In 2019 I had completed the SkyHeart graphic novel the year before and decided to do a character a day on the same sheet but have all the characters be from the light and the dark side of the SkyHeart universe. The center of the drawing is the Star Seed, the source of ultimate power and key to the fate of Airth. I loved working on this one so much. It was really satisfying to see all of these characters together all on one sheet.
1: wake
Wake is the central character in my graphic novel SkyHeart.
2: Mal threck
Mal Threck will stop at nothing to get the Star Seed so that he can use it to raise his Empress from her tomb. When Wake finds the seed before he is determined to catch Wake and get the seed for himself.
3: Yahna
The prompt for today is “bait” and it inspired this character. Yahna is a hard-core believer in the power of the Star Seed and its ability to save the world of Airth.
She’s using Wake as bait to lure in the bad guys and get a better shot at them.
4: the tengru
Today’s prompt is “freeze.” The Tengru were a beast of war, frozen in the depths of the core and have been given new life by a dark force.
5: grimm
Grimm is a sky-whale that got separated from his pod as a baby. He’s been searching for them his whole life in the skies of Airth.
6: dreik
Dreik, a sylph who drank from the unholy waters of the Night Well, has forsaken his birthright and sworn loyalty to the empress of darkness.
7: limberg
Limberg was a leader in a small village of flying pigs, until one night the Tengru raided the village taking the souls of everyone in it, his family included. Broken and empty, he found his way into a life of piracy in the skies. But after meeting Wake, Yahna, and Grimm he has a glimmer of hope that justice might come to those he lost.
8: ragnog and rider
The ragnog are the flying mounts for the Tengru. Powerful and maneuverable they are a formidable force in the sky.
9: captain nock
Captain of the Cloudfire, she raids shipping lanes off the coasts off the northern rim. Isn’t afraid of a fight, and will take on any dangerous job...if the price is right.
10: ragdog
These are a land version of the ragnog with a powerful sense of smell. It’s long legs allow for fast travel over the countryside.
11: ranko
Ranko is a sky pirate who’s been working with Nock for years. An expert pilot, Ranko favors small skiff-craft due to their maneuverability.
12: ragoth
The ragoth are an experimental breed of Tengru that are 300% bigger and stronger.
13: everett
Everett is an archeologist, and foremost expert on Airth ancient mythology, with an emphasis on Star Seed lore. He even found one half of the Star Compass and was safekeeping it until the other half was found. His days in the field are behind him now as he spends his time studying all the artifacts and ancient documents he’s acquired over the years.
14: dusty
A big guy from the outlying forests of the Kingdom of Vestania, he’s fiercely loyal to his king and country. When Vestania was first attacked by the Akkavian Empire, Dusty was the first to sign up to fight them off. He’s since learned that his Airth brothers aren’t his enemies and that a greater threat is upon the land now: the Tengru.
15: flux valentine
Flux is an engineer of sorts who loves to tinkerer and build. She comes from a guild family that manufactures crystal engines for skycraft. She left the family business to join the Star Tree Alliance and use her skills to fight back the Tengru.
16: jurion
Jurion, a member of the Dah’tek clan of the northern Sylph kingdom has proven himself to be the finest warrior of his clan and earned a spot on the Northern Kingdom Council of Defense. Wary of rim-landers and their ways he sets aside their differences to fight with them against the Tengru.
17: Core Monster
When the Empress rebelled against the Zaru Elesh she forged an army out of dust and lightning, creating beasts and monsters to fight her war. Though they were all either killed or banished to the core world at the close of the Airth War, some have escaped to threaten the rim landers again.
18: lamput
Lamput is from a small string of islands in the Southern Hemisphere of Airth. His people are a race of piglike beings. His travels have taken him all over the islands of Airth, trading goods with other communities. With more and more islands falling to the Tengru, he decides to join the fight against them.
19: yergee
Lamput’s raised Yergee from birth and the two can understand each other’s feelings perfectly. They often keep each other out of danger when Lamput’s trade deals go south.
20: sklaw
In order to carry out the plans of the Empress, Mal Threck sometimes resorts to using bounty hunters. Sklaw is ruthless and efficient and prefers to use a custom made electro blade strong enough to bring down a ragdog.
21: ilka
A sylph from the southern kingdom. Ilka and her people are masters of aerial spear fighting.
You can distinguish between northern and southern sylph a by wing pattern and coloration. The southern sylphs have flat wing tips that are a darker gray than their northern counterparts. There skin also has a reddish hue to it.
22: tech assistant
This guy was pulled straight from the comic. He’s only in two scenes in the book. I created him at the last minute, designed him right on the comic page, but he’s stuck with me. I had to add him to this line up.
23: skyler
Skyler is from a small kingdom of islands along the eastern rim. The tengru attacks have torn her land apart, so she joins the fight to end the world of Airth of this darkness.
She’s clearly riding something I haven’t drawn yet. I’ll post that design in a couple days!
24: spybats
These are the surveillance drones of the Dark Empire. Mal Threck uses them all the time to spy on targets and operations around Airth.
25: skyfins
It’s said that when skyphins fly with you you’ll have good luck on your journey and success in your endeavors!
26: tech administrator
This guy sees over all the other techs to make sure spybat data is stored and processed, crystal energy is being processed and transferred, and that communication lines aren’t ever severed. They keep everything running smooth in the Empire.
27: gubb
Gubb and Skyler have been pals for years working on a large ranch in the islands along the eastern rim. When their land was ruined by Tengru hordes they joined the fight against the empress.
28: shadow guard
The Empress hand picked and physically altered these beings to become super warriors skilled in many forms of fighting.
29: zoreah the immortal
Zoreah fought against the Empress in the Great War millennia ago. She was able to banish the Empress’ soul to the core world, but it cost her everything. Powerless, she escaped to the outer reaches of the galaxy to find new strength. Those who defend the Star Tree hope she will return again some day to help finish the Empress off for good.
30: the empress
She rebelled against her fellow immortals to take Airth and turn it into a black hole. She was stopped at the last moment but it practically destroyed Airth and caused her to soul to be banished. Now she’s back with new power she’s gained from the most horrible means. The only thing standing in her way is the power trapped in the Star Seed.
31: the star seed
When the Prime Immortals created Airth they grew a star Tree who’s fruit granted mortals their power for a short time. The Empress was enraged by this, “You give our powers to the lowest of life? Then we become no better than them!”
A war was fought over the Star Tree and it was destroyed. All save for one seed from the last of its fruit. The Empress will stop at nothing to destroy that remnant. But if it is protected, and allowed to germinate, the mortals of Airth will be able to gain the immortal powers of the Prime, and end the Empress and her army for good!
bonus drawings
new york
Kong has his Inktober tools, now he just needs a place to draw.
5: build
6: husky
28: ride
Her ride broke because of a particularly hard landing. Luckily, she knew someone who had the skill to fix it. The only problem was they were a day’s hike out of town.
