Horizon Phase Comic art and doodles

Boy Howdy do I ever!  These are just the ones who are canonically paired: 

Making it all fit together ^^; I have all the BIG scenes played out, it's the small quiet scenes, the every day scenes in between, the growing pains of getting to know people scenes that are really difficult for me to know where to put them. It's easy for me to chart the flow of conflict, but a lot harder for me to plan little things like that, especially since my characters relationships have developed over the years, I now need to translate that in a way where someone can read/see it and understand lol THEN I need to make sure I'm also not just hanging on useless stuff. For me, I notice tonnes of things about a place, its smell, temperature, vibe, and so I tend to overdo it on characters noticing things because it's something I'm weirdly hyperaware of. So the feedback from most people reading what I write is "you go on a bit too long about the feeling of a place" Making it all fit together ^^; I have all the BIG scenes played out, it's the small quiet scenes, the every day scenes in between, the growing pains of getting to know people scenes that are really difficult for me to know where to put them. It's easy for me to chart the flow of conflict, but a lot harder for me to plan little things like that, especially since my characters relationships have developed over the years, I now need to translate that in a way where someone can read/see it and understand lol THEN I need to make sure I'm also not just hanging on useless stuff. For me, I notice tonnes of things about a place, its smell, temperature, sounds, and so I tend to overdo it on characters noticing things because it's something I'm weirdly hyperaware of. So the feedback from most people reading what I write is "you go on a bit too long about the feeling of a place"

Which is how my scenes end up getting so long. I gotta learn when to shut up, and when to let the characters actions talk for me~ The hardest lesson of them all, pray for me x'D

I'm not sure if I have any one firm message that I think I want people to take away from this quite yet, but I did start with one phrase in mind that I repeat to myself whenever I feel like I'm losing focus on the point. But I wanna keep it a liiiittle bit of a secret. (Otherwise I don't think people would actually read it when it comes out x'D) There are some things I have said I wanted to explore in it, like a persons right over their own body, identity, fitting in, culture and it's role in a semi-post apocalyptic world, found family, and how we form new culture and traditions. I think I will say some things I haven't really decided on, and exploring it through the comic will allow me to figure out what it is I want to say about those topics. But a lot of the topics are kinda special interests of mine, I also wanted to explore some of the uglier parts of humanity, but also a lot of the beautiful parts of it too. So I suppose people will have to make up their mind when it comes out! I am currently working on the storyboarding for the first chapters, and was hoping to release a chunk of chapters soon, I'm working another small studio job and my kitty is having some health issues so I've had to push it back a little bit. But it is all scripted up until Winston and the main cast meet so now I just have to draw it all lol~

Ryoka is a good example of it! Her feet are unironically based on the velociraptors from Jurassic part because I remember thinking they looked so cool as a kid haha

She's a little bit of everything because her dna is all spliced up with some of the greatest hits of reptile evolution~ A little bit of frilled lizard, dilophosaurus, horned lizard (her lil eyebrow spikes and the spikes at the end of her frills) She also has a crocodiles armored tail~

They do and don't depending on the area. On the Sat Cities where Winston is from, there are no vigilantes at all because Art users are heavily monitored and not allowed to use their powers even for self defence against regular humans. In the city where the main story takes place there's actually lots, but they don't necessarily take the same form as most people would think. They aren't all combat vigilantes, but the ones that are are Wu Xiaoting, who runs with a group of vigilantes who protect the Chinese district:

Then there is Yoshiro, Kaoin, and Togi who work together to protect the mutant encampment far away from the city

Shimi and Ryoka have had to defend the community centre a few times from human thugs who like to start stuff with them, the police tend to side with them, (mostly because Ryoka's mom is a cop and Shimi's dad is an ex- Shingestu member and even the corrupt police don't wanna get into something dicey by charging them for absolutely pummelling them lol

The last main combat vigilantes are Ren and Kuze, who are on the run for nearly killing a guy who used his power to assault Kuze's sister. So now they spend their time going after worse criminals and delivering them bloodily to VIT. They are more anti-heroes in the sense that they don't mind taking dirty money from a criminal organization to get rid of their ops if their ops are scumbags.

