New Faces

This has been a strange week, the Nain Rouge has certainly been spreading disaster around me.  So I have started using my positive vibes (aka. pencil) and have started the first of the final book illustrations.

With any new book in a series, there is always a new face.  Or three.  Joining the original heros, Tom, Elly and their friend Dr. Beele, the museum curator, are three other tweens that caught in the Nain's evil plot.  Chad, AJ and Jennifer were an additional consideration during early designs.  Some elements of their characters were obvious, but as I read both The Red Tide and The Red Truth, I saw more and more of their true selves.

So I took a kind of reverse process in approaching The Red Tide.  Instead of designing the characters first, I studied the novel in depth and drafted the chapter layouts.  The characters evolved en route, doing most of the brunt work for me.

Above and below are Jennifer's later designs.  They're a far cry from the overweight, pale, needy teenager from the early trials.  Also below is the Nain Rouge in solid form.  He's undergone a fair transformation too...