Robin Watt
Comics & Graphic Novels MDes
DEVIL MAGPIE - A comic issue about a Demon and a God, set in an outer-space hellscape.
About
DEVIL MAGPIE is a mash-up of fantasy horror and eccentric characters. Set in a mysterious universe with monsters and curses, an easy-going demon brings an air of dark humour to the world as they barter their way into (and out of) magically binding contracts.
The goal I set for this project was that I wanted to create a comic that I could see myself in. I sought to combine my favourite interests of space, liminal spaces and mythical creatures and use a grimey, textured art style that was fun to work with. The end result I think fell somewhere in-between Hellboy and Devilman. I wanted characters that were ambivalent and mysterious at first, but as issues go on you unravel their character. We'd follow their life through the mundane and the chaotic, a slice-of-life but their life in general is a bit all over the place. This first issue introduces the characters and a glimpse of the world, with a few fight scenes that were a blast to draw!
Devil Magpie
Finished Pages
Pages Without Text
I colour my work digitally, so I get the whole scope of colours to use and leave most of the texture to the inks.
Inks
The linework I ink traditionally onto paper to get that rough textured feel to shine through in the finished pages. With paper you can dig into it and get that aggression onto the page without fear of breaking your screen (yikes!)
Pencils
Working alone meant I didn’t have to spend too much time on my sketch work making it neat for someone else to ink - I got to go a bit wild and leave rough shapes for me to fill in on a whim when I inked over it. I did my thumbnails alongside my script for easy reference, they’re quite rough in comparison to the finished pages.