Encryptions Decrypted IV

Hello again. Welcome to another installment of Encryptions Decrypted. I'm your host, Mr. Spywithadecoderring. Let's jump right into my sketches, shall we?

Ok, so, you can't exactly jump into these sketches because they're superimposed on your computer screen, but you can gaze upon them. Let their jewels of detail cascade upon your opticals like that fashion model you just so happen to notice is wearing a NORML pin on her lapel. This is Velvet from Odin Sphere. Have I ever played the game and therefore love it? No. Have I even seen someone play the game? No. Did I find interesting concept art of Odin Sphere and feel compelled to draw her? Exactly. Isn't it great when you ask the RIGHT questions? Write that down.

Shay Maria. She's as sexy as a pair of handcuffs and a leather whip sitting on your nightstand. Artists, take note, real life models most people can't readily identify make for GREAT photo reference. I have a narration for this one:

"The sound of her clothes falling to my floor. The shine of her bottom lip in the moonlight. The clinking of her car keys she rests on my desk. Her shadow frame, stark and supple black against the soft night of my room. All ephemeral in this moment. The only detail I'll never forget is that needing look in her eye and that feeling, that knowing that I'd have her tonight. Thrice."

On the left in this exhibit is Stefan Dragonmir from Turf. If you haven't read Turf, then maybe consider finding a copy of it for your personal collection. Here's the premise in disconnected one word phrases: Prohibition. Vampires. Aliens. Mafia. TommyLeeEdwards. The last one doesn't necessarily count, but it makes all the difference. TLE's thick ink, heavy noir existence on paper is an advancement in storytelling. No lie. And on the right, you'll see a noiry shot of my favorite creator-owned character, Niki Fury. Her positioning isn't as fluid or natural as I'd've liked it to be, but her facial expression is one for the records. It's the type of face that combines sinister and sexy so much so that you have nothing left in you but to stare were she real.

The blue girl is a friend of mine that fit a character I wanted to draw at the time perfectly. The name, Lady la Vis, is actually the name of a character I asked my sister to create for me. La Vis means "the screw" in French, for those of you non-French spies reading this. I'll always credit my sister with Lady la Vis [though I've taken heavy design liberties with her]. Also? The blue copic outline really does the work.

Here's Lady la Vis in all her bed-lazing glory. Lady la Vis is a pirate queen that sails a jungle river with her hallucinogen mist-immune crew. She has impeccable sword skill, her ethnicity is that of a local blue Indian tribe of women only, and her hopes and dreams are that of her crew. Below is an excerpt from her personal journal:

"It's one of those days again. I think about him and her and I want to cry. I closed off my quarters telling my personal watch I needed some privacy. They inquired as to the reason for my privacy and I cut them off for questioning my decisions. But in reality, instead of some devious ploy for treasure I'd purloined off a rotting Seaman's corpse, I just wanted to curl into a ball of bedsheets and cry. And that's what I did. I wasn't the only one crying, thank heavens. The sky closed like a fist and punched a click-clack of heavy drops onto my window. The deluge, like a snowball, increased and increased and increased. As did my tears."