orions-writing-blurbs

[orions-writing-blurbs]

“But that would be impossible, right?”

“Weeell-”

“Wizard, I swear to god.”

“Listen, if science and magic have one thing in common, it’s that a lot of very complex things tend to get… simpler versions for laymen to understand. The mana principle has never been broken as far as we know but we’ve been theorizing how one could break it basically from the minute it had a name.”

[orions-writing-blurbs]

"Hello, Chuck Seagul." A slithery voice said over the phone. Chuck sipped his lemonade from a martini glass, he already regretted picking up the call. "Speaking." He said back.

"You don't know us," That was obvious. "We represent a group in the criminal underground of the pro'rag region." Chuck poured chips into a large bowl while the stranger talked.

He debated on just hanging up but since retirement, he had become oddly nostalgic for villain monologues. Although this stranger was reminding him why he had found them annoying. "... Your skills in combat and charisma are legendary. Your exploits are that of legend..."

"Poor word choice." Chuck thought to himself. Besides him, the door to the backdoor opened and Rhea came in, "Hey Dad, do you still have some of those insect-repelling candle things?"

"Yeah, yeah." He took his ear from the interstellar phone and gestured towards the other door. "I think they're in the garage."

As Rhea crossed the kitchen, the callers on the other end of Chuck's phone suddenly shouted.

"Who are you talking to?" She asked.

"I don't know some scammers on the other end of the galaxy." Chuck shrugged, before turning back to his phone. "Could you repeat that last part, I didn't quite catch it."

"Gah..." There was a pause on the other end. The stranger sounded halfway offended. "We have your son."

Chuck froze in place with the martini glass resting on his lips. For a split second, he was filled with rage, confusion, nausea, but mostly fear. In the next second, he calmly stated, "No, you don't."/

“To ensure his safe return-” The strangers stumbled and there was a long silence over the phone. Now they were definitely insulted. "Yes, we do!"

"No, you don't," Chuck repeated.

"We do!" Another voice interrupted. Probably a higher-up in whatever 'criminal underground' this was.

"You definitely don’t. I'm standing in my kitchen and looking at all of them." Chuck said, peeking through the window over the sink.

Rhea had found the candles. Genry was helping with the grill. Tiffany Jr. and Chxt-Ch'x were playing one-on-one volleyball ("You think the extra limbs would be an advantage." Chuck passively thought as Chxt missed an easy pass). Fox, who had been the most reluctant to come, was sitting in a wicker chair and laughing. That made Chuck smile.

"And you're so sure you have all of them?" The stranger said, voice dripping with smugness. “Or that you even know all of them?”

"Look asshole." Chuck turned. He was getting tired of indulging these small-timers and wanted to get back to the party. "I haven't been the best father by any measure, for most of my life but I did manage to keep a count on all my bastards. Goodbye."

“Wait, Wait, Wait!” The stranger yelled before Chuck could hit ‘disconnect’. “Listen, he’s right here. Talk to him yourself.”

There was some sound of shuffling, muffled voices, and what Chuck recognized as tape being removed from skin. Someone new started talking. “Heeeey, Mr- er, Dad.” It was definitely a kid’s voice, probably in his late teens. He sounded very scared and a bit embarrassed.

“Hi,” Chuck sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, okay, I think I get it now. You wanted to make a name for yourself. And maybe you’re blond or tall or are at least look half human. So you decided to say you were related to an ‘infamous space rogue’ to give you a leg up, reputation-wise. Is that about right?”

“...Yeah.” The kid admitted meekly.

“This actually isn’t the first time something like this has happened,” Chuck assured him. “Though I don’t think any of those past guys were held for ransom.” The kid laughed awkwardly. Chuck ran his fingers through his hair, he was REALLY starting to regret picking up the phone. “So, I’m gonna be straight with you here, kid. I don’t think I can really help you out here. I’m in the Switz region. I can’t make a credit transfer this far. And I can’t really leave ‘cause of all the ah- active warrants.”

“No, no. That’s fair.” The kid said resigned. “I did get myself into this.”

Chuck paused, then laughed. “Wow, wish I could hear my actual kids say that.”

“Heheh. Well since I’m here, I wanna add it’s an honor to talk to you.” The kid said, despite trying to be calm, his voice tensed near the end. Chuck thought he could hear the hum of an energy weapon in the background. “I’m a big fan. Have been since I was a kid.”

“Thanks, I don’t hear that very often these days.” Chuck admitted, he felt too awkward to just hang up. “Would you like me to send a message to anyone, I could-”

Before he could finish the offer, there was an enormous crash. Followed by blaster fire and some alien screaming. The kid on the other end manage to yell out, “SorryMr.SeagulThat'smyrescuesquad, gotta go BYE!” before the line went dead.

Chuck looked at the phone in his hand for a second, processing what had just happened. After a moment, he set the interstellar-phone back in its dock and said to himself as he headed to the backyard, “Huh, What a nice kid.”

[orions-writing-blurbs]

more advice I can offer!

How do I break down poses?: if I am using a reference(which I recommend and is always okay to do) I break it down by the biggest PIECES. Place the head first. Shoulders and hip placement will do the heavy lifting next. Then extremities!

How do I handle hair shapes and drawing faces/limbs at different angles without making them look flat?: remember that we are made of 3D shapes!

How do I draw interactions such as hugging?: of course figure drawing/gestures and studying anatomy, but also studying art or pictures of characters interacting that you really like helps too! You can do private studies to see how it’s approached!