Macross Cygnus

[cwmodels]

Way back while I was still watching Macross Frontier during it's initial broadcast, I had some loose ideas running in my head of doing a small fan comic. It would be some sort of side-story focusing on a low ranking female pilot and featuring another side of life-style on a long distance space journey. As with most Macross series, the stories and visuals tends to showcase the beautiful, fun, exciting aspects on a colonization ship, but I wanted to go the opposite direction and show the down-side and the unglamorous part of it.

But then I got busy starting a comic book company and running a retail store shortly afterwards, so the ideas were just thrown into the basement part of my brain... until I started watching Macross Delta recently. It sparked the interest again and I decided to finally start to try and connect-the-dots on paper to see what would come out of it.

This is what I have so far:

MACROSS CYGNUS - The story takes place aboard Macross Aurora, a long distance colonization ship that is currently traveling through the Cygnus constellation. A low-rank, low-pay half Zentraid female NUN pilot will be the main character. She makes a meager living serving as the recon pilot of the Black Swan Squadron and lives with her human father in a military dormitory near the poverty districts of City Aurora. Despite taking a different approach to the mainstream Macross stories, there will still be touches of humor and romance as well.

Below are concept sketches done in the past few days to flesh out some of these ideas visually. I want to play by the established rules of Macross so I am running with visual design cues found in all previous series. In the end, the hope is that this little fan project will still feel like it could very well happen and fit as a piece of the puzzle in the vast Macross universe.

Edited January 6, 2017 by cwmodels

[Falconkpd]

Way back while I was still watching Macross Frontier during it's initial broadcast, I had some loose ideas running in my head of doing a small fan comic. It would be some sort of side-story focusing on a low ranking female pilot and featuring another side of life-style on a long distance space journey. As with most Macross series, the stories and visuals tends to showcase the beautiful, fun, exciting aspects on a colonization ship, but I wanted to go the opposite direction and show the down-side and the unglamorous part of it.

But then I got busy starting a comic book company and running a retail store shortly afterwards, so the ideas were just thrown into the basement part of my brain... until I started watching Macross Delta recently. It sparked the interest again and I decided to finally start to try and connect-the-dots on paper to see what would come out of it.

This is what I have so far:

MACROSS CYGNUS - The story takes place aboard Macross Aurora, a long distance colonization ship that is currently traveling through the Cygnus constellation. A low-rank, low-pay half Zentraid female NUN pilot will be the main character. She makes a meager living serving as the recon pilot of the Black Swan Squadron and lives with her human father in a military dormitory near the poverty districts of City Aurora. Despite taking a different approach to the mainstream Macross stories, there will still be touches of humor and romance as well.

Below are concept sketches done in the past few days to flesh out some of these ideas visually. I want to play by the established rules of so I am running with visual design cues found in all previous series. In the end, the hope is that this little fan project will still feel like it could very well happen and fit as a piece of the puzzle in the vast Macross universe.

WOW! I really love your design work. It looks amazingly detailed!

[Mazinger]

Look forward to it.

[Mr March]

That is some nice design work. I like what you've done so far. Story idea sounds pretty good too.

[cwmodels]

WOW! I really love your design work. It looks amazingly detailed!

Thank you, I figure due to the nature of being a comic book, more detail in art tends to look better on the page.

Look forward to it.

Thanks, hope I can get the project done sometimes in the future.

That is some nice design work. I like what you've done so far. Story idea sounds pretty good too.

Thank you, right now I'm still just running design concepts to help flesh out some more ideas further.

[Gerli]

Love the idea and i like storys about normal soldiers, not just the elite ones. Look forward to it.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Gerli

[Saruta]

Well, some canon comics apparently do talk about the grim side of colony ships (M7 Trash? that prequel about Sheryl, whatever it is called?). Which just means you are going with canon tradition. I really liked the design and the idea, and hope to see the comic sometime

Maybe she'll have "brushes with fame", like a glimpse of Basara or a one-night stand with having-fun-away-from-home Isamu?

