#aztec stuff

OCtober #22!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everyone! And today’s character is everyone’s favorite bad boy, Tezcatlipoca! He is representing a lot of my feelings about the holiday and this year. 2020 been… a hell of a thing. Decided to spend a bit of extra time on this one, because I still adore Halloween. And also this character design.

Well, all the rest of my original characters will have to trickle in super late sometime in November. I still want to finish the whole run.

I hope all Americans are going to VOTE, or HAVE VOTED. It is not the time to be lazy, or apathetic, or cynical. (Or Republican.) Please vote blue. For everyone.

Page 18 of Godlings! (And close-ups! As always, all dialogue - ooh, and it’s good dialogue, too! - is omitted for now until the whole 25 page issue is done.)

No, you’re not imagining it, I actually finished a new page within a week!!!

First time I’ve ever drawn a spittake, and it’s a god spitting out blood. By the way, the things floating in the blood are monarch butterfly wings.

Ah, cue the usual gripes: Quetz, why did I design you to have that feather hair? I kick myself every time. You know? I think there’s only one page in this whole issue that has NO feathers on it at all.

Enjoy!

Believe it or not, I haven’t forgotten about my Godlings comic. Here’s a few previews from the next page, which, now that I’ve overcome some serious art block, I have returned to and hope to finish soon.

I do so enjoy drawing Tez. So elegant!

Final sketch for Godlings page 13! (As always, all dialogue is omitted for now until I finish the full 25 page issue! So, sorry you can’t read the sick burn Tez is delivering to off-screen Quetzalcoatl here.)

The first official look at all the main Aztec gods and goddess who feature in the story! (Though to be fair, most of them are very minor characters.) Across the top, in the back, are Mixcoatl, Coatlicue, Xipe Totec, Chalchiutlicue, and Tlaloc. Standing in the middle, with his flaming snake, is Huitzilopochtli (left leg of hummingbird feathers and all!) and of course, looming in the foreground, is Tezcatlipoca!

I wish you could see this all how I picture it finished, with the crazy menacing red sky, the deep, deep shadows, the firelight and distant sunset colors glinting off of everything. But these are just the clean sketches, with the roughest of tones, not meant to indicate real shading. It does mean you guys get to see ALL the details before they get swallowed by spot blacks, though!

Enjoy!

Page 17 of Godlings! Plus some closeups of the panels. (As always, dialogue is omitted here until I finish the full 25 page issue.)

Tez shouts into the temple, summoning an acolyte (INTRODUCING THE FIRST ACTUAL GODLING IN THE STORY, BY THE WAY!) who offers Quetz blood to restore his strength. A suspicious Quetz takes the offering.

Page 16 of Godlings! Plus close ups of all the panels. A day later than promised, but hey, you guys aren’t the stickler types, right?

The conversation between Quetz and Tez continues, as Tez inspects Quetzalcoatl’s meager prize. And then the talks turn to how they shall use it... Hmmm...