From the Special Projects Unit
Have you ever had a dream where you’re lying comfortably in your bed and then the next moment falling over a city? It’s happened to me a couple times and I always wake up with my heart pounding!
For this year’s Inktober challenge I’m wanted to try answer the question: what if you don’t wake up from the falling dream? What happens next?!
This is my 15th Inktober challenge, and every time (whether I complete it or not) I get pushed just beyond my ability and comfort, AND I seem to get better at drawing.
I guess that’s why I keep coming back to it.
With that, here's my first 16 drawings for the year:
Day 1 - DREAM
Day 2 - SPIDERS
Instead of waking up from the dream, the boy’s fall was broken by a loose web stretching between the derelict buildings. It looked as if the city’s inhabitants had vanished years ago. He was not looking forward to meeting its new citizens.
Day 3 - PATH
The boy wriggled free from the webbing, and dove into a hole in the ground to escape the oncoming spiders. The dark tunnel widened and opened up to a lighted path underground.
Day 4 - DODGE
The bikers rode sharp and fast as they dodged around the boy and skidded to a halt. One in front and one in back, these were the first humans he saw since landing in the foreign city. Something about their dead eyes made him more afraid than the spiders.
Day 5 - MAP
Something about the boy demanded protection rather than predation. The bikers knew exatly where to take him.
Guided by these unlikely saviors, the boy found himself standing before the Underseer in a chamber aglow with surface light. Here, the Underseer, a figure of enigmatic authority, bestowed upon the boy a truth as profound as it was unsettling.
"Without the map," the Underseer said, "you shall remain forever adrift in this dream world, a ship without a star to steer by."
Day 6 - GOLDEN
The deal was struck with an unspoken weight that hung heavily in the chamber of light.
"I shall give you the map," the Underseer said, his voice echoing through the chamber like a distant thunder. "But in return, you must retrieve something of great importance to me. In the belly of the Temple of the Golden Sun, lies a sacred artifact—The Star Crystal. Bring it back to me, and you shall have your passage out of this underworld. Your path homeward will be revealed."
Day 7 - DRIP
The chamber was a place of profound stillness, save for the haunting drip of condensation that echoed through the air. As the boy’s fingers closed around the Star Crystal, he felt a shiver of otherworldly power coursing through him. The crystal was cold to the touch, as if it held the very essence of the cosmos within its core.
Day 8 - TOAD
As the boy hurried out of the temple, clutching the Star Crystal tightly, a question nagged at him. Why had the Underseer not retrieved it himself?
Day 9 - BOUNCE
The toad monster's monstrous bulk belied its deceptively swift and nimble nature. Determined to escape its attacks, the boy darted into the labyrinth of the underworld. The toad gave chase, each crushing bounce closing the gap between them with alarming speed.
I realized after I finished inking that the proportions were off on the boy, so I went in with correction tape and tried to fix it. Still not happy with the pose/proportions. Finished, not perfect, right?
Day 10 - Fortune
Just as the boy felt the monstrous toad's noxious breath and gaping jaws closing in on him, a turn of fortune appeared in the form of a girl swooping in with breathtaking speed on the back of a jet-powered beetle.
Day 11 - WANDER
The Underseer's promise of the map was just a lie laid bare by the danger the boy escaped. She flew him out of the underworld, beyond the fallen city, to wander lands safe from the treachery of the Underseer and his malevolent forces.
There, the two of them hatched a plan to return the Star Crystal to its rightful place, knowing that it was essential not just for the boy's escape but also for the stability of this dream world itself. In the process the two's hearts became intertwined with a shared sense of purpose and destiny.
Day 12 - SPICY
The boy and the girl observed the strange passage of time, which seemed to move faster and differently in this realm. Days turned into years, and it felt as if they had known each other for a lifetime. The memories of the boy's home, once vivid and urgent, began to fade like a distant, forgotten story.
The importance of the Star Crystal started to diminish in their eyes. It was tucked away safe on the hidden island where they had carved out a life together.
Day 13 - RISE
Watching the moon rise over the sea the two found a sanctuary in each other's arms that they never wanted to leave. However an unspoken reality lingered in the air. The enemies that had haunted their journey through the dream world were not to be underestimated, and their thirst for power and control would not wane with the passing of time.
Day 14 - CASTLE
As the urgent transmission crackled through the girl's radio, a sense of foreboding gripped the boy and the girl. The call summoned her to the Sky Castle; a place she had vowed never to return to. But her commitment to that old promise dissolved when she learned why she was needed. The voice of her mother was faint but heavy, "The world is collapsing, we need the Star Crystal."
Day 15 - DAGGER
With each strike of her dagger, the girl carved a path through the assailants as the boy shielded the Star Crystal. The crystal, pulsing with an otherworld energy would find safekeeping with the Castle's Monarch. The only question remained was how the Underseer knew to send a wake of Sun Walkers to the Sky Castle first.
I couldn’t quite get this finished yesterday, so I’m officially behind! Good run though. I think this is the best I’ve done on Inktober in a while.
Day 16 & 17 - ANGEL & DEMON
My plan, as always, is to stay on top of the challenge this year and do all 31 days. If anyone has been following my posts you'll see I've fallen behind this week. Life got in the way and I haven't been able to do it the last 3 days.
I might catch up, or I might have to come back to this later, not sure how I'm going to fit in the time to finish this AND go to Los Angeles next week for Lightbox. We shall see!
-Jake