[cwmodels]

Love the idea and i like storys about normal soldiers, not just the elite ones. Look forward to it.

Thank you, I hope it can turn out to be an interesting story.

Well, some canon comics apparently do talk about the grim side of colony ships (M7 Trash? that prequel about Sheryl, whatever it is called?). Which just means you are going with canon tradition. I really liked the design and the idea, and hope to see the comic sometime

Maybe she'll have "brushes with fame", like a glimpse of Basara or a one-night stand with having-fun-away-from-home Isamu?

Well, not sure if I would call my story "grim", probably more along the line of "shin a light on a different aspect of colony ship life".

When I originally had the desire to do this short story during the broadcast of Macross Frontier, I had the idea of actually setting it on the Frontier ship (making it a pure fan-doujin). But that show has since ended long ago and the new Delta series takes place on a planet, so it was just easier to place my story in a brand new setting so it won't get tripped up by official continuity.

Edited April 22, 2016 by cwmodels

[cwmodels]

Got around to do some character sketches and designs in the last few days.

Here are the profiles for the 2 characters seen below.

MAHLIE FUNG - Female. Age 24. Father is a human of Chinese descent, mother was full Meltran created through genetic breeding. Currently lives with her father in a military dormitory near the poverty districts of City Aurora. A low-rank, low-pay NUN pilot, She makes a meager living serving as the recon pilot of the Black Swan Squadron. The only female on the team and is often looked down upon by her Zentradi peers due to her being a half-breed and small in stature.

JOSH NEWMAN - Male. Age 28. A human war correspondent working for the "Zentradi Beats Magazine". Came aboard Macross Aurora to report on the space battle the colony fleet is currently facing. He is assigned to the Black Swan Squadron by the NUN public relations department, and got sacked with Mahile due to other Zentran's unwillingness to babysit a human reporter.

Edited April 23, 2016 by cwmodels

[Gerli]

Nice!

Are your story gonna abide to the other two Macross pilars? (Love Triangle and Music)? Because those two are very interesting characters

Edited April 23, 2016 by Gerli

[cwmodels]

Nice!

Are your story gonna abide to the other two Macross pilars? (Love Triangle and Music)? Because those two are very interesting characters

Since the script is not yet fully written, there is still consideration for those 2 elements. But due to it being a comic, getting music or lyrics across would be somewhat difficult, "would it work to enhance the story?" is a major thought for me right now. The story is set to be around 20-25 pages, so I am not sure if there is enough room to put a developing love triangle, if there is it can only be slightly touched upon or hinted at.

[Nazareno2012]

Great work! I like the spiky look of the Macross Aurora NMC city ship.

[Mommar]

Since the script is not yet fully written, there is still consideration for those 2 elements. But due to it being a comic, getting music or lyrics across would be somewhat difficult, "would it work to enhance the story?" is a major thought for me right now. The story is set to be around 20-25 pages, so I am not sure if there is enough room to put a developing love triangle, if there is it can only be slightly touched upon or hinted at.

Have you seen the Spider-Gwen comic Marvel has out right now? They manage to pull off inserting music and lyrics via the dialog pretty well.

[cwmodels]

Great work! I like the spiky look of the Macross Aurora NMC city ship.

Thank you, I figured if I am going to spend the time of drawing a comic, I might as well put some effort into making the visuals unique. Plus every time you see a different colony fleet in the Macross series it always have some kind of variation.

Have you seen the Spider-Gwen comic Marvel has out right now? They manage to pull off inserting music and lyrics via the dialog pretty well.

Have not seen it. Are they creating new songs/music in the comic or using existing ones?

[Mommar]

Have not seen it. Are they creating new songs/music in the comic or using existing ones?

They're new, they're plays on old words and terms from previous Spider-Man comics. Gwen is the drummer for the Mary Janes, Mary Jane is the lead singer. So the songs and song lyrics will pull from or rhyme with sayings Mary Jane has used in past Spider-Man comics a lot of times. A real all female band actually did a mini-cover of the lyrics from the comics just to show it works decent as real music too.

