For 's $250 contest.
ENTER AND LIST ME AS YOUR REFERRAL!!!! WOO!

Anyway,
This contest really got my attention (first because of the cash prize lol) but then when I looked closer at all the characters I fell in love,
especially when I saw little Talos Perdison here.

This is a quote from the character description in *themanyworlds' journal:
"Talos's greatest joy in life is inventing things. He loves to take things apart, reassemble them into something new, and connect seemingly unrelated concepts to solve problems. He's at his best when he's in his workshop fiddling with his mechanics and electronics, able to throw himself so thoroughly into his work that the rest of creation disappears.

But Talos can hardly live in a bubble. He suffers from poor health and an aching loneliness. When he has come up with some new solution and excitedly turns to share only to find there is no one there to see, his heart breaks a little. When he is fiddling with a device and can't get it to work he wants someone there to bounce ideas off of. And when his joints ache and his heart flutters he just wants someone to snuggle against until he's feeling better."

I felt a great connection with this character for some reason.
I was so empathetic to his plight that I had to draw him,
but I didn't want to do just some picture of him.

That's when I saw it:
a scene playing out in my mind of little Talos tirelessly slaving away on a robotic friend for himself,
only to be disappointed in the end.

Originally I wanted to show the robot off doing some chore or something a soul-less robot might do,
but I think this way is stronger.
It leaves it open to interpretation.
Did he build a friend only to have it disappear?
Or did he simply imagine the whole event?
Either way, it's clear poor Talos needs the warmth that comes from a human being, but alas, that seems so much more out of reach than even a robotic friend. :'(


When I imagined this piece, I could only think of doing it in watercolors.
It's such an amazing medium and really nothing else would do for the setting in this minicomic.
Besides, I've always wanted to do a watercolor comic.
It may not have turned out exactly as I imagined it to be,
but I'm still pretty pleased with the results.
I just wish my scanner wouldn't blur that left side so much at the top and bottom. ><
You really miss some of the finer details and the better parts of the picture.
(That last panel would happen to be my favorite.)


pencil, watercolor, and ink on Arches watercolor paper.
minor touchups to sharpen left top and left bottom and add the dark background surrounding the panels.

artwork (c) me



EDIT:
Reuploaded with a better version!


EDIT2:
Well crap. It didn't win anything.
Not even a runner-up or "best of."
Heck, it didn't even get an award of merit.
And I really needed that money too.
There were others that I felt should have gotten something as well,
but they weren't even up there.
-_-;