Balkar. The Forge of the Warrior. Comic or graphic novel

[angelsan]

Hello everyone.
I’d like to tell you that I’ve finished one of the projects that took the most effort.

Balkar is a historical fiction comic set in ancient Iberia, 6th and 1st centuries BC, and follows the traditional plot of the hero’s journey: an old priest explores his failing memory and recalls the exploits of Balkar, a legendary Iberian warrior.

Efforts have been made to maintain historical accuracy in areas such as clothing, weapons, architecture, tools, and household items. Nevertheless, the events recounted belong to the realm of fiction. It’s difficult to create a story based solely on what we know from historical sources and archaeology when it comes to Iberian society.

As for the software I used to create them, I basically used free software tools:

• Inkscape was the program I used to make the drawings of the vignettes.
• Blender was used to create reference models, architectural backgrounds, furniture and many other elements. In fact, it was indispensable for creating some urban fabrics of the main Iberian cities (Edeta, Saiti and Kelin) and for creating reusable locations.
• Gimp was used to retouch images and backgrounds.
• Scribus was used for the design and layout of the printed book.

In the following pictures you can see some details of the use of Blender in the project:

You can see the general storyline in the video below:

Balkar. English Version

The Forge of the Warrior (first volume) depicts the protagonist’s journey to maturity and the appearance of Bodilkas. The excessive ambition of this character causes the catastrophic events that upset the delicate territorial balance between the peoples of Contestania and Edetania.

The betrothal of the Lady (second volume) picks up the story of our heroes after the terrible events of Bastiltur, the home of our protagonists. As a result, Balkar and his friends will find themselves caught up in the intricate web of alliances and strategies, between Contestania and Edetania. The sons of the rulers of the two main cities are betrothed to strengthen the blood ties between the two countries. The young lady Sicedunin of Saiti will undertake on a dangerous journey north, accompanied by the warriors of Bastiltur, led by Tarbanikor, Balkar and Baisetas.

Conspiracy and fire (third volume) brings the saga of our hero to a close.
The confrontation between the rulers of the cities of Edeta and Kelin leads our protagonists along different ways, which finally converge in the latter city. Friendship, revenge and love are the main forces driving their decisions. Their own destiny, as well as that of Contestania and Edetania, will be decided.

You can find all the details on my website at the following address:
https://nosinmipixel.blogspot.com/2023/09/english-versions-of-balkar.html

if you decide to buy it, I hope you will like it.
Regards.

[vakukulkan]

Wooow! Fantastic work! So beautiful!

[angelsan]

Thank you, I was really satisfied after so much work. It has been a long time.

[bartv (Bart Veldhuizen)]

I featured you on BlenderNation, have a great weekend!

Best of Blender Artists: 2023-40

[angelsan]

Thanks, bartv. Enjoy your weekend too.

[piranha4D (Pir)]

That is very cool, a real labour of love it seems. I’ve always liked to learn about history from fictional stories that include as much actual information as possible, while being more immersive than just the dry facts often are.

Thanks for showing some of the detail of the Blender work in specific, too.

[angelsan]

Thank you, piranha4D.

It really is a job that I have really enjoyed. I think it’s because it combines some of my greatest passions: history and archaeology. And to sweeten the pot, all in the context of working with free software.

As far as history is concerned, the biggest challenge for me has been trying to approach aspects of the immaterial realm, such as thought or social behaviour. Archaeology relies on the analysis and study of material remains to try to find out their function, usefulness, etc. With all this, we try to understand more about societies like the Iberian one, but it is not easy: there are always many gaps. Besides, as in all sciences, it is only a matter of time before new discoveries and studies lead to new interpretations.

In order to emphasise some of these aspects, which are based on archaeological research, I have included in the first volume some brief notes on certain themes which appear in one way or another in the books.

As for working with Blender… what can I say? It is always a real pleasure to open the program and start messing around to prepare some resource or scene. Of all the design programs I have worked with, I think it is the one that has grown and evolved the most. And its steps always seem to go in the right direction (and that’s not easy). Anyway, at this rate, I’m afraid I’ll be left behind one day .

[bartv (Bart Veldhuizen)]

You’re on the featured row!

[Bernardo]

beautiful work, congrats on managing to finish such a huge project!

I also have a passion for history and archaeology, but I think often they are presented in a very boring way. I love how you are presenting history and archaelogy in such an interesting and captivating package!

Well done!

