Old Roster

Once again, I don't have any holiday-specific art, but seeing as it's New Years, I think it's as good a time as ever to reflect on past art. Previously unreleased art, to be specific. This stuff is going to be turning eight years old soon, which is just crazy to me. 
This was drawn sometime in 2016, the time of my old comic which is unrelated to any of my current works. I've mentioned it before and described the incredibly stupid plot in this post: www.deviantart.com/cardlin/art…

The characters from left to right are:
- Kelly, a female opposite to proto-Jesse. She's one of the few characters I actually didn't end up repurposing. Whatever role I had in mind for her in the story, I didn't get far enough to begin it. I wrote and drew about 20 pages which I may or may not post in the future. Probably not soon though.

- Proto-Jesse, or "Kole". He was the main character, a lazy, temperamental, impulsive, and selfish cat. I'm not sure if I ever intended on having him develop as a character or not, but considering my writing skills at the time, probably not. Like I've mentioned before, he was repurposed into Jesse when I started work on Locals Only, and a few of his personality traits carried over.

- Richard, the main villain. He was very different, and really only his design, name, and overall role are the same now. In this story, he was a self-obsessed egomaniac and an over-the-top Saturday Morning cartoon style villain. He was vain and reveled in being evil and dastardly. A far cry from the sly, serious, silver-tongued, and intellegent threat that he's characterized as now.

- Lynn. Just like now, she was Richard's naïve wife. Interestingly, even though Rosa Lee did exist at this time, she was not a part of the story (though I do believe I gave her a cameo in a crowd scene). Because of that, Lynn sort of had the same role as Susan's doting friend. She was sweet, trusting, and a notoriously bad driver, all traits which are still consistent with her modern iteration. The most major difference to now is that back then she wasn't quite as...doughy.

- Susan. Her role in the story was that of a "goddess" as is typical in hero's journey stories. She would've come in just in time to rescue Kole if I had gotten that far. To contrast that though, she was jaded, sarcastic, and over-emotional. Another case where a character is radically different to how they are now. I think I really wanted to get away from jadedness in general and be more genuine.

- Lawrence. Lawrence had a similar role to what he has now, but was much more prevalent. While now he makes few appearances and rarely speaks, back then he was essentially Richard's right-hand man. A sycophantic suck-up and personal assistant, Lawrence was always seen by Richard's side and was there to reinforce his ideas. 

- Barebones. The secondary antagonist, Barebones was a bounty hunter hired by Richard to stop Kole as he travelled. He was a crow that wore a deer skull and an orange jumpsuit. He was supposed to be a silent but imposing killer, with a secret past that I kept changing every week. In one of the most radical shifts of any of my characters, I reimagined Barebones as Barnes. Talk about an extreme change.

- Avery. He would've been Kole's only companion for a while, and the first one he meets on his journey. Just like now, he was a conspiracy theorist, lived alone underground, and was a pilot in his past. In fact, I think the name I chose for him was solely for the alliteration "Aviator Avery". 

I actually have quite a bit to say about that old comic, so chances are I'll work up the courage to share it some day. But not for a while.