Enter: Kaldera
Welcome to the world of KALDERA- a.k.a. the hidden island explored by the titular characters of CHUCK & MIKE. This series is something we plan to develop simultaneously as both an animated proof-of concept, as well as a limited run comic book.
There’s still a lot to build, share, and discuss about this series- but you can follow us along the way by subscribing to our little dev blog here.
To find out what the hell CHUCK & MIKE is even about, go HERE.
First up, a little behind-the-scenes diatribe on a piece of story art developed for the pitch bible:
Welcome to “Heff’s House”, the best bar and grill in Haventown; the capitol city of Kaldera.
The point of this piece was not only to challenge myself by drawing a dense crowd scene, but also to see how a lot of the characters I’d designed over the years would actually feel when crammed into the same shot. Up until recently, a lot of them had only ever existed on separate sketchbook pages, and so naturally it was time to bring them together and see how this world would really feel once we got to the parts of the story where Chuck and Mike aren’t the only talking animals.
My process differs piece to piece, but for this, I pencil sketched the layout on paper first.
Then, I went in and inked my line work digitally with my favorite pen from Kyle’s brush pack.
Finally, I took advantage of the digital scaling and drew several elements as separate compositions that I would later re-ink once placing them into the main comp. I understand that some of these elements are obscured in the actual composition, but I find that it always helps me to flesh these things out, even if it’s only for my own understanding.
TOP: Basic design for Zen- a form of currency used in Kaldera, MIDDLE: A Kalderan TV airing the highly-anticipated match between Jigen Hash, and current “Uzurok Title Holder”,- The Oni, BOTTOM: Yes, I came up with a full menu for the restaurant. I came to the conclusion that animals in this world are probably vegan for obvious reasons. Who knows what the meat stuff is actually made of.
OTHER FUN(?) FACTS:
The characters sitting at the table are playing an ancient Kalderan game called, “Deckbang” where you conjure mystic tabletop creatures to fight each other based on card turns. Think poker meets Pokemon, but where the loser can die.
Several crime lords have put a high price on Chuck & Mike’s heads by this point in the story. They should probably watch their backs for bounty hunters.
Heff (the octopus) is the greatest drinksmith on the island according to pretty much anyone he’s gotten drunk.
I draw many of the animals in this series with five-fingered hands, except when it’s funnier not to. I.e. the keyboardist has hooves.
That’s all for now. More soon to come.
~ Bobby