Sketchbook: Double Bonus Model Sheet Week - Alyssa & Dzeriel!

Pencil, Sketch N' Wash, & non-photo blue pencil on Bristol board

This week is a special week, because it's going to be the last Sketchbook entry for a good long time. I know, I know, you're going to miss it, but not to worry. Something even better is on the way. It's almost time to start the comic.

So with this final sketchbook entry, I give you the last two model sheets for my main cast and the promise that for the next few months, I'll be working furiously behind the scenes to redo this website and make it webcomic-friendly. I've passed a major milestone, and I've really enjoyed sharing this journey with my friends and family.

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The token human of Castle Whatsitsname spent about 2 years as "the human character" (or HC) in my notes before she got a name. Sometimes a new character's name comes easily. If I don't come up with a name early though, the character develops a personality, and I have a hard time making one stick.

When that happens, I usually draw the character, then write down every conceivable name (and spelling variation) around their portrait. Then I spend hours staring at the drawing and the names and crossing out the ones that don't feel right. In her case, it came down to Alyssa.

It was another year or so before I made the connection between Alyssa, Cheshire, and the fact that I was writing a story about a human girl who blunders into a fantasy world. D'oh! I'm not trying to write an Alice in Wonderland allegory, and I asked my creative consulting team (my husband, my roommate, and my roommate's brother, who love comics and don't mind listening to my weird ideas) what to do. Should I change her name? Readers were bound to draw associations, and I didn't want them thinking Ferkus was supposed to represent the March Hare or anything like that.

They pretty unanimously said no. They've been looking at drawings of these characters for a while now, and my husband thought I couldn't take Alyssa's name away now. Nothing else would fit her quite the same. So Alyssa is here to stay, and I will do exactly one comic with a nod to the Alice in Wonderland connection, then head straight into my own story without looking back.

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