Troy Trailblazer: Flute Of The Desert Kings Part 1

A double page spread from my latest Troy Trailblazer adventure for The Phoenix Weekly Story Comic. It's a 2 part adventure and each episode is made of up two double page spreads Wanted to experiment with my layouts a bit and break free from the traditional single page format. I wouldn't do that all the time but it suited this strip pretty well.

I also took the opportunity with this shorter series to look at streamlining my working process a little. In past work I've been quite reliant on photographic textures for my backgrounds but this technique can sometimes look a little over processed and distracting, as well as very time consuming, something you have to think about when deadlines are looming! So I went for a simpler background style style using flat shadows and quite loose brush textures. I think it works really well and sits better with the bold character designs. Would be interested to hear what anyone thinks of this new approach though, good or bad.

Troy Trailblazer: And The Flute of the Desert Kings is appearing in the Phoenix Comic issues 58 - 59. As well as the traditional print edition which you can get in most good comic shops, Waitrose, or subscription, you can now get a digital edition via the Newsstand on iPad! Find out more here: [link]