[cwmodels]

They're new, they're plays on old words and terms from previous Spider-Man comics. Gwen is the drummer for the Mary Janes, Mary Jane is the lead singer. So the songs and song lyrics will pull from or rhyme with sayings Mary Jane has used in past Spider-Man comics a lot of times. A real all female band actually did a mini-cover of the lyrics from the comics just to show it works decent as real music too.

Okay, cool! I'll put it into consideration.

And here are a couple of color tests for Mahlie Fung.

Edited April 24, 2016 by cwmodels

[Gerli]

Left, totaly.

[cwmodels]

Here is the BLACK SWAN SQUADRON MEMBERS

CAPTAIN QUDAMAA - Zentran. Age N/A. Genetically bred commander type Zentradi with greater physicality and intelligence. The Flight Leader of Black Swan Squadron.

NEEJAD - Zentran. Age 35. Functions as both Sniper and Wingman on the squadron. Has enhanced vision through cybernetic augmentations. Rank is First Lieutenant.

BORAKH - Zentran. Age 23. A skilled fighter and reliable Wingman of the group. Rank is Second Lieutenant.

(Mahlie Fung's rank is Sergeant and flies Recon on the team)

Edited April 25, 2016 by cwmodels

[cwmodels]

Character height comparison chart with some more color tests.

[Zinjo]

Yes, the design work is amazing. Not many have the skill to pull off technical drawings like that. To be proficient at character designs at the same time is even more rare!

I look forward to your work!

Edited May 10, 2016 by Zinjo

[cwmodels]

Yes, the design work is amazing. Not many have the skill to pull of technical drawings like that. To be proficient at character designs at the same time is even more rare!

I look forward to your work!

Thank you very much!

After writing up the first draft of the script in the past few days, I have determined that there will be music and a (not-so-conventional) love triangle in the story. Though by adding in those 2 elements the comic ballooned to about 40 pages.

The type of music to be featured in the story will be Boy Band Songs:

FLAME OUT BOYS - Macross Aurora's Zentrandi Teen Pop Idol Group. They help bridge the cultural gap between Humans & Zentrans with their ultra popular singles like "You, Me, Lovin' like a Flame", That Deculture Feelin' Wit' You" and the war winning emotional mega hit "My Love Will Not Flame Out For You"!

[Gerli]

FLAME OUT BOYS -

I don't know who they are or why but I already hate them.

Because reasons.

[Mr March]

This work is looking really good. Interesting design for the flight suits. Those Zentradi pop stars are soooo green, tho

[Zinjo]

This work is looking really good. Interesting design for the flight suits. Those Zentradi pop stars are soooo green, tho

The Emerald Boys...

[cwmodels]

I don't know who they are or why but I already hate them.

Because reasons.

LOL

This work is looking really good. Interesting design for the flight suits. Those Zentradi pop stars are soooo green, tho

I actually tried multiple color for hair & skin tones at first but ended up with color coordination problems and not making them feeling like a group. So I simplified it all with just GREEN!

The Emerald Boys...

Hee Hee...

Here is the rough sketch for Macross Aurora Captain & the 3 Bridge Bunnies.

[Gerli]

Now we're talking.... and if you made one of the girls a "Cat-girl" maybe I can forgive you about the Zentradi One Direction...

[cwmodels]

Now we're talking.... and if you made one of the girls a "Cat-girl" maybe I can forgive you about the Zentradi One Direction...

Well... I guess you won't then...

Here is the profile for the Captain & the Bridge Bunnies along with updated height chart.

CAPTAIN KUROKAWA KENJI - Male. Age 56. Japanese descent. Father was a famous Anime Producer back on Earth before Space War I. Born in Macross City shortly after the war ended. Joined U.N. Spacy in his early 20’s. Rose steadily through the ranks and now in command of Battle Aurora. Rank is Brigadier General.

