Latest Posts

Knife Fight City T-shirt and Patches!

Knife Fight City Cinematic Universe T-shirt.

Hello folks,

Here’s a quick update on a few things going on this Monday. Tex, of Black Pants Legion fame, and I are teaming up to bring back the 80’s in KNIFE FIGHT FORM!!! All profits from this shirt sale will go to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Pre-order yours at: https://astray3.bigcartel.com/product/pre-orders-for-knife-fight-city-cinematic-universe-t-shirt

In more Urbanmech related news, UrbEx patches are now available on the web-shop.

Yes, it has an Iron-on back for the sewing impaired.

Not bad for a first attempt. You can get them on the webshop.

https://astray3.bigcartel.com/product/urbex-3-5-x-3-5-patch

That’s all for now! Have a great day!

-Eldon

The Long Catch-up… and the future? Or how robots ate my life.

Marauder Pack combo example.

Greetings everyone,

Here is a long-overdue update to this much-neglected page. Sorry about that folks, but free time is hard to come by these days. For those who follow my other socials, you’ll know I’ve been neck-deep in work for Catalyst Game Labs and other game projects. It’s left no time to work on the comic. Hopefully, that will change in the near future. ( I would dearly like to wrap up the fourth chapter and epilogue for the first book of Astray3. )

In the meantime, I encourage you to check out my Twitter and Instagram for more current updates. ( Eldoniousrex on both. ) There should be plenty of exciting announcements coming down the pike in the next several months. I’ll also try to update this page at least once a week. Patreon is kinda dead at the moment, but it’s free to join since It charges by comic release and not by the month. ( No comics being released means no charges. ) You can find it here https://www.patreon.com/astray3

And I’d also encourage you to check out the Astray3 store page for stickers, books, prints, and whatever odd stuff I can add. https://astray3.bigcartel.com/

And finally, convention appearances have slowly returned. I’ll be at SpaCon again this year. ( https://spa-con.org/ ) Come by and say hi if you are in the area.

I’ll be back soon!

All the best,

-Eldon

Weekly update Oct. 13th, 2020…The robots that ate my life!

Hello A3 faithful,

First, I’d like to apologize for my long absence. The last few weeks have been chaotic with nary a chance to catch my breath. This missive will be a chance to bring you abreast of the current situation and future plans. 

Sadly, there won’t be a new Astray3 comic this week nor for some time yet. With the success of the Tex Talks Battletech Mackie Packs and the following march of mech commissions, many lucrative opportunities have arisen. Chief among these is creating new official Battletech artwork for Catalyst games. As one might suspect, this has destroyed the production schedule for future A3 comics. 

Don’t panic! Astray3 is not ending! Storytelling is my main passion and the reason I create artwork in the first place. However, the path forward is unclear. I’ll be reexamining the comic’s production process over the next several weeks. It is my hope that I can find a method that will enable me to return A3 to a semi-regular schedule. ( We’ll at least finish the fourth comic volume and epilogue. )

Which brings me to the fate of the Patreon page. With the lack of comic updates, the Patreon no longer serves a clear purpose. I will be shutting it down this weekend. It may return in the future in a different form. That will only be when I can make proper use of the platform and worth the monthly investment. All future A3 news will be right here on the A3 website.

On the upside, Mackie packs are back in stock with new items on the Astray3 store! Vinyl stickers, drink coasters, and prints! Check them out! https://astray3.bigcartel.com/ Merch pictures below!

All the best, 

-Eldon

Weekly update Sept 20th, 2020…Comic page soon!

Hello peeps, 

My estimations continue to be overly optimistic. New comic page is inked and flat colored. I should be ready in a few days. Oops. 

In other news, still waiting on the prints to start shipping Mackie Packs. I’ve started poking my print supplier about shipping dates. Should be shipped this week. I hate waiting as much as you. 

October is almost here! That means it’s time draw some monster girls! I’ll be producing a series of four stickers based on mythological creature ladies. Look for a pre-order campaign about mid-October. Here is the first lovely lady!

