For most of my comic making career I haven't dared to think about any new concepts or new comic ideas just in case I would want to draw that idea more than I wanted to draw my existing comic... Just thinking of new things have almost felt like cheating on Nordlys.
I have met more artists who kind of think this way, even if they get excited to draw something else they won't allow themselves to because they already have one concept... And I get the logic behind it, it can be too hard to divide your attention to two concepts when one is already taking up so much attention. I also meet artists who just go "Oh, I have many concepts and ideas I wanna do, I can barely choose!" And I really envy them because my brain doesn't seem to be big enough for more than one idea at a time.
Now that Nordlys is nearing the end, I've suddenly come to the realisation that it's probably smart to actually have a plan for what I wanna do after, so I don't end up jobless. So thinking of a new idea doesn't make me feel that guilty anymore. But actually more importantly, I feel like I need a fresh concept to make me excited about drawing again, after
a period of art block I've had for about 1,5 years. I've spent all of spring thinking about it, and I've basically just deducted things I don't wanna draw, until I had a tiny idea of what I wanted to draw, and make a whole story just based of that tiny idea. The very small idea was, I wanted to make a story about a little witch who was kinda bad at magic. After thinking about it more, the more concrete idea is:
A timid little witch who lives at a run down orphanage gets the chance to attend a prestigious school for magical children. But in this dark fantasy world, nothing is what it seems...
Here are some sketches I have done in the past weeks to explore the concept, I really wanna continue to explore and post my progress here to see if you guys like it, because it's really important to me that I make something people wanna read!!
Feedback very much is welcome!!
Looks interesting. I love the character designs. Your art is beautiful!
This sounds like an awesome idea! The concept sketches are very cool. Really dig that the head of her staff is a hand. Is it alive somehow? Looks like it will open and close? Also dig her outfit in the bottom left of the second image. With the helmet and go-pro ;-D Looks like she is going adventuring in a cave or something. Very cool. The hooded lady with the baby in her arms is also very intriguing and mysterious. The premise sounds fun. Makes me wonder if there is some mystery at play that is the reason an orphan gets invited to a prestigious magic school. Have fun developing this new concept! That part is the most fun part,…
Looks nice! I also have many ideas for comics and stories but never went through them enough to publish any of them because I didn’t feel good enough at art. Still don’t, at least when it comes to draw cities and machines. I envy you for doing the same comic Nordlys for so many years. I love it. But I love your art always.
I have been stuck with two fan comics I publish online for free because I don’t own the characters. But my art evolved thanks to them.
Keep doing what you love and what makes you happy, Malin! 😊