About
Akashik is the reboot of Akashik: Battle of Angels. It is mostly written and created by K. J. Joyner, but Tim Belcher gives essential advice and ideas when the time comes. Even if writing sessions with him are like pulling teeth from a duck.
Akashik is the sister comic to The Heavenly Bride. Akashik is set years after the events of The Heavenly Bride.
Akashik is created through a very long process, and after I had to close the comic last time it took me years to get it going again. I have some very important tools I use to make it look the way it does that I would be lost without. Scenes are created by 3D using DAZ Studio rendering with 3Delight with the pwtoon shaders coupled with the AoA Volumetric Camera by Age of Armour. Sometimes I also use the visual shaders for DAZ Studio but not as much as I used to. It just depends on what effect I want. The camera is probably one of the most important tools in my arsenal there.
When I have all of the images, I assemble them in Comic Life where I add sound effects and word balloons. When it comes to lettering, I suck so I’m very grateful for this program.
Sometimes I want an animated png page. Then I will create a series of images or pages and assemble them in apng assembler.
Yes, I do notice a parallel in basic style and creation choice with that hit cartoon The Dragon Prince. The biggest difference between me and them is that their work process has more bells and whistles than mine does, and I’ve been working on producing this comic longer than the show has been alive. (Same goes for RWBY before you ask.) No, the Dragon Prince team did not answer my email when I asked them how they did their noses. I am most envious on how they get their noses to outline perfectly.
To give you an idea of the process: when creating a new “movie set” for an up and coming scene (and possibly future scenes) I will spend weeks to months hunting for the right props and things to put into it. There are sets you can get that are all ready to go, but I will often change parts of them anyway. It just depends on what I can find. Sometimes I will have to import items bit by bit and work on them myself, which is better than making them from scratch but is still time intensive.
I have a lot of half-started items and sets in my library because I will work on one, get to a point, and stop. I may or may not use them in the future, but better safe than sorry. They all get finished sooner or later.
Once the set is finished and characters are ready, a scene begins to be created. (We’re not including time to write and develop other matters here.) Sometimes this goes very fast. Sometimes I will spend hours just playing with the lighting alone, or how the background renders. I realize there are people out there who do not recognize 3D as art, but it is art. Not recognizing 3D as an artform is like saying Picasso wasn’t an artist because he didn’t use charcoal. 3D is a tool, and it’s one I work to utilize well.
To avoid heartbreak, I have at least one (although I try for two) backups of my 3D library on external disks. Your donations actually help with that. I’m always wearing disks out, and they can get expensive. The larger my library gets, the bigger disk I have to get. I’ve been collecting 3D items for at least 20 years. At first I got them because I thought they were cool; I had no idea how far I’d go with it. Some items I have you can’t find anywhere anymore.
I very much enjoy finding game ready items and sets for the unreal engine, actually. When it comes to my personal style, a lot of those items seem to match up. Often, though, I’m not able to import them in. I’m actively looking for a way to export an entire scene out as a single set from UE because bringing things in item by item can be a pain. Also, creating scenes in UE appears to be easier than in DAZ. Marrying a work flow between the two would be amazing.
Currently the Akashik characters are based on DAZ Studio’s Genesis figures; primarily, Genesis 3 and Genesis 8. I was using their Aiko and Hiro 3 for a long while, but thank goodness I was able to bring shapes up to newer models. So happy. *sheds tear*
My dream is to get at least a 24 core processor. Akashik’s render engine is necessarily 3Delight, which uses cores and not video cards for rendering. I also need a stronger video card then I have. The two I have are old, but unless someone is willing to donate several thousand dollars to the cause I’m not sure that’s going to happen today. But should it happen, the animations I also make for Akashik and other items would be able to happen more frequently. Currently it takes me an average of 3 days to render just a couple of seconds of animation.
Characters
The cast of Akashik, from main protagonist to minor annoyance.
