Lucha Quest is Live

Good news and bad news, folks.  Bad news, as always, comes first, which is that the Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a Lucha Quest website failed.

The good news is that I decided, "Screw it, I'm buying a website."  So I found a cheaper site than I had originally intended, bought one, and now Lucha Quest has gone live.

Also, quick note, luchaquest.com will not take you to my comic.  Within a month of purchasing the domain name, someone apparently bought luchachest.com and that takes you to the very, very sparse website for a Mexican taco stand, one which amazingly, has nothing to do with luchadors, quests, or luchadors on a quest.  The place is called Taco Memo.  I don't know what they're doing with the website luchaquest.com, but for whatever reason they decided to buy it and left me without it.  So I just got luchaquest.net, which is just as fine, but this is the reason why, in case you were wondering.

So, enjoy, and welcome to http://luchaquest.net

Special Message for the Chive

Click here to visit the Lucha Quest Kickstarter page.  Please.

T-shirt designs

On the Kickstarter page I mentioned Lucha Quest t-shirts as one of the rewards, so I figured I'd post the designs here as well.  There are five, one for each of the main characters.

For Tacto, the leader and general tough guy, his design was designed like a lucha libre match poster.

For Sol, the mysterious loner, I patterned her after the poster for the Good the Bad and the Ugly.  Her's will be very tall on the shirt, stretching from just about as high to as low along the side of the shirt as the printer will allow.

Pescado, the rainforest prince, I decided to go with an art deco, Alphonso Mucha inspired look.  

Maize, the young peppy girl luchadora, is done in the style of the Life is Good shirts.

And Vellon, the huge (but super nice) teknico was made to look like an old timey comic cover.

Kickstarter Fund is Live

Most of you who might be reading this probably linked here from the Kickstarter page, but in case you hand't heard, the Kickstarter fund for Lucha Quest is live.  If you want to help bring this comic to life, please donate or share the link with anyone interested.  Every little bit helps, and I thank you very, very much.

Pages

Been a while since I posted anything, but that's because I've been busy working on this:

I've got the first two pages done, and here they are, albeit minus dialogue (I'll be saving that for when it's posted in full on the actual site.)

The first page is a basic introduction to the mythology, and I attempted to draw it in the style of Mayan heiroglyphics (I was specifically inspired by the finds at San Bartolo).  This won't be the style of the entire comic, obviously, but it may be an occasionally recurring motif.

Lines first.

And now in color.

You may notice the dark lines on the line copy.  My process is to draw it in pencil, scan it, and enhance the lines.  I do a little clean up and then remove all white, making it an outline over a transparency.  Then I color behind the outline.

Now page 2, which introduces the primary art style for the comic (and the first of our luchadores).

The last panel on page 2 (with the fight breaking out, and some other background things) is not part of the narrative, it's just a way for me to flesh out the background.  In the final copy, it's blurred, I just figured I'd show you guys a fully detailed version here.  And, for anyone familiar with the website The Chive, that is a "Keep Calm and Chive On" luchador there.  Just for fun.

Hope you enjoy.

Title Cards and Banners

Been working on some title cards, title fonts, and banners.

Let's start with the general, all purpose logo.

Just for fun, it's patterned after the Mayan calendar carvings.

Here's the title letters alone.

A large scale banner.

And a smaller, imbeddable one.  Seriously, click it, it comes back here.  Just copy and paste and it anywhere.  You know, in case you want to post this anywhere and get people to come check it out.

Técnicos vs. Rudos

One particular point I feel the need to explain is the basic difference between good guys and bad guys in general within this world.  In real life Lucha Libre, wrestlers are divided into two groups, the técnicos and the rudos.  

Técnicos are the good guys, and are marked by their adherence to the rules, by fighting fair, and by their complex, spectacular moves.  Technically impressive moves are their defining characteristic, their name even translating directly to "technician".  Rudos, on the other hand (literally translating "rude ones") are marked by their brawling, scrapping styles of fighting, less spectacular but more quick and brutal.  They often resort to underhanded tactics, being sneaky and cunning rather than overwhelmingly skillful.  In general, these are the good guys vs. bad guys, and becoming bad or good means changing your fighting style also.  

Now, in real life, the marked distinction between fighting style and inherent heroism or villainy is possible because there's isn't anything outside of the ring at stake; this is essentially a sporting event, and good guy vs. bad guy within that context isn't the same as good guy vs. bad guy within the context of a fictional adventure and world.  Therefore, there will be a bit less of a straight, clear line between good guy and bad guy within the world of Lucha Quest.  

One particular way you can expect this to come up is between Tacto and Vellon.  Tacto is a world hardened, rough and tumble character, and while he is distinctly good, he's the closest to the border of the group, and also has the most amount of Rudo within his fighting style.  As a personal philosophy, he believes that there isn't a difference in inherent goodness within the fighting style chosen by a luchador.  Vellon is the opposite.  Vellon will essentially be the best luchador ever (in theory and philosophy, at least), and he firmly believes that choosing the fighting style of a rudo means you are an inherently bad person (specifically, selfish and unprincipled and undisciplined), while choosing the style of a técnico means you are a good person (patient, self controlled, and wise).  This difference of opinion will feature heavily when dealing with these two characters together in particular.

The real life distinction will serve as a general basis, though explorations of the boundaries and exceptions will be looked into.  We'll see plenty of técnico vs. rudo action, and true to real life, we will explore what it's like when a tag team is composed of a técnico and a rudo at the same time.  We'll also see what can make a person truly bad or truly good, regardless of what style they fight with.

Hope this clears up a little about Lucha Libre, to anyone previously unfamiliar.