Key To The Future's Fate

I had to spend extra time on developing these aliens, the Drembolts, since one of their number would be a main NPC: the final member of the security trio. Ultimately I went with something that's about the cross between a rhino beetle, a mantis, and a scorpion. I wanted an alien that, at least on the surface, seems visually intimidating

... Which would add to the comedy of her being easily the most timid of the security trio. I like to imagine that the giant sword ship that's crashed outside of Foundation B was actually a Drembolt ship, and that most of that crew bounced as soon as they realized their invasion had failed... all except for Peaches here. She's definitely an odd one among her species.

While I've been trying each chapter to drop in at least one new alien, Drembolts overall are probably not a species that we'd see much of in the story, since I imagine them to generally tend towards being more militant (and therefore not particularly interested in the goody-two-shoes peoples that work together on Earth). But, as Peaches in this Chapter shows us, there are always exceptions to any generalities in species.

Another highlight of the development for this chapter: the main NPCs! Foundation B is deliberately less populated than prior locations (the bulk of its action takes place around like, 10 or 11 at night), so the characters that we do see, I wanted to make sure were a bit more memorable.

The main people of interest were going to be A: one of the people in charge of the water park and B: the security team that's after Simon. For the former, Nova as a character had pretty much existed for as long as I had the idea of Foundation B being under a water park. I knew I had to have some foil working right next door (so to speak) that Ms Shepard couldn't stand.

Nova also gave me an opportunity to at least acknowledge the fact that I hadn't really included many openly nonbinary individuals in the setting yet, which felt like an obvious missed element. Unintentionally, that combined with Trinity being openly trans would end up paving the way for some more gender-non-conforming elements that would seep their way into later sections of the story.

It's funny to me that I was putting so much thought into (one of) the final aesthetics of the chapter this relatively early on in the concept art. The top left section wouldn't be seen until the final few pages of the chapter! I had a particularly strong visual concept for it even this early, it seems.

Since Foundation B is underground, I had a lot of fun developing the various little gazebo elevators that'll take visitors down to it (though most people will ACTUALLY be taking them down to the water park that's above Foundation B).

I actually visited the IRL namesake lake for this segment of the story: Lake Itasca. For those that don't know, it's the source for the Mississippi River, which starts in Minnesota.

It's a BEAUTIFUL place, though in my original imaginings of the comic, I was thinking of a GIANT waterfall for this location. The actual source of the Mississippi is... honestly pretty entirely flat, mostly demarcated by a line of rocks you can hop over. Still worth the trip, especially to see the incredible pine forest that surrounds it as well.

Ultimately, we didn't actually get much time to appreciate the forest-y lands that surround Foundation B, which is a shame, but this taught me to consider working out a little more of my scripts ahead of time, so I know what elements will need more focus and reference.

Developing the cityscapes is quite possibly my favorite part of Key to the Future's Fate. Not all of my building concepts quite "hit" the way I'd like, but just messing around with shapes and designs is SO fun. Much of it helps to inspire some general architectural ideas that'll stick around moving forwards; I'm a big fan of architecture with random "gaps" in the space, which do a lot for adding to the silhouette of a place.

Wasn't surprised at all to see Trinity take the gold. Everyone loves her. And they should!

Luca was a bit of a surprise, though. /I/ love her a lot, but it was a delight to see she's quickly gaining popularity.

I expected a bit more Leon love, to be honest (and clearly, so was he), but I'm at least proud to have made a protagonist that people DO like.

Not too surprised to see Ms Shepard pretty low on the list. She, admittedly, doesn't immediately endear herself to the reader.

I think the biggest surprise was Melody getting a vote. I fully admit that I haven't given enough space for her to really shine in the comic. It's a fault of the structure I've built, but I'm glad she still endeared herself a little.

Though I don't feel like I fully conveyed it in the comic proper, I /did/ have a strong concept for the general floor-plan of Foundation B. Those kinds of details aren't /really/ that important, all things considered - the relative distance between Leon and Simon throughout is functionally conveyed by the dialogue - but it was a fun challenge trying to pin down exactly how Foundation B functions as a place.

Within all of the reference material I gathered for this chapter, I got a bunch of water park images/drawings. Ultimately, the only part of that which would manifest in the comic proper was Nova, which is a shame, but I'm at least glad I got to convey the humor in the idea of a water park being directly above a historical preservation society.

I ultimately only ended up with about half as much reference material for Foundation B as I did for locations in Chapter 2. Overall, I think the "aquatic" theming of this chapter seriously helped slot all of the distinct pieces together in ways that the last chapter lacked.

I something a little different for the start of Chapter 3; I took an idea I saw from one of my "how to make comics" books to help me get a vibe for what I wanted the chapter to be like. It's ABSOLUTELY an idea I'm gonna keep using, because it's such a helpful visual way to get across all of the concepts I'm hoping to play with in a chapter.

[ORIGINAL COMMENTARY] I wanted to distinguish Simon from Leon more, so I decided to make him have more straight lines. A simple but different design. His personality hasn't changed too much from old Cat Comixz; he's still greedy and demanding of things being his way. He still has the creepy neck tentacle. Leon was right about his suspicions of Simon being a time traveler.  I've also changed up his outfit a bit too, in that I'm going to make it more colorful, but we'll see that when I do the color tests.  Simon being flirty with Leon is not canon, but dang if it didn't make for a cute image.

[NEW COMMENTARY] Apart from Melody, Simon's probably one of the most unchanged characters that's made their way over from the predecessor comic of Future's Fate. I struggled a bit with when to release the concept art on him. We get part of his characterization in C3, but many more /details/ in C4. However, C4 is going to introduce the last major character, so it also doesn't feel quite right to make that his "spotlight" moment.

[ORIGINAL COMMENTARY] Just like with Trinity, I really didn't like the proportions on Ms Shepard. The oval shape on the original sketch page just wasn't doing it for me. Instead, I kept playing around with different body shapes until I settled on a more regular, husky figure.  The power-armor was a cool idea, but I started to feel like it clashed a bit too much with the Solarpunk aesthetic of the comic. Also it was way too cumbersome to draw in any quick amount of time. Instead, I wanted to go for something more dark and mysterious, more striking. I like her new getup because it's more immediately closed-off and gives off the impression that she has something to hide.  Ms Shepard as a person is a quiet, no-nonsense woman who has no trouble keeping people in line. She'd certainly like to think of herself as a tortured soul in a way; she knows she has all of the answers, if only people would listen to her.  What's her first name, you might ask? You don't get to know. No one knows. She's mysterious that way. I don't even know, and I created her. Though I'm willing to bet Trinity knows...

[NEW COMMENTARY] Now THIS is more like the Ms Shepard we all know. While she was technically introduced, briefly, in Chapter 2 (and even eluded to in C1), Chapter 3 is where she /REALLY/ gets to bounce off of the cast.

[ORIGINAL COMMENTARY] My first sketches of Trinity Shepard's twin sister, Ms. Shepard, from Key to the Future's Fate. I was going for a shorter, more oval-shaped look with her. I also knew right away she would be stern as heck and probably walk around in body armor just because. From the body comparisons next to her, you can see that she's just a little shorter than Leon. I also included a tiny sketch of what the first floor of Foundation A looks like. For the character that works at Foundation B. Derp. (The white square is from an unrelated Friday Fan-Art piece. This was back when I still kept Key to the Future's Fate on the same pages as those.)

[NEW COMMENTARY] Seeing these first drawings of Ms Shepard is so wild to me. The oval-ness of her design is one that I'm glad I didn't go with; just doesn't suit her the way her later designs do.