Posted at

Hey there folks!

As the title says… I'm a writer in need of a web comic artist.

So, allow me to lay it down. This web comic is called The Asha'man Chronicles and is a comedic web comic based on the series of book by Robert Jordan called The Wheel of Time.

Those familiar with it, I need not explain much, for those who are not familiar with the series, check out the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

Should give you a bit of a rundown on things. For those to lazy to click the link, lets go to the highlight reel!

The Wheel of Time series takes place in a medieval-fantasy world. Magic doesn't exist. Instead, there is something called the Source, or One Power. The Source is made up of a male and female half, respectively known as saidin (the male half) and saidar (the female half). Certain men and women can Channel this power. Women who can Channel are normally recruited by The White Tower and trained to become what are called "Aes Sedai", which means "Servants of All".

So, a bit more background here… When the Creator made the world, he sealed away his evil counterpart, named Shai'tan, but more commonly known as the Dark One. In the Age of Legend, Aes Sedai used to be both male and female. An experiment they conducted inadvertently set the Dark One free to touch the world, and he started recruited the powerful and corrupt to his cause, which is ultimately the destruction of time, the universe, you know… EVERYTHING. He's the Dark One. Its what he does.

Anyways, the Aes Sedai sealed his prison again, but the backlash from it allowed the Dark One to taint the male half of the Source, causing men who could Channel to eventually go insane. The man responsible for sealing the Dark One away again was named Lews Therin, aka "The Dragon". He ended up going insane and killing everyone in his family, which earned him the title of Kinslayer. Now, in a lucid moment, after seeing what he'd done, he drew so much of the One Power into himself, that the subsequent release of it broke the freakin' world.

Now, fast forward through a few thousand years and what was known as The Time of Madness when all male Aes Sedai went kazoo and had to be hunted down and killed…

Times are somewhat peaceful now. Aes Sedai are all women, and men who can Channel are still tracked down by The White Tower and cut off from the Source before they can go nuts and start killing people. SO! The Dark One is still railing away in his prison and trying to break the seals keeping him imprisoned. And now, The Dragon, Lews Therin, has been reborn as Rand al'Thor in order to unite the world against the Dark One in the Last Battle, known in prophecy as "Tarmon Gaiden".

Now then, The Dragon Reborn is off conquering kingdoms to try and unite the world. Building massive armies, fighting hordes of Shadowspawn, the most common of which being Trollocs, which are like a human/animal hybrid. Some of them have heads like boars, some like eagles. There are a bunch of variations. However, they are all rather dumb… and like to eat people.

Anyways, move forward again…

The Dragon Reborn has declared an amnesty for men who can Channel in kingdoms he rules. Any man who can Channel now has the chance to hone their skills and become living weapons for the fight against the Dark One. The place they are gathered is called The Black Tower in balance to the White Tower.

These men go through 3 ranks. Soldiers, who are basically the raw recruits who can learn to Channel. Dedicated, who have learned enough of Channeling to be useful, and Asha'man, who are the full-fledged badasses of the Black Tower.

Now, remember… men who can Channel eventually end up going nuts. So, the possibilities in this comic hilarity are endless.

What I am trying to do with this, is create more of a satirical and comedic look at the Black Tower and its Asha'man. I already have a website set up for this and live. I just need an artist with a bit of talent so we can get this underway.

After creating about 10 comics or so, I will do an advertising push so we can start trying to snag revenue. Once we can start profiting on this, I will split the profits with the artist. So. This is a good way to get your work out there and also an opportunity to make some cash.

Now then, I am a webmaster, internet marketer, social media optimization and search engine optimization mastermind. Believe me when I say I can make this project extremely lucrative for all parties involved. I even have contacts on this for merchandising opportunities (books, t-shirts and other clothing/apparel and novelty items). Once we get to that point, I will launch a merchandise line for the web comic. The artist will also share in profits from the merchandise sales.

If you are interested in jumping on board with this, send me some samples of your work. You can either post them here, or can email me directly at ryan@blacktower-comic.com

For those of you looking for a leg up on your competition, try drawing the following strip as a sampler for me and see if you can nail it.