TausTaus went AWOL years ago, leaving her beloved husband behind and running across the universe as far from Reticulan rule as she could get. She's fond of the first several licks of an ice cream cone and fashionable clothing. Her powers include fire, speed, and flight. Comics: 92 | |
NPCsThe NPCs are just background color for various scenes. They can be any race, shape or size. The ones with the big butts were probably designed by Tim. Comics: 31 | |
RufflesRuffles wouldn't tell you if you asked. Comics: 29 | |
GanjiSpacer by birth, this veteran has no interest in settling down on some backwater planet only to be covered in mud. He hitches rides from starport to starport as the mood fits him. He earns food money with side jobs fixing machinery: the bigger the better. Comics: 27 | |
OccomBeing the ward of a notorious criminal on the run has it's moments. Like the embarrassing moments when your foster mother kidnaps you off the street for a private chat only to end up fighting the fiercest person in your unit. In the air, where everybody can see it. Comics: 20 | |
Mad RenMad Ren looks more like her mother, but doesn't act like anyone in the family they know. She's very... exuberant. Especially when it comes to fireworks. Comics: 19 | |
BellaAlthough she wears white in her uniform, meaning she was given her post, she was the best of her class at the Mercy Academy where all Cerberus pups must go to graduate. As a member of the Annannagi race, she is very proud of her lineage and looks down her cute nose at all Humans. She can fly and wields lightening. Comics: 19 | |
LeviathanIf you didn't know, it's not easy getting into Cerberus. Being just a Candidate - a pup as you will - is pretty much something to be proud of. If you're proud to be part of an empire which subjugates the undesirables that is. Known as "Levit" to most people. Comics: 16 | |
RubyRuby felt ordinary, average... just a naga without a plan. It seemed she just couldn't stand out from the snakepit, until she went to space. There people found her downright alluring, and she's loving every minute of it. Comics: 15 | |
TeaspoonTeaspoon the Mad, the most slithery pirate of the infinite cosmic seas, is known by many names. We don't remember what they are right now. But they might all be strange. Comics: 13 | |
FredBeing human and not possessing any natural born "super" ability, Fred voluntarily underwent enhancement surgery for the sake of the empire. This of course makes him a cyborg, or "synth", although his position in Cerberus usually protects him from any prejudice the populace would ordinarily dare to dole his way. His cyber eye allows him to interface with his flight drone, named Puppy, His role in Cerberus it to collect intel among other things. Comics: 11 | |
LhungAs Taus's abandoned other half, Lhung has spent his days reading books and enjoying the peace and quiet of solitude. He also has been doing what he can for their foster son, Occom, and cultivating a variety of houseplants to fill the void. Comics: 9 | |
YeomanYeoman, the half-dressed handsome cyborg with a big gun, prefers the term "synth" over that other, less romantic-sounding term. He's extremely loyal to Taus. Extremely. Loyal. Comics: 9 | |
Snek & ParrotSnek and his puppet, Parrot, are considered indispensable around that ship. Or at least, that's what Parrot tells Snek. Comics: 8 | |
MetComics: 4 | |
FlotsamComics: 4 | |
Black PeacockWoman of mystery, a woman of your dreams. Comics: 4 | |
Imp & MetComics: 3 | |
SpearcarrierThe characters know not to mess with this woman. She holds the dice of their fates in her hands. Unless she's rolling them on the tabletop. Comics: 3 | |
ImpComics: 3 | |
JetsumComics: 2 | |
JetsamComics: 2 | |
PaigeComics: 2 | |
SkyEyeComics: 2 | |
EpiphanyIt took her years to find her name, and when she did it was quite the epiphany. Comics: 2 | |
DeeTeeDeeTee is just a bear, in an endless sea of explosive bears in space. We no longer remember why we named him DeeTee. We know it's some sort of initial. We know we're referencing some person. That's all we can remember. Comics: 2 | |
FlyShe's blue, she's bouncy, and she might bite. No survivors have come forward to tell their tales at this time. Comics: 2 | |
PeaShe's a kid. C'mon. Kids will be kids. Comics: 2 | |
ZleddaIn good time. All in good time. Comics: 1 | |
Phauhn Queen MotherComics: 1 | |
Sam the SailorComics: 1 | |
Happy AccidentComics: 1 | |
Sailor SamComics: 1 |