[angelsan]

Hi Bernardo.
Indeed, the big problem we historians have is that, in an attempt to maintain the rigour of our stories, we often tell history in a way that is unattractive to the majority of the world.
In our museum, for example, we try to solve this through expository discourses with different levels of understanding. We distinguish between different types of audience: explaining something to a university student is not the same as explaining it to a primary school child. But there are also tools that allow us to get our message across to a large number of people in a very entertaining way: comics and cinema are two good examples.
I think the possibilities of cinema are obvious, but the comic book is a tool with many possibilities because it combines the power of the image (like cinema) and the power of the word (like the historical novel). The historical fiction comic goes one step further and breaks away from the bonds of scientific history. It is based on history, but it does not have to be absolutely reliable. Let’s say that we can take certain liberties to let our narrative flow in the direction we want, without losing sight of our goal of historical representation.
I’m going to cut, I think I’m going on too long…

[Bernardo]

thanks, that’s very interesting! I agree, I found myself in a similar position when working on recreating ancient archaelogical sites for VR experiences. While you want to be historically accurate, I believe it is human stories and interactions that engage the widest audience and ultimately get the message through, however often those are not certain facts… so I think it’s totally fine to get some license to tell a story that is set in an accurate environment

[Ebenmosi]

Alot of effort was put into this and it shows. Good job.

[Algorist (Ace D)]

Very cool work!
how did u do the shaders? those outlines?

[angelsan]

Hello Algorist

Actually, this work does not have any specific shaders in Blender.

The backgrounds of the vignettes are made in Blender: they are scenes with standard materials and rendered with Cycles. Of course, I focus more on the lighting, trying to get as much visual contrast as possible. These renders are then post-processed with filters to create a watercolour effect. I get the outlines and black inks of the backgrounds by playing with the G’MIC ‘Stamp’ and ‘Charcoal’ filters in GIMP. In addition to adjusting the filter thresholds, it is important to play with the initial lighting of the render.

The design of the characters depends on the complexity of the scene. I usually prepare some dummies in Blender that I use as a reference when drawing. These mannequins are normal human models without any kind of detail (no clothes or hair), they only serve as models for the composition of the scene (proportions, movement, depth, etc.).

Later in Inkscape, I use these models as the basis for drawing and colouring. I draw the details of the clothing and other elements directly in Inkscape so that I have better control over the movement of the hair, folds, wrinkles and other details that might give me more work in Blender. The colour has a simple smooth base. Depending on the detail of the model, I make some more detailed gradients, but in general I try to create the volume of colour from simple shadows and light areas, as I prefer to emphasise the volume of the figures through the black ink.

Within the black ink I distinguish between the outlines of the figures (similar to ink with a pen), the masses of black colour (similar to ink with a brush) and the lines of detail (similar to ink with a fine marker). When I say ‘similar’, I mean that I try to achieve the effect of these tools in Inkscape itself using ‘Filters’ and ‘Path Effects’.

It may seem like a complex process, but I still like to retain some control when creating the ‘brush strokes’ and masses of ink in the panels. I feel that the result is not as ‘cold’ as when I do everything directly with the shaders in Blender. At the time I was experimenting with doing everything in Blender because it was true that it would be much faster. But in the end I decided to get the best of both worlds (2D and 3D). Everything can be improved, but I am quite happy with the result.

[Helmut_S]

Really fantastic work!

I knew about GIMP’s cartoon shader (used it a lot in the past too), however I’ve never before seen it put to use to such great effect. The mix with hand-drawn foreground characters works perfectly!

For curiositie’s sake: are you a historian, an artist, both … or just some crazy genius?

[angelsan]

I love the crazy genius thing , but I’m afraid I’m just a museum curator (with a degree in history) and an occasional illustrator. Fortunately, I am not only involved in the management of the museum’s collections, but I have also been involved in various illustration work for archaeological publications (drawing of archaeological pieces, site plans, reconstructions, etc.) or for the museum’s publicity material.
However, I carried out this project in my spare time, taking advantage of these two great passions (history and illustration). I had always wanted to make a comic of this magnitude, time passed and confinement during the pandemic came: I decided that this was a good time to start… three years later, here we are.

[Algorist (Ace D)]

Thanks for so much detailed information.
I appreciate you taking the time to briefly explain this process.
Again awesome work best of luck on future projects.

best,
Ace

[Ebenmosi]

This workflow appears intricate and challenging. If it ever get animated, I hope the quality can be maintained.

[angelsan]

Yes. It is certainly a more complex workflow, not for the faint of heart
And of course not very practical for animation work.
By the way, there will be an article in BlenderNation explaining this work in more detail soon.

[cgqueen (Alina Khan)]

Hello everyone,

Presenting the “Behind the Scenes” article for this marvellous artwork!

Feel free to explore the article written by the artist himself. It takes you through the detailed process of creating the artwork and offers valuable insights into comic designing in Blender.

Behind the Scenes: Balkar Comics

Regards,
Alina Khan
Editor at Blender Nation | LinkedIn