Ionna & Deight. (Patreon)

Moderately brief history of character creation (now spoiler free)

It all started with a discussion of the picture, about the "resurrection" of Dasha's old character - the Chert (Devil). I liked his portrait, wandering in limbo, looking for himself.

We started discussing what kind of comic I would like to do if I did it. And away we go.

The first brief sketch of my story began with a dark basement and a girl imprisoned in it, who was on the verge between her human nature and something else, something not from our world. The girl was guarded by people who knew who and what she was, who believed that they had the power to restrain her, who wanted to use her for their own purposes. People that was already doomed. It all started with a visual image from the video of Ionna Lee, one of my favorite performers, with whom I introduced Dasha shortly before. Ionna has a very strong visual component in her work, her music videos look like mini-films connected with a single mythology. Dasha also really liked her and together we began to burn with this idea of a new small comic book.

Gifs from Ionnalee's music videos - "Gone" and "Not Human":

The girl at the last second had to be saved by a man (let's call him Red), the doomed people at that very second had to be swallowed up by what had been looking for this girl all over the planet for a very long time and finally found. Curse, fate, parents, brothers, Swarm, Pack. All these phenomena at once, literally washing away everything in their path, like a black wave, gradually covering the entire planet with darkness.

Red was to become the father of a child, on whose heels a semi-sentient apocalypse follows. Endless flight, convulsions and ugliness of a dying civilization, moral decay of people on the brink, and the clanking jaws of the Pack behind. Constant attempts to keep her mind and not lose yours. The desire to surround with kindness. The sea of pain, that tearing her from the inside, when the her inner "I" begins to awaken. What is her true nature? Do she needs to be saved and from whom? How will it all end?

The very first hasty sketches:

And it all ended with the fact that we changed the setting of the story from, initially fantasy, to sci-fi. Although, strictly speaking, this is not science fiction, but rather the same fantasy, only with space, a kind of dark Star Wars, Dune or Warhammer 40,000. Several characters were added, including another main one - Date. And the original story became the prologue / first chapter in which Red still plays his original, important role of savior.

Red and little Yonna:

Red, Deight's first appearance on sketches and the beginning of work with Ionna's appearance:

Ionna

The references for her were Ionna Lee herself, already mentioned above, and the heroine of the very ancient anime "Galaxy Express 999" - Methel. Anime, by the way, also influenced the formation of the story itself. I really like the concept of a dark road movie in space and the spirit of old fiction. Some atmospheric examples:

The name we also borrowed from Ionna, as you might have guessed. More precisely, we simply could not refuse it, it’s very beautiful and fits so perfectly. Hopefully in the future we won't be burned at the stake for this (͡ ͡ ° ͜ つ ͡͡ °)

Ionna and Maetel respectively:

А lot of blood and sweat was spilled to create her appearance. Many options, samples and errors were made. Plus, Dasha actively mastered new styles and got very serious about improving her skills, so Ionna's appearance changed from picture to picture at times in a radical way. 

The biggest challenge was preserving key aspects of the original Ionna's imagery and appearance and then styling them for comic / illustration purposes. Large nose, characteristic tilt of the eyes, lush eyelashes, beak alike mouth. Sometimes it worked better, sometimes worse. We shoveled a lot of examples from anime, manga, comics. The problem was that the shape we originally wanted to do was not very suitable for a comic. Drawing emotions, facial expressions and foreshortening was difficult, and sometimes even looked clumsy / grotesque. 

Ionna's final look is still an open topic. A lot depends on the style in which we decide to make the comic. Plus Dasha's skill / toolkit is constantly growing. There are still a lot of options for her appearance, from more stylized/cartoonish image, to something more realistic.

In words, Ionna's appearance can be described something like this: a tall girl, with long, blond, flowing hair that gives off nacre. High (approximately 182-185 cm, but this is not yet accurate), well physically developed, very strong. Powerful hips, small, neat breast. Protruding ears, clearly visible from afar) Clean, but sad look of the bright blue eyes. Rare but sincere smiles. Alot of closed/defensive poses. Movements is not very confident, as if she afraid to harm someone. 