————

The Black Tower has a simple uniform of black. Their jacket’s, which are described more or a form of tailored trench coat, in also black. This link will show a basic look for the jacket: http://www.baator.com/WOT/images/images/ashaman.jpg Also, this link here, while not the best as far as detail, shows a little more of the style of jacket I’d like to use in the comics: http://www.aberrationstudios.com/images/ashaman4.png

All of the men of the Black Tower wear this jacket, the only difference being Dedicated wear a silver sword pin on the left side of the jacket’s collar, and the Asha’man wear the sword pin, as well as a red and gold dragon pin on the right side of the collar. This is what the pins look like (with the exception of the dragon pin not being in red and gold. The scales of the dragon will alternate red and gold) http://www.cbswords.com/images/brooches.jpg

Members of the Black Tower also carry swords, basically a katana. Some characters will have this across their backs, others at their hip.

The Black Tower itself is made of black basalt stone with a flagstone martial area/courtyard where training takes place. Another notable thing is called The Deserters Tree. Members of the Black Tower who try to flee, are killed and their heads are removed and hung from the tree, which is in the courtyard.

Now, for the panels.

Panel 1:

Characters

Vanion: 6ft tall, long black hair (just past the shoulders, and slightly wavy). Is a full Asha’man, with sword and dragon pin. Facial features should portray a hard man in his early 30s, clean shaven. Sword will be sheathed across his back. Black boots, with tops turned down below the knees and loose fitting black pants tucked into the boots. Shirt would be black cotton which would lace up from the solar plexus to the neck. The shirt will be loosely laced though. Broad shoulders and athletic build.

A Black Tower Soldier: Dressed in similar fashion without the pins. Shorter, shaggy brown hair. Roughly 19-20 years old. Think average. The Soldiers aren’t all the important, so you don’t need to make them look great. Chances are, I will be killing a lot of them off in random incidents.

Tayol: Same height and build as Vanion, with close cropped sandy hair. Right arm will have a red armband over the sleeve of the jacket with a ying/yang symbol on it, minus the 2 dots. Just the circle divided by the sinuous line, please. Tayol is a full Asha’man, but also one of the Leaders of the Black Tower. Age is late 30’s, 38-39. Facial features should be strong, but worn with a bit of facial hair growth, like he hasn’t shaved in a few days.

Setting

Black Tower courtyard during a training session. Flagstone covered ground, with wooden posts set apart at regular intervals. On these posts are large rocks. Soldiers are trained to make them explode using the Source. Day-time, early noon.

The Scene

Vanion, standing on the right with the Soldier to his left, pointing with his right hand at a wooden post with a large rock (roughly the size of a person’s head) sitting atop it, in the distance. Vanion is yelling at the Soldier, who looks ashamed, eyes downcast, clutching the front of his black jacket. Vanion should appear angry.

Vanion, saying to the Soldier, “You mean to tell me you can’t even make a single rock explode?! “

Panel 2:

Soldier, fists on hips and somewhat annoyed while looking at Vanion as he speaks. Vanion, still yelling at the Soldier should now be pointing at him with index finger of his left hand, looking very angry.

Soldier, saying to Vanion, “Hey, I am doing my best, alright?!”

Vanion, replying to the Soldier, “Yeah? Well your best isn’t good enough to wipe a Trolloc’s ass!”

Soldier, “Hey, screw you, pal! Who died and made you The Dragon Reborn?!”

Panel 3:

Vanion, eyes narrowed while looking at the Soldier, now holding up his left hand, which is enwreathed in flames. Soldier should now look afraid, and sweating a little as he holds up his hands in a placating fashion and taking a step back from Vanion.

Panel 4:

Silhouette of the Soldier in the distance, running around on fire with hands in the air. Vanion, pointing and laughing while slightly doubled over on the right side of the panel still. Tayol, now on the left side of the panel, looking down at Vanion with his right hand resting on the pommel of his sword hilt (katana), which is sheathed at his right hip.

Tayol saying to Vanion, “You do realize Vanion, that he is the third one this week, right?”

Vanion replying to Tayol, “Come on Tayol, he's like a human torch! 10 gold crowns says he drops in the next 10 seconds!”

Tayol to Vanion, "…Your on!"

Hope that is enough for you as a starting point. Maybe have the Solider running along a hilltop in the distance or something.

If the strip is colored, again, bonus points. If not, no worries. I've got a copy of Manga Studio EX4 and I wouldn't mind trying my hand at coloring, provided you've got some good clean lines.

Thanks all! I hope to see a good response on this project!