Elders of the RuneStone...the Early Years Pt. 1

Ah yes, time for a walk down memory lane. RuneStone has been a work in progress for quite a while; since 9th grade, in fact. Those of you who have read the "Story Behind the Story" section of the site already know some of the details, but I thought it would be cool to share a little more of how far the idea has come. (Attached are early sketches from high school)

My first burst of inspiration came when I was in Mr. Browning's physical science class at Butler Middle School (junior high by a different name). The image that popped clearly into my mind was of a large noseless giant (who became Gar), crouching and looking out through a hole he'd just smashed through the wall of a locker-lined hall in a high school. Clinging to his neck and riding on his back was the girl who would become Kat. For whatever reason, this image really got me excited and I started to form a whole team and story around these two.

Originally Dain started out by the name Spencer Mabius, based off a guy I knew in high school who was friends with all the girls and had a rebel attitude. His name later changed to Spencer Hunt, then became Dain Mabius because I liked the sound of it. A cocky hockey athlete (instead of football, since every teen movie ever has the blonde quarterback as the bad guy) known for his physical ability and tendency to start fights, I gave Dain powers that would be the antithesis: he was amazing with computers. This intelligence-based ability would force him into a role he wasn't accustomed to, and therefore make him a more interesting character. These powers also evolved over time: at first he could simply remember everything he ever learned, especially computer skills (under the hero name "Sage"); then he could actually mentally link up to computers (changed to "Haq"); until I made it so he actually transformed into living cyber-hacking energy, able to enter the cyber-world and hack through it, perceiving it as an actual physical realm (now with his present alias "Gremlin"). I also wanted to make his skills in hockey part of his "real world" arsenal (see the early concept image), but changed out his dorky "super-hockey-stick" for an electric staff weapon. I also got rid of an initial idea for roller blades that popped out of his boots (due to nightmarish flashbacks of the 1997 movie "Batman & Robin").

Kat also went through several changes. At first I was going to call her "Fireworks" since she could fly and shoot fire (her real name was even going to be "July Forth"), but decided that was the same power that roughly 65% of superheroes have. So I had to rehaul her to make her more interesting. I thought about her shooting explosive "fire-bombs" out of her hands, but figured that was too close to Jenny's powers. So eventually I made her able to manipulate her own gravity to fly, and to effect the elements in her atmosphere, i.e. pulling carbon out of the air to make shards of lead to shoot at bad guys, combining oxygen with hydrogen to shoot water, use various gases to shoot fire, etc. This was also a cool change because her powers had such potential to evolve as she gained greater control and understanding of how her powers work. So look forward to some really awesome developments as the series goes on!

Thus concludes Part 1. Keep your eyes peeled for the further story of how RuneStone came to be...

(Author's note: He would like to apologize for his inability to draw girls very well, an affliction that continues to this day.)

Quinn

Inking RuneStone

I talked alittle about inking over my pencils for the preview, in the last post. And like I said, we decided if this is going to meet any form of a deadline we needed to bring in some help on the inking end of the process.

Da dun da daaaaa! Enter Rick Ketcham (inker extrodinaire) I've known Rick for 3 years now, we are a part of the same art studio. Tsunami Studios . I originally joined after working with Randy Green as a background artist for New X-Men. That didn't last long, but I had moved up to North Carolina and joined the studio. It was quickly apparent that Rick and myself were really the only guys that were up at the studio on a daily basis, and we quickly became great friends.

As Rick would work on various projects for Marvel (namely, New X-Men, New Excaliber, and now Joss Whedon's run on Runaways!) Occasionally I had the chance to fill in on various projects. Rick really tutored me when it came to inking. I learned more from him than he probably knows or would admit, but I can guarantee that I've improved as an inker soley based on his instruction and guidance. To the point that I found myself getting hired as an inker before I was penciling full issues. I never thought that would happen. SO all that credit goes to my good friend Rick.

So imagine my amazement when I had the chance to have my mentor finish the art for my very first work at Marvel! I mean Rick Ketcham ladies and gentlemen....suffice it to say, it was a great experience. When we realized we needed an inker, I brought it up to Rick. Honestly I was kinda beating around the bush trying to ask him, because I didn't know if he would want to spend his time away from Marvel work to do RuneStone. As I was explaining the situation, he interrupted my babbling and just said, "Well, are you asking me to ink it?". I answered

dumbly..."yeah". He said... "well, sure" and that was that.

So from now on the work that will be posted on the site will be graced with the spectacular inking talent of Rick Ketcham...or a.k.a. THE RICK. (thats his wrestling name)

I am currently working up single character covers to use as promo art and covers for the

subsequent issues for the first story arc. Once I'm finished penciling those, I will hand them over to Rick and we will post the images.

