are we being heard? The common theme of this month is progress, and the main milestones we are watching for is shown through public input. My belief so far is that The Underground does NOT have as much of a following as Paul Reaume does...if that makes any sense. People are supporting me, and it is greatly appreciated, and we can have no success at all without that support. But in order to survive, and indeed make an impact of any sort in the industry, The Underground needs a following. People need to to support and follow our story, our characters. One way of measuring this is the level of input we get from the public. What is the public interested in, if they are indeed interested at all...
So on that note, I'd like to take this opportunity to let you in on what The Underground is to me, and what keeps me so passionate about it. This story is not set in a far away land, it's characters are not larger than life superhumans that you could never hope to see in your own daily grind. The Underground takes place in my backyard, in all of your backyards. It's inhabitants are insects that you've seen in your travels, it is real and surreal at the same time. I mix alot of reality in to the story and use alot of real events to help guide the story, and answer my own questions. Like today for instance; it is pouring rain outside, I wonder how the bugs in The Underground would react to this. I can imagine them running for shelter, trying to escape the devasting tears of the sky! What if it started to rain during a battle? What would happen then? A simple rainstorm is so much more tremendous when considered on their scale, and this fact is true for many things that we take for granted in our world.
So I ask you. What have you noticed? What are you pondering in regards to these bugs? Does your pet chase them? Do your kids? We've all got something that we've seen that can help guide the story and characters. My wife Giovanna tends to the Facebook group and would welcome your input there, Chris Walker has been tending to the forum on the Dimestore site, and would appreciate your insight there. In anycase, there is much opportunity to let your voice be heard, and help us understand that we are indeed being heard and noticed after all.

Insect-0-Fact #10: Flanged Bombardier Beetles
It has beeen asked what Raymus' explosives would be made from. The answer is not too far-fetched. Bombardier Beetles have some pretty volatile fluids in chambers located within their abdomen. When these two fluids are mixed together, they reach boiling heat and explode from the body. This is used as a defense mechanism to ward off any attackers, the explosion does actually get very hot, and makes a popping sound during eruption.
Raymus' explosives utilize these fluids, and to shards of stone to create a spark. The spark ignites the combustible fluids and creates a much more dazzling, and destructive display. The same fluids are also used in Raymus' gun.
What makes Flanged Bombardier Beetles even more interesting is their oddly shaped antennae. The antennae become large, and strange looking, but they also secrete a sweet fluid which is readily consumed by ants and their larvae. No one is sure as to why the ants are so favourable of this fluid, but the bigger question is...where is the insect addictions counselour?