ZARA BAYAZ - Zolan. Age 25. Alien from the Planet Zola. In charge of Onboard Ship Controls. Rank is Major.

NICHOLE TAYLOR - Female. Age 21. Black and Hispanic descent. Squadron Control and Navigation. Rank is First Lieutenant.

QUDAALUPE VALKOIINEN - Meltran. Age 19. Born of Zentradi parents through natural birth. Fleet Communications and Information Analysis. Rank is Second Lieutenant.

Edited May 7, 2016 by cwmodels

[Gerli]

Awesome!

[Mazinger]

Great designs. Keep them coming!

I think it would be awesome if somehow these stories got some official sanction and in-universe acknowledgement.

I think Macross has a very Star Trek like potential for on going growth and story telling and it would be cool have it all connect.

Hopefully someone connected to SK and Satelite finds these and agrees.

[cwmodels]

Awesome!

Yeah! Thanks!

Great designs. Keep them coming!

I think it would be awesome if somehow these stories got some official sanction and in-universe acknowledgement.

I think Macross has a very Star Trek like potential for on going growth and story telling and it would be cool have it all connect.

Hopefully someone connected to SK and Satelite finds these and agrees.

That would be nice, but I don't know if it'll ever happen. On a similar note, I've seen a lot of really great officially published Gundam side-story comic book works coming out of Japan throughout the years, but a lot of those never gets incorporated into the "real" Gundam continuity. So I'm not sure if that is how things like that work in the Japanese industry.

Here's a larger color image of the Cap and his girls. And another edition to the cast:

MIYATAKE - Male. Age 67. Japanese descent. Retired space ship engineer. Currently owner and bartender of a local karaoke bar Mahlie’s father frequents.

[cwmodels]

Here are the last 2 characters to the cast:

Mahlie's Father: Male. Age 49. An over the hill singer who frequents the local Karaoke bar and generally relive his old glory days out of a bottle.

Maintenance Crew Tenjin: Male. Age 42. An experienced aircraft mechanic aboard Battle Aurora. A good friend to Mahlie and helps her out often.

​And this is the final version of the Height Chart. Despite the seemingly large cast of characters, some of them only appear in just a few panels throughout the entire comic.

[Falconkpd]

Do you have a background in character design? Yours are really good

[cwmodels]

Do you have a background in character design? Yours are really good

Thanks for the kind words. My background is actually in comic books. Been a professional comic artist for over 20 years now. I guess character design is just part of the job. While I was in junior high school, I used to draw home made comics featuring characters based on caricatures of friends and classmates. That really helped a lot in learning how to draw characters with different facial structures and body types. Nowadays I teach art twice a week to kids and I always tell them to draw by looking at real life and learn to how interpret people, clothes and fashion trends. What you end up getting on paper is always far more interesting this way instead of just looking at anime art for character inspirations.

[Falconkpd]

Thanks for the kind words. My background is actually in comic books. Been a professional comic artist for over 20 years now. I guess character design is just part of the job. While I was in junior high school, I used to draw home made comics featuring characters based on caricatures of friends and classmates. That really helped a lot in learning how to draw characters with different facial structures and body types. Nowadays I teach art twice a week to kids and I always tell them to draw by looking at real life and learn to how interpret people, clothes and fashion trends. What you end up getting on paper is always far more interesting this way instead of just looking at anime art for character inspirations.

Wow, that's really neat. I do fan works on the side, myself, but it's always nice to hear from a pro. I look up to artists like yourself.

[cwmodels]

Wow, that's really neat. I do fan works on the side, myself, but it's always nice to hear from a pro. I look up to artists like yourself.

I looked through your Macross Elysium comics, all the chapters available so far. I think it shows a lot of effort and the art improves with every chapter. There are some really interesting camera angles too. My only advice/suggestion is to avoid or trim out the negative spaces in a lot of your panels. Zoom in closer on the main subject matter or fill the empty areas with background details. It'll give your art even more power and dynamic.