Matariki

Ngā mihi o te tau hou Māori - Greetings for the Māori New Year!

To commemorate the rising of Matariki, I've created a Matariki Comic Poster that you can download. Let the inhabitants of Otea tell you more about these stars and their significance in te ao Māori (the Māori world).

DOWNLOAD A3 POSTER (pdf file)

You can also download it from our Ordering and free resources page on this blog. Look out for more free resources on this page, coming soon!

More from the world of Ōtea

Here are some more characters I've been working on for Ōtea, drawn from the world of Māori legend. This time we have Te Hōkioi, the giant eagle, and Ahi Tipua, or Fire Spirits.

Like magic

It sometimes seems like new comics and books appear like magic, although the creators have been working for months or years on them...

As I work towards releasing Ōtea: Rock of Ages 2, I will be documenting the journey of creation to make it more visible. To start off, here are some character cards exploring my designs for the inhabitants of Ōtea. This is where I begin, and the characters take on life as I sketch and write about them.

 Now you can also follow @talesfromotea on Instagram. I'll be posting more steps on the journey this year!

Work resumed!

A quick update to post that work has resumed, and I hope to have something more concrete next year.  In the meantime, here is a quick snap of some work-in-progress.

Screenshot of colouring work-in-progress. Copyright Zak Waipara 2019.

Much of the delay is due to related, but seperate projects that are demanding a lot of my time and attention. The plan is that these other projects will also be nearing completion soon, either next year or the year after.

Some rough draft prototypes of comic/book projects. Copyright Zak Waipara 2019.

Inktober

Despite infrequent posting, work still proceeds on material for the world of Otea, albeit slowly. This is due to interruptions from related but separate creative projects already underway. In any event, I will post some of the notional sketch material here.

Copyright Zak Waipara 2018

Inktober is a drawing challenge following a set of prompts to draw and ink one illustration per day for the month of October. Since I already have a number of creative commitments that make demands on my time, one way to take part in the event is to try and make the prompts fit or tie into my other projects. Only two of these ended up being related directly to Otea - a stone-piled sun-dial derived from the prompt: #clock, and a guardian character that has ties to the folklore associated with the beaches of Otea, using the prompt: #guarded.

Copyright Zak Waipara 2018

Colour Tests for Otea: Rock of Ages 2

Some early colour tests, design layouts and even some balloon placements. All still work in progress!

© Zak Waipara, 2017

More Inks

More work in progress showing another page of new artwork. The page layout process seems to be the longest part of the planning process - this can take quite a while getting it sorted. Once I am satisfied that the layout works, the actual pencilling and inking part proceeds relatively smoothly.

Copyright 2016 Zak Waipara