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Barbarian Schoolgirls

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Three years ago, I came up with a concept called Barbarian Schoolgirls. It was about a huntress, an amazon, a valkyrie and a fighting nun who go to a school where they train as part of a typical RPG/fantasy class. It's high fantasy, so I call the school Fantasy High.

Here is the main character, Addison Lane, walking to school with her oversized amazon friend, Baldhart Eisenberg. Apologies for the skull bra. I wanted a really stupid costume that's on par with the chainmail bikini, and I'm hoping it works as ridiculous without being offensive.

walk_to_school_by_legendarysidekick-d8xlg0s.png

Tools: pencil, scanner, Wacom Bamboo, PhotoShop Essentials

Technique: draw light lines, draw heavy lines, regret, erase, fix, don't ink because I'll goof it up, scan at 600 dpi, use 100 pt soft brush for most of the coloring

Colors are from this palette I found online…
16-bit_Pallete.png
…except I made my own 16-color grayscale. (FFFFFF, EEEEEE, DDDDDD…)
 
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Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Love it! I always thought this was an awesome concept. I hope to see a series of short stories or a novel based on this idea at some point. Or maybe even a comic? Good stuff!
 
The skull bra kicks ass, and there's the start of your story: she dragged into the principal's office for violating the school's dress code. Of course, she could respond that if others can wear kippahs and headscarves, then she should be able to wear her traditional tribal dress.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Here's the full party from Awesome Warrior. I'm still trying to get the look right for everyone, and this will mean changing up weapons a bit. The healer is a fighting monk and Wallace the Iron Wall wields a two-hander with a tower shield. Karl Dragonsbane doesn't wear amor; he just shows his scars.

awesome_warrior_by_legendarysidekick-d8yg108.png
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
I've been doing a bit of planning, including resizing the strip to the standard 2:1 ratio. (Penny Arcade's a little over 1024x512; mine's 980x490… but the original art is saved at 8 times that resolution since in the very near future, I expect ~1000p wide will be considered low res.)

awesome_warrior_action_scene_by_legendarysidekick-d8yrhis.png

(Viewed in MS forum, this^ is 699x350)

This is page 2 of "Awesome Warrior" which will be a 12-page prologue. (The comic's name will remain "Barbarian Schoolgirls"—the premise is that Addison's Junior year outing goes awry when a hungry breel shows up. When the main story starts, she is a senior and Baldhart is a freshman. Normal age range for the Fantasy High School of Fighting is 16-20; 19-20 at graduation.)

I'll have 10 stand-alone strips in addition to the prologue before I go live. I may go live with the full prologue + 1st strip, or at least the first three pages of the prologue. I'll try to resist the urge to post them here.

As I was going through my notes, I realized that 3 panels wouldn't always cut it. The pacing worked better with room for a 4th panel, so I stretched the two completed pages and scripted the others in my note pad. So far, I'm able to pull off titles for each strip. Believe it or not, this is easier than naming chapters.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
2" Teaser

If you were to click the Awesome Warrior link in my sig, you'd see the first three words of the story are "a deafening roar." That's the title for page 3 of my prologue.

I'd like the comic version to be a surprise, so I'll stop posting all of my updates. But here's a peek at p.3. Addison is getting beaten down by the letter R.

Screen_Shot_2015-07-02_at_10_44_28_PM.png

…and by the number 3.
 
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MineOwnKing

Maester
These are really cool.

I like these fighting clips, the action really brings out the personalities.

Have you ever thought of having a pet accompany them through their adventures?

Maybe a pet monkey or a dog?
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
These are really cool.

I like these fighting clips, the action really brings out the personalities.
Thanks.!

These are incomplete in the sense that none of Addison's monologuing is posted here. Hopefully, you'll like the action sequences better with her voice. They work without it, but her monologue gives a bit of insight into why she's out here. (A little. I'll admit my plot-heaviness is equal to that of a typical action flick.)

Have you ever thought of having a pet accompany them through their adventures?

Maybe a pet monkey or a dog?
Addison will dabble in druidry at some point, so I'll likely have animal companions come up then, though I have no plans for a permanent pet. That doesn't mean it won't happen.

Right now, I'm going to finish Addison's "Awesome Warrior" story (hopefully in August or September) then get her and Baldhart together in one strip and focus on the Fantasy High School of Fighting for 10+ strips—most of which are stand-alones, unlike the prologue, which will likely end up as a 12- or 13-strip adventure. I have plenty of pre-written material plus stuff I've come up with in the past couple weeks. I can definitely write a lot faster than I can draw, so no worries of running short of ideas. They'll have been thought through long before I can draw them!
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Here's the breel in what may be my only full body shot of him!

the_breel_on_page_4__panel_3_by_legendarysidekick-d90icdv.png


This is a screenshot of page 4, panel 3—before coloring, of course.
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
barbarian_schoolgirls_level_2_by_legendarysidekick-d97vxeo.png

Update: Nissa is Baldhart's mini-me!

Confession: Baldy's hair things aren't the same blue as the background. I forgot to color that part. Whoops. Just imagine a slightly different blue, and you'll get the correct image without me having to upload again.
 
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Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Nissa in gold valkyrie armor.
nissa___constellation_by_legendarysidekick-d9b90sn.png

Like Maude Lebowski wore, but the breastplate doesn't resemble a pair of bowling balls.

EDIT - Added wings.
 
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Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Addison and Baldhart on their first day of school. Well, not that young really, but the youngest I've ever drawn them. One is more enthusiastic about school than the other.

addy_and_baldy___1st_day_of_school_by_legendarysidekick-d9bgjfa.png

EDIT - I know what's bothering me about this now. Addison is a tiny adult because I'm giving her the narrow waist. My rough sketch (not shown) had it right. String-bean Baldhart looks properly young, but I'll redraw Addison.
 
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Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
I gave Addy and Baldy the same kind of kilt (and same size too, it seems). And now Addy's in a better mood because she's playing with her power over animals, giving her sort of a Disney-princessy following. Yet, Baldy is still fascinated by whatever's on the road ahead. There must be something off-camera that looks so awesome you'd need a better artist to draw it.

addy_and_baldy___1st_day_of_school_by_legendarysidekick-d9bgjfa.png
 

Legendary Sidekick

The HAM'ster
Moderator
Playing around with that first walk to school. I like young Baldhart's twiggy figure. It's quite fun to draw, especially when she gets hurt.

ffddd8_5cd4e4f8f439413ea79bfc76ba7cd191.png_srz_p_600_325_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_png_srz
 
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