"I love it when a plan comes together"

My approach to RuneStone's "Look"

Hey all-

Basically I wanted to talk a little about the "Look" of RuneStone.

Generally, the work I've done before has been an action adventure tale set in the world we live in. I know that sounds pretty broad, but when it comes to comics, that actually narrows it down a bit. I've worked on books that were military, fantasy, and even superhero in nature. What I found in RuneStone was a combination of all of these things and more!

The preview that you can see on the site was my first time doing the penciling and inking myself. Previously, I've either had to pencil very tightly because I didn't have the inker to finish the lines, or I was the inker over another penciler. Having to pencil tightly (and very clean) was due to not having an inker for most of the GI JOE books I did. I was the last say, when it came to the line art. So that made me very detail and line weight concsious.

I will go into the professional benefits of an inker, and being on both sides of the process at a later date.

Only recently with the work I did at Marvel was I finally allowed to pencil a book knowing a very professional inker (Rick Ketcham) would be handling the finished line art. I could trust the process enough to not have to draw every bit of detail, texture and line weight in. It's amazing how much time that saved me!

So, having professional experience in both steps of the process allowed me the ability to do both jobs on the preview. What I learned very quickly about RuneStone, was that we would be better off getting someone else to ink it. Heh.

Towards the end of the preview I was finally letting up in the pencil stage, and doing the details and finishing touches with the inks. But I'm still too set in my ways for that to save enough time.

One interesting effect of inking my pencils, I was alot more free with spotting blacks and finding places for heavy shadows. It certainly helped with the mood of the preview, being at night and the seriousness of the fight. When we have more scenes at the school, I'm sure that will lighten up as needed.

So with a moodier feel to the art through heavier shadows, another major contributor to the art is of course the colors.

By acquiring Bob Pedroza to color the book, we knew going into the preview that he would really be able to handle the effects and mood of the fight. The abilities each character has needed to have their own signature color/design. We wanted them to very much feel like an unique individual, but also keep them feeling like a team. Bob did an amazing job with that. Gar's blue transformation, Jenny's orange surrounding armor effects, Kat's ability to manipulate fire were all rendered in a unique way. However, you never feel like it's out of place in this world we've created.

We wanted a very slick, but dark superhero atmosphere. And through a combination of shadows and texture in the inks, and Bob's many embelishments through great color choices, we've found a great "look" for the series!

At any rate, there is a look into the process. I will be posting more sketches and character designs, so be sure to check out the block regularly!

Robert

The Art of Runestone

Robert here!

We are excited and pleased with the reception of Runestone so far! We had great success at the Chicago Convention being able to get the Runestone preview books in people's hands and get some feedback from the crowds. We hope to hear from all of you that are reading the blog and checking the site regularly!

So please comment on the blog or email us directly at RuneStoneComic@gmail.com with your comments on the preview you can find on the site, or you read through the preview book.

As the artist for Runestone, I will first confess that the pages and promo art look as great as they do, because Bob Pedroza has really surpassed all our expectations and makes RuneStone come alive! We found Bob through an ad we posted on http://www.gutterzombie.com/ ( a great web forum for comic book colorists to showcase their art) He responded with a gallery of his work, and we quickly hired him!

The first art for Runestone began in Quinn's sketches and doodles in high school, and would continue to be refined through his college education at the Savannah College of Art and Design. It was there that we met. We were both Sequential art majors, basically learning to tell a story through art, and we went to the same church aswell.

Quinn told the story to me over the course of a long church trip, and I was facinated by the characters and their struggles with life, and newfound powers. Soon after I was doing some initial character designs of the major characters. This was about 4 years ago.

Since then we talked about putting out Runestone as a book, but I knew I wasn't quite ready to tackle such a cool story. I just felt like I wasn't good enough. Since graduation I went on to work as a background artist for New X-Men, New Excaliber, and JLA. I started getting my first solo work through Devils Due publishing working on GI JOE (namely SnakeEyes Declassified, and Dreadnoks Declassified). I've kept pretty steady working for them over the last 3 years on various titles. Finally this summer I was able to do my first work for Marvel comics! It was a blast, and a lot of fun considering my first story had Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the Incredible Hulk all in one story!

Starting last November I began work on RuneStone again with revised character designs, and begining to layout the Preview you can see here on the site.

So, finally I felt my art was at a level that I could do RuneStone justice. We are currently in production on the first 40 page issue that will debut here on the site for FREE! Penciled by myself, inked by Rick Ketcham (New X-Men, New Excaliber, Venom, and currently inking Joss Whedon's run on Runaways for Marvel!!!), and of course colored by Bob Pedroza!

Be sure to check out the site as we update art and sketches for the upcoming story.