Some old test drawings:

"Deit" is the old version of the name. Now we use "Deight".

Ionna's personality is still more of a concept than an complete character. I had no idea how to write scripts correctly when I came up with all this, and soon we decided to postpone this comic until better times. But something I can tell.

After abandoning the original version, Ionna ceased to be just a "girl with serious problems". Now it is rather a force of nature / element in human form. Ionna partially possesses the essence, knowledge and memory of her two parents.

Ionna is not a child. Rather, a fusion of two personalities and entities. 

One of them is a kind woman, loving life, in all its manifestations. Obsessed with science since childhood, believing in the power of the human mind and its ability to perfection. Despite everything she was able to love the creature that began to develop inside her. Woman that feels how important the new life she carries in her is. 

The second – result of an experiment that has been carried out countless times in different corners of space. And each time it failed, destroying entire civilizations and empires. A defective copy, that was born in pain and agony. 

Deight.

Our little sullen prince. He was much more fortunate – Dasha was more familiar with drawing males, so his image was formed much faster. At the moment, the main reference is Robert Patrick (the actor who played the "liquid" terminator). Because he's awesome :з

There were no particular problems during his creation. His image was immediately clear and understandable, therefore, there are noticeably fewer illustrations with him than with Ionna (his story and personality, on the contrary, have been worked out in more detail). The drawing changed frequently due to progressive skill and sampling of different styles. You can easily notice that at Dasha feels herself much freely with Deight's drawings, because initially she felt more confident. 

Early sketches. Mug shot and one of Deight's few hobbies - clandestine fighting:

A few sketches of his "power armor" which he uses for operations:

Very old sketches of Deight, including child version of him:

And a more fresh version of it:

I wanted Deight to look like a dangerous, intractable and cold-blooded person. Therefore, there are so many sharp corners and sharp lines in it. He is practically the complete opposite of Ionna. A well-defined, "strong-willed" chin, a massive jaw, powerful, straight forehead. Short, military style hairstyle. Small, pointed ears. With small irises of golden color eyes (we removed the blue color). Low to mid height (noticeably below Ionna's).

"Ionna and her battle gnome":

With prominent, well-developed muscles, but without excess weight, very "dry" and slender. Movement is confident, fast and precise. Facial expressions are restrained, Deight is almost always in a tense state.

Most likely his right arm will be a bionic prosthesis. We have not yet decided on this.

Deight's character is heavy, like his whole life. Here is a text from an old post about him:

"Brief description of Deight's personality:

One of the last  representatives of the once very powerful race, at some point the former  largest empire in the known space. Presumably possesses telepathic  abilities (mainly reading the mind, the ability to inspire / control is  either weak or completely absent).

Originally from the highest  caste of his people, he has a sharp mind and extremely fast reflexes.  Taciturn and morose, doesn't like noisy companies and large  concentrations of life forms of any type. Cold-blooded, believes only in  himself. Works as a mercenary, paired with a synthetic assistant who  raised him in his childhood.

Considers murder nothing more than a  part of his work, does not value life. Actively uses stimulants and  drugs to enhance his abilities during missions that negatively affect  his psyche in the long term.

Unhappy, self-destructive and pathologically lonely."

Confused, embittered and lonely, he will meet a creature, from one touch to the mind of which every cell of his body will plunge into agony. As if a red-hot knife would rip open his cocoon, expose forgotten feelings, open old wounds.

What is this creature? Why can't he read her mind? Where did this unbearable pain come from? He feels the embrace of his mom. Hears the kind voice of his father. Why are the tears flowing from his eyes? Does he fall into the abyss? This boundless love... Is it death?

Ionna's journey continues. For Deight this is just beginning. An endless and merciless race with space itself and the forces tearing it apart. The story of loneliness, love, death and the inevitable birth of a new life.