The Water Phoenix King

One of the interesting things I’ve noticed about drawing as opposed to writing a story is the different types of details one needs to apprehend. While I’m no equestrian, I’ve read enough about about riding to feel like I won’t make a fool of myself writing about horses. (Or near-horses, in the case of this story.) But drawing is a different matter: the details of how every part of the tack attaches to every other part, the way a saddle is stored, the shape and geometry of a soldier’s saddle as opposed to one intended for general riding, all these things, in a comic, require a sort of visual expertise that I have yet to acquire and that goes beyond the need simply to understand the terminology and how the pieces fit together.

Working harder to get a feel for environments. I’ve been re-watching Futurama, and they have excellent environments, as does one of my favorite comics, Transmetropolitan, which shares an aesthetic with the cartoon.