While I finish coloring Baron von Bear and the Case of the Two-Faced Statue (just under 100 pages left to color!), I’m journaling and sketching to see what a second book pitch might look like. I’m continuing to wonder about characters, listening to what they have to tell me, and seeing what might be revealed. Like I said nearly a year ago, I’m often preparing myself for inspiration.
Right now I’m considering having Gallus Lugubrious return in the second book, but with a new group of “friends” to help him with his next venture. And one of the themes I explore in Two-Faced Statue is the narcissism of minor differences. Gallus hates Baron von Bear because he’s a scholar, whereas Gallus is a practitioner. I got to wondering what other ways Gallus could irrationally hate someone, especially if he’s partnered with them. And it occurred to me that he’d really hate someone who used magic but wasn’t a sorcerer or wizard. A technomancer. Someone who built and hacked machines to tap into the primordial forces that fuel sorcery.
Count Fishravin first appeared as a sorcerer in the first Baron von Bear minicomic, which I published in 2018:
This bulky version was informed by the Fish Don’t Have Teeth minicomic I made back in 2015 or so.
But as I considered changing him from a sorcerer to a technomancer, I thought I’d also take the opportunity to play more with his body type. A google search for “long fish” took me down a rabbit hole around the lancetfish, a frightening-looking creature. So we get this new take on the good Count.
This guy could be fun to draw! I’ll keep playing and see what captures me.