IDW Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #33 30th Anniversary Cover by Sarah Stone, Plus Clean Art

Fulcrum: Aaaah! Protect me, chin!

That is one nice cover

Shuttershock wrote:Fulcrum: Aaaah! Protect me, chin!

Sarah Stone impresses yet again. So vibrant! I love how you can see Tarn's grin beneath his mask.

Nooooooo! why did this have to be the exclusive cover?! I am going to have to double dip for this. This cover is fragging amazing and I must own it

Nice cover but face on bottom bot is to smooth looks like giant mecha with human face draw some lines on face make it look like robot I I look at his face I see anime character with pranger if transformer that is not dont have lines on face to make it look more robot looking than human

Addressing the many questions received from fans, IDW Transformers artist Sarah Stone has posted on her Tumblr a step-by-step breakdown of her creative process, specifically about the More than Meets the Eye #33 30th Anniversary cover variant. Find out more here, and check out some mirrored images below!

I get a lot of questions about my process so I thought it’d be cool to break down and talk about some of my steps for illustrating covers! I hope this is helpful or interesting, it’s not quite a tutorial but perhaps it’s a glimpse into my thought process.

Step 1 | Thumbnail. The point here is to do several very fast, small, drawings, so you can’t get hung up on details. Here I’m thinking most about composition and subject. I had four originally and this one was picked to get finished.

Step 2 | Sketch. I draw on top of my thumbnail, nailing down more of the actual details. I fix any proportion isssues but I still try not to waste too much time making final lines, the sketch will go away in the end, so it just needs to be good enough for me.

[...]

Stage 9 | Final Lights. I add a harsh white rim light to both of the figures, really pulling them away from the background to finalize the painting.

It is my desire to attain that level of skill one day.

The way she phrased her words, it sounds like she's using computer software.

All the same, it takes a lot of skill to render a good drawing even with software; and in some cases, especially with software.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:The way she phrased her words, it sounds like she's using computer software.

All the same, it takes a lot of skill to render a good drawing even with software; and in some cases, especially with software.

She does. At TFCon Toronto I heard her say she pretty much does it all, start to finish, digitally. her amount of skill and the energy in her drawings is nothing short of amazing. Even her traditional work is fabulous too!

Are you ready for another issue of the emotional (quantum) rollercoaster that is IDW Publishing's Transformers: More than Meets the Eye? Check out below this week's comic full (quantum) preview, thanks to comics website Newsarama, and head back to Seibertron.com later for the (quantum) review - and possible spoilers for everything. Quantum.

Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #33: Dawn of the Autobots
James Roberts (w) • Alex Milne (a & c)
REVELATIONS! The fate of an entire planet hangs in the balance as MEGATRON races to solve the dark riddle of Sector 113. As unseen forces move