SPHINX: Terry's Tale is a comic book about a traveller named Terry who ventures through a desert landscape and stumbles upon the great Sphinx. He attempts to solve the riddle of the Sphinx so he can enter the treasure tomb.

The aim of the project was to create a graphic novel with a subject matter relating to a Myth or Legend, with my choice being the mythical creature of the Sphinx. The result was a short storybook consisting of 8 pages that were digitally hand-drawn.

I was pretty happy with how this one turned out and find that the characters and comedic dialogue work really well in telling a fun story with a simplistic art style.

Page Progression

A look at the progression that most of the pages generally follow. I started with the boxes and panels before proceeding to sketch the artwork in a different layer. Ample room had to be left for any speech bubbles that were to be added. These elements were combined and cleaned up before being coloured, with typography being the final step.

General Documentation

The initial development of SPHINX and general overview of the project. This includes some research of the myth, story details, a script and review questions.

Character Concepts

The character sketches of Terry the Traveller and Shimmy the Sphinx. Terry initially had a round head shape and one variant of Shimmy had pupils. I really wanted to keep the designs simple, so there are a lot of basic shapes. Some early ideas and key poses were referenced for the final book.

Layout Roughs

Rough ideas for how the page would be laid out. I tried long panels and triangular ones too. Squiggly boxes was what I settled with at the time.

Cover Mock-ups

Some early concepts for the front and back cover. Coloured mock-ups were also made; Terry atop Shimmy and Terry vs. Shimmy.

Coloured Artwork

A few coloured pieces made around SPHINX: Terry's Tale. The line sketches are based off the three ideas from the text document. I kinda wish I produced some more coloured stuff.