I have been working on a graphic novel concept for some time now. It is called Sumi and Kei Rule the World, and features two teenagers caught up in amazing and nightmarish circumstances as they battle to survive a world that is turning increasingly more and more bizarre.

That is the one sentence pitch, but I don’t want to give out much more than that until I can start posting some finished pages in my blogs. I want people to read the story and enjoy it’s twists and turns without spoilers to ruin what comes next.

The two characters are modeled on my assistants Alexis and Kelly whom you can find in a number of photos from my comic convention appearances as a chalk artist. Their style was an inspiration, and their personalities tailor made for characters in my graphic novel. They differ in ways that compliment as well as oppose each other, and the set up was ripe for storytelling. They make the best of friends who can counter point each others traits better than anything I might have imagined on my own. I only hope the story I tell can do these two cool people justice.

As prep work for the illustration, I have done several digital paintings based on photos I have taken of them while trying to nail down final clothing continuity. These are three of those paintings. They were meant to be more practice pieces than finished works of art, but I show them here for the sake of detailing my work process a little more. Enjoy, and watch for more on Sumi and Kei in the future.