Reference Model: Haven Guildroom:
With Black Axe #6 (the final issue in that series) having been out for nearly three weeks, I figure it's safe to publish & talk about the model for the Haven Guildroom. If you have not read the issue and are worried about spoilers, it may be time to close this window (but please come back after you've read it!)

Confession: I made this model twice. The first time is when I was designing the room for the cover image. In the original incarnation the columns that make up the corners were from an attempt to make one full column and then cut into quarters. The result were some sloppy joints and wonkey lines. I'd also built it a bit small so that seeing the detail was harder than it had to be. Months and months later, when it was time to draw issue 6, I knew this model would be important (several pages take place here). So I rebuilt the model using some files I'd saved for the upper columns but also using my artwork from the cover as a skin for one of the walls.I had a better technique for making the upper columns this time too. I used wooden arched ribs or fins that stuck off the column to form a structure I could glue each paper strip of the column to.

The floor is a pattern from a cathedral window. Like all my models, I try to make each part modular so I can get inside the model better and also reuse parts (two of the walls were mirror images of each other, so I could just swap the 1 piece I made to either side. The walls were also keyed on the top (you can see the slot on the top of each wall) That corresponded with a block on the top of the ceiling that it would go over to keep in aligned and in place. In case you are wondering, the only reason the one column is purple is that my print cartridge was dying on me.

The Haven Guildroom is a clandestine order that was originally founded to watch over the secrets of the guild founders of four disciplines: Mathematics, Carpentry, Metalsmithing, & Masonry. I tried to add a lot of details to the room that echoed the 4 motif: 4 walls, 4 columns,  4 wrought hinges per door, 4 cupboards per wall. To show how regarded these founders and their teachings and techniques are to the guild, I had a wall dedicated to saint-like carvings of them. Because the Black Axe story is focused on the axe and its forging, the discussion in this room makes it seem as though the Haven Guild is only now a Templar-like group for the axe...but presumably there are secrets they protect for the other founders as well. And with regard to Farrer's secrets...don't expect that all of them have now been explained. I have more in store for future stories.

The Haven Guildroom as it appears in Black Axe #6.

In two weeks, I'll post the last models I built for Black Axe #6, so if you are enjoying the model posts, there is still one left...if you are sick of the model posts...don't worry, only one more to go.

Watercolor Wednesday: 
Keeping up with the tradition I mentioned on last week's blog, these Watercolors are redesigns of old characters of mine. First up is Roan a red dragon from a project Jesse Glenn and I started plotting out on my 18th birthday. A while back I posted one of the other dragons from this un-pursued project as a Watercolor Wednesday piece: Loden.

The 2nd watercolor from last week was Cap Transfo, a character I first drew in 8th grade science class. Cap may be the first character I still remember making (and have record of). A little while back, I did a whole blogpost about character design that involved Cap and the project he was associated with (though I also had him & Zubelflex in their own story as buddy cops in the Intergalactic Space Police....you know...the IGSP)

Tomorrow I'll post more paintings in my online store.

2013 Appearances: 
Fabletown Con: March 22-24
C2E2: April 26-28
Spectrum Live: May 17-19
Heroes Con: June 7-9
Albuquerque Comic Expo June 21-23
San Diego Comic Con: July 17-21
*more 2013 dates coming*