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Supanova Sketch Off – Steampunk Gandalf

Okay so on Sunday of Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney, last weekend, I had a sketch off against my old partner in crime Jon Sommariva and my new buddy Mark Brooks. Usually how this works is the audience picks a character, we artists all draw the same character chosen, while answering some very distracting questions during the 30-40 mins of drawing time, then the audience chooses a winner, and we also give the art away to some lucky audience members at the end.

This time around the MC decided to let the audience pick a theme first, before the character… so we ended up with… Steampunk Gandalf?!?!

I know right!

So while Jon and I were looking at each other puzzled, Brooks jumped the starters gun and was off drawing. So without delay Jon and I got stuck into it as well. 

I’ve gotta say it’s not easy drawing with those bright stage lights in your face,  a cameraman hovering right over your shoulder (so the audience can see what we are drawing on the big screen behind us), having to answer random questions, all while the clock is ticking away. Also it doesn’t help if the subject matter is unfamiliar e.g. Steampunk Gandalf.

Anyway these were the results of my efforts; I even managed to finish early.

Overall I thought we all did a pretty good job, all things considered… but in the end there could be only one winner!!! Better luck next time guys 😉

P.s. You can see all the drawings from the sketch off here:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151683961467360&set=a.220390622359.136311.191484322359&type=1

“Fly, you fools …in an airship!”

The Land of Two Magics

If you don’t want to know anything about this series before reading it, skip over this post.

There is magic in this world – the Dark Veil saga, I mean. Today we are going to talk a little about how that works. If you don’t any back story on the books before you read them, you’re going to want to skip this. Don’t worry, I’m not giving away any major spoilers in this article. To be specific, there are two types. There are crystal magics and soul magics. To describe them simply: users of…

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The Land of Two Magics

There is magic in this world – the Dark Veil saga, I mean. Today we are going to talk a little about how that works. If you don’t any back story on the books before you read them, you’re going to want to skip this. Don’t worry, I’m not giving away any major spoilers in this article.

To be specific, there are two types. There are crystal magics and soul magics. To describe them simply: users of soul magic are born with the abilities while crystal magic users need a little help. The idea behind the names is that a soul is a permanent piece of you, but crystals are a pretty addition. How is magic even produced in this series? Well, I can’t say. Now that might be a spoiler.

A little back story on this: the crystal magic concept was there from day one but was not really fleshed out until very recently. Only up until a few days ago did the book have a major character who used them. The idea to do that was when a Tumblr fan asked me to make him into a character in the book. I rarely do that kind of thing for people, so I wasn’t sure how or if I was going to do it. But then I saw something in his main blog – a great amount of reference to crystals. I decided it was a sign, and his character has become one of my favorites already, even before his personality has been fully created.

But how do they work? Soul magic can only produce elemental powers – breathing fire on your enemies, turning them to ice, sinking them into the ground, electrocuting them, blowing them away, etc. The downside is that this magic type can drain its user’s energy to an extensive degree. Using a good deal may cause them to pass out. Too much, of that and you can see where this is going.

Looks like one of those guys had too much caffiene.

Crystal magic, however, is not limited by these things. While it is technically less powerful, it can do a much greater variety of things. They can make an unbreakable barrier around themselves, blast pure energy from their hands, glow in the dark, and a multitude of other things. It’s far closer to the traditional style of magic. Sadly, it is also limited to how often it can be used. Use a crystal too often, and it will eventually stop working altogether. It isn’t cheap to use crystal magic.

“Now, if we just work our money right, we can cover up that leaky roof for a whole month! Without actually fixing it!”

Perhaps you are wondering, is there some animosity between those magic users born with and without magic? If I were to say no, I would be lying for sure. It will play a bigger part in Dark Kingdom than it will in Dark Soldier, but the animosity is real. It’s a bit of a race war. Those using crystal magic envy those who can just use magic on a whim. Those using soul magic envy the unusual and extra abilities crystal magic users have.

Here we see such a battle in action.

But can they get along? You’ll have to read it next year to find out! Even so, come 2016!