So… Asimov. Changes.

This one was tough, especially since I haven’t done a day scene on the surface in awhile either. So I talked to Steve a lot about Asimov, and I think I mentioned he showed me his ideas for Asimov while working on his Marooned short story (which is turning out fantastic!) I liked what he did with Asimov quite a bit.

Still, change is hard. I didn’t want to copy exactly what Steve did, although I did take a fair amount. Really, there’s just a few extra lines to help with fleshing him out a bit, a bit more definition to the buttons and the red “pressable” area to the them. But clearly the biggest change (other than the body colors) is the screen color. It’s a real big move it seems.

The thing is, it doesn’t work with the lighter blue anymore, not with the lighter body color. And the move to a darker color scheme for Asimov was a mistake because he’s always getting lost in the background – the very thing I was trying to avoid! (Sometimes I don’t know what is wrong with my brain.)

And it was tricky to avoid having him look like R2D2. I really think this color scheme works the best. I’ll be interested to hear what you all think. Like I said, I know change can be difficult with an established character. But I really feel like this is pretty necessary. Hopefully Steve doesn’t mind too much that I stole some of his ideas!

The surface is a little more orange here too. Not only is it daytime, but I had strayed a bit too much into brown. I mean this is MARS for cryin’ out loud!

If you are a newer reader, you may not get what Ril is wearing. She’s wearing an invention by the Geboraga called simply a “bioshield.” It allows her to go onto the surface without dying (always a good thing). The nice thing is the shield is completely flexible. She can grab things, walk, etc without any problem at all.

Of course Ugo doesn’t need one, being a supersonic cybernetic creation and all.

This strip was a ton of work, both physically and mentally. Not only with Asimov, but drawing all the panels properly with Ril’s expressions and John flipping (my favorite John drawing so far) – and *8* panels to boot! Phew! But I like how it came out. Definitely one of my favorites.

New Readers

If you are a new reader, you have jumped in at the perfect time. Episode 9 is just beginning. Sit back and enjoy the story!

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