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Alia explores an unknown world full of danger. Harkening back to classic explorer stories, she keeps a cool head and curious eyes.
Patreon backers will get not only to see the comics a week early but also a translation of the near-indecipherable text on the journal pages. While the text on these pages is for “decorative purposes,” they are fun (and hopefully funny).
Sketches
Color Test
Testing out two new sets of color, I tried using only the included colors. It was hard! But a nice challenge. One of the two sets included an opalescent color.
Handwriting
I didn’t necessarily want Alia’s handwriting to be my handwriting. I also didn’t necessarily want it to be legible. So of course, that meant I needed to practice a bunch of styles. I looked at letters from the ’40s on Pinterest. I read about graphology and tried to pick things that fit her personality.
And then later found a font that works near perfectly for what I have in mind…
About the Creator
Angela Boyle is a natural science illustrator and cartoonist. I received an MFA in cartooning from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2016. The Brazilian tapir is my favorite animal, only partly because it has a mohawk.
I am the author of Maker Comics: Live Sustainably out from First Second in 2022 (art by Les McClaine) and run the natural science comic anthology Awesome ‘Possum (four volumes so far). I currently freelance proofreading for Chelsea Green Publishing, and freelance graphic design work for First Second (including the Clash of Clans series). You can read more of my work at angelabcomics.com.