Saucy centaur lady stickers incoming!

Also, lots of commission work coming through. ( That’s why the comics late. ) The opening image is a freshly completed commission of the client’s first lucky Hunchback shot. Below is another commission. A client’s Lancer mech. ( I have no idea what that is. )

That is it for now. New comic page soon!

All the best, 

-Eldon

Lancer mech! I have no idea what that is!

THE BIG TEX TALKS BATTLETECH MACKIE ART DUMP!

Mackie and Asher ( Harasser….Sarna subbed a pic of it for the Asher. )

Greetings y’all,

The time has come! I can now reveal the artwork I produced for the Tex Talks Battletech Mackie episode! I’ve been a long time fan of the BT universe and Tex’s work. As such, I reached out to Tex to offer my services. He and the BPL team graciously accepted my help. What followed was several weeks of Battletech art fun! Now, I will share it with you!

Glorious Jacob Cameron superstar!

This is the first Jacob Cameron piece I produced for Tex. At this point, I had never indulged in creating BT artwork. Had a fun time researching the uniforms and gear. Had to ask Tex about the fancy way SLDF soldiers hold their laser guns.

Charles Kincaid

Charles Kincaid is the first man to pilot the Mackie. Sadly, There is no previous artwork of Charles; not even a description of his appearance. I went with a rather generic, “fresh out of the cockpit,” Chuck Yeager look for him.

Jacob Cameron in his space-cape with a Vincent and Sparrowhawks.
Sans Jacob

This is the second Jacob Cameron piece. I went a bit nuts with the Vincent redesign. In retrospect, I should have stuck closer to the “smoother” original design. ( It looks like it comes from the Expanse show rather than BT. ) HOWEVER, as with a lot of old BT artwork, old designs get associated with all sorts of vehicles. The art I referenced was used for multiple warships. ( The original art has no specific weapon mounts. I suspect the art for the Lola is just the stern view of the Vincent. ) The Sparrowhawks are pretty close to the original designs.

Jacob Cameron touring the Skobel Mechworks factory. ( Skobel logo by
David Allen Kerber
)

The first crack at my “version” of the Mackie redesign. Tex needed something showing Jacob worrying over Mackie schematics and productions figures. Rather than a boring conference room, I thought it’d be more fun to show him on one of those sleazy “suits in hard hats” factory tours. Originally, I wanted throw in some more hoists, lifts, and scaffolding for the BPL team to animate. I had to drop that idea quickly. The composition was already too busy for superfluous visual elements.

I’m overall pleased with how it turned out. Adding space-ridges and straps to future clothes is fun! Jacob Cameron leaves a bit to be desired in my eyes. He has a real Seto Kaiba thing going on with his trench coat and his head, left shoulder, and chest highlight make everything look wonky. ( Personal note: Work on hands! )

An older version of the above art with old book overlay.

I opened the post with the finished version of this art. Thus, I’m going to drop this version in for the fifth piece of art produced for the video. This would be my redesign of the Mackie going forward. I wanted to marry the modern BT aesthetic to the older Mackie “spaceman” design. I actually love the modern, revitalized mech designs done for MWO and the Battletech games. ( Thank you, Alex Iglesias ) But, I also want to honor the efforts of the artists that initially brought the setting to life. So, I kept the front and dodads largely the same. My biggest adds are the separated torso and the suggested feeding apparatus and shell ejection port on the AC-10 arm. ( It’s always been strange to me how mechs can have ammo caches all over their body with no visible suggestion of how it gets from the location to the weapon. As Tex would say, It’s space magic. )

A few more notes about the image. First of all, the book title and overlay. While creating this piece, I reflected on how much it looked like an old paperback novel cover. ( I laugh at dumb stuff like that. ) As a joke, I threw this version together to send Tex. I guess merriment was had. Also, that Harasser up front is supposed to be an older recon hovercraft called an Asher. Digging though old BT lore can be confusing. It wasn’t until this piece was almost complete, that I noticed the reference photo on Sarna was actually that of a Harasser. So, yeah, oh well…..