A good chunk of characters who are vigilantes though are doing things like preforming underground healing, food production, and surveillance in order to make sure their communities are protected. There are laws in place about abilites that allow people to copy things or produce edible food being outlawed, but people do it anyways as a means to survive~

What’s the best way to avoid the fate of Hannibelle’s mother if you have a valuable ART?

Do many people try to set themselves up like Denzen’s family?

Human trafficking (for the purpose of controlling or benefiting from someones mutation) is a fairly recent occurrence in their world. Within about the last 20 years or so, and its more or less reaching it's peak during the opening of the comic! Some people definitely try and use their powers in a way that will help them gain power and influence, and thats done usually by seeing a need your power fills, and doing it. Denzen capitalized on the power grid failing in order to solidify his and his family as vital pieces of the city tapestry. However there are plenty of people who aren't so lucky, Hanibelle was born into captivity since her mother was exploited for her power and she was born into her captors hands. Another character of mine who has their agency taken over their power is Melani, who gave Ivan her left eye.

Melani has the power to see through things (xray vision) and she was relentlessly pursued for it. Her pursuers were so serious about obtaining her for their purposes that they actually set off an explosive which took her ability to walk. Without the ability to walk she knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up with her so she decided to roll herself out and met the people staking out the hospital willingly. She was given to a trader, which took her around to prospective purchasers until she came across Ivan. Ivan had also been pursued because organizations wanted him working for them, and if he wouldn't work for them, then they were scared of him, which meant in their eyes Ivan needed to die. Then you have people like Adohira who uses his power to establish influence and carve a spot out for himself in the justice department by employing rhetoric that his power is the most useful in combating others with destructive powers, he prays upon regular humans feeling frightened and his power not being offensive, to be like "See? I'm just like you, but I'm not like them. I alone can be trusted"

Everyone struggles for their own agency, especially in a society that is struggling on how exactly to handle people with all of these abilities. A lot of people keep their power hidden if they can help it, and reside in areas where they don't have to register their art so that they can avoid being targeted. It's really the only way of making it so that nobody targets you, whether it be for the mutant trade, violence ect. If you don't make yourself useful, they'll fear you, if they fear you, they'll kill you. VIT also leverages this mantra against criminal Art users who've been caught to wipe their record clean and start them off with a clean slate somewhere else. So VIT takes advantage of the current state of affairs in order to have soldiers to call on when the threats are too big to handle. Agency over your body and what you do with it, and how one uses their talents is a big focus of mine in the story. Ivan in particular since so much of his story involves his body, and other people making decisions about his body without his consent.

I could have sworn I posted her on here but I guess I never did! Hanibelle is a woman with an Art called 'Hanibal Matrix', she can create and re-form tissue matrix's, allowing her to fill in massive areas of gouged out flesh or gunshot wounds, and return herself or a person back to their original state. To do this the user must consume meat, consuming meat will allow her to use it as a tissue base for regrowing someones flesh. To regrow organs she'll have to eat organs as well, not always necessarily the same ones, but the closest possible. She is able to regrow human flesh by using animal flesh as a base. She is held captive by a criminal organization who receives money in exchange for lending her out to heal those who cannot risk going to the hospital. Though they also' 'lend her out' for huge sums from people waiting on organ transplant waitlists, the organization taking advantage of people's suffering in exchange for exorbitant prices and lifelong servitude in exchange. They keep their customers for a lifetime by not informing them that animal flesh doesn't always take perfectly, causing them to continuously return for their services in order to keep loved ones alive and get renewed. She comes into contact with Garrote after the organization lends her out to Q, Garrote's boss after he becomes extremely damaged after a fight. Those with healing abilities in the Horizon Phase universe are sought after above all else because of the profit they can provide if the savoury get their hands on them. Garrote's eye was obtained from a woman he knew who was fleeing from several organizations vying to possess her, so Garrote and Hanibelle actually strike up a kind of sad friendship. Hanibelle's mother was actually worked to death for her healing abilities, and her father is unknown, she has no official records since she was born underground, but she is approximately 25-27 when she encounters Ivan.