She's waiting for you at the city's edge
New Petro Patriot art
Its the season for monsters, and while editing the next release for Petro Patriot, I worked with Tana Taka to produce some incredible artwork of story heroes, villains, and monsters. And for a Halloween post I’d like show some new artwork of Marjorie, the mutant girl who will be appearing in the next release for Petro Patriot.
Marjorie is a Chroma, so named for the Chromatoid parasites that have embedded themselves into her skin and changed her throughout in a process called Chromation. The markings that emerge from this process are from a secondary nervous + immune system the parasites install into their host, which enhance the host’s capabilities and health so that they may support their embedded ‘friends’ and spread their condition to others.
The parasite bites don’t usually hurt once firmly attached and growing. But the first bite’s another story. And the sensation when they start thrashing around, especially the ones embedded in the spine… Marjorie’s a surprisingly good sport about this. It seems the enhanced eyesight and muscles, and general “think twice before approaching” look have filled her with a lot of boldness.
After completing this project, I realized that our hero Michael Albright has some iron nerves to try to come face to face with these creatures.
Despite whatever happened to her, Marjorie managed to hold on to a bit of her uniform. It carries some similarities to the uniform that Pauline Censor wears with its white/red scheme, and this is no accident. Did she once know Pauline or some other upper-echelon figures? How exactly was she lost?
Chroma fully remember their former selves and retain their humanity most of the time. Unless their second nervous system throws them into a rage. Marjorie knows who she was, and a small group of humans who are immune to the Chromatoid worms will take a chance on meeting Chroma like her. With that line of communication open, who might she try to reach inside the city? And how does this involve a certain Michael Albright trying to challenge the regime?
We’ll drop some hints in the next release.
What’s coming next
Concerning this art, I’m going to be working on character profiles and trading cards, and am looking into additional possibilities as we work toward completing our first book. Speaking of, we are nearing completion of illustrations for the first Petro Patriot book, colors are halfway through, and I’m working on editing dialogue to get work lined up for the letterer. Once we get half of the book lettered, we’re going to have an intermediate release that is exclusive to Substack subscribers. While I have some sci-fi posts planned through the end of the year, I’m going to dial back art posts while we get the book finished.
We’re close, and I want to get this in your hands.
In the meantime, have a Happy Halloween, and All Saints’ Day