The calm before the storm. Dreadnought over Tintavel.
A troubles a brewin’
All the nukes.

The first of a series of narrative pieces created with the intention of animation. This was not originally what I had planned for the composition or camera angle. I really wanted to avoid the old cliche of “BIG SHIP SHOOT DOWN.” After some sketches and much deliberation, I went with this low orbit perspective. ( Get some dimension on those clouds. ) This version would be way easier for the BPL team to manipulate and animate.

I kept the TAS Dreadnought pretty faithful to the old art. ( I tried to avoid going overboard like I did with the Vincent redesign. ) Although, the angle of the old drawing left plenty of unseen space for me to play. The fore of the Dreadnought was a pain to render at this angle.

Yes, I copy pasted all those missiles. Sue me.

What a peaceful day!
Incoming!
Distant Thunder!
Bullseye!

The second narrative piece and the flip side of the warship scene. I’m largely happy with this set. My eyes doth see a few flaws and inconsistencies that drive me nuts looking back. But on the, whole, it’s fine. ( Pro tip for the art kiddies: Know when to move on. Cause most people are not going to perceive the flaws you do. )

I created most of the art for this project using Procreate on an Ipad pro. The problem with this is that Procreate puts caps on layers depending on image size and resolution. Thus, working on these larger scenes consistently became layer management. This, in turn, was trouble because I needed to leave plenty of layers for the BPL team to work with. What a hassle. The price of convenience I guess.

The vintage version of the big Mackie battle.

The final piece of artwork depicting the 801st Heavy Armored Regiment stomping a Draconis armored column on Styx. There are multiple versions of this finished image. ( This vintagey looking one is my favorite. ) Not a lot of info on this battle for the first deployment of Mackies in combat. That leaves a lot of gap filling for me do. The tank designs are rather generic. ( Again, researching old BT lore stuff can be a pain. So, I fudged it. ) I went with red for the Draconis vehicles to make them stand out from the BG and Mackies. The tank crew uniforms are close to what’s depicted in the old material.

Please note the cartoon turtle on the foreground Mackie; I’m very fond of it.

Annnnd….another early joke version!

And that is it for now. Hopefully, there will be future collabs with the BPL team and more BT artwork to come. I hope you enjoyed this glimpse behind the arty curtain.

Until next time!

-Eldon

Weekly update Sept 6th, 2020 Secret Milestone!

Hello peeps,

Astray3 has reached a very special milestone! Although, it’s still unbeknownst to you, but VERY beknownst to me! Yall will figure it out soon enough. It’s going to get a little trippy first.

The cat is officially out of the bag, I’ve been helping out the Black Pants Legion with the next Tex Talks Battletech episode. It’ll be about the first ever battlemech; the Mackie. It’ll be something very special. Also, after the video’s release, I’ll be dumping all the art I created for the episode here. Look forward to it.

And that is all for now! Come back soon for more art and comics!

All the best,

-Eldon

Weekly update August 22nd, 2020 Shhh…it’s a secret.

Hello people who actually read this section,

Well, it’s been a bit since the last update. By the time you are reading this Astray3 Enigma 22 should be posted. I had hoped to increase the rate of page posts for August. Buuut, true to form, that didn’t happen. However, if you visit the Patreon page, you might find a clue as to why the slow down occurred. For the time being, expect a giant art dump around the end of August. ( I’m waiting on permission to post everything. )

This was a short one. Let’s keep those fingers crossed that it won’t take another three weeks to post the next page.

All the best for now,

-Eldon

Weekly update August 9th, 2020 Of comics and sidetracks.

Hello readers,

Another Monday with no comic update! However, it’s on the way. I just completed inking and will be moving onto coloring soon. ETA should be by Friday for page 22. 

In other news, I’m in talks with some fantastic people about helping out with a Youtube series. This will take up my extra art time. So, don’t expect much in the way of misc art posts until I get the go-ahead to post them. Can’t wait until you folks get to see what’s cooking.

That’s all for now. Enjoy some birds in tanks!

All the best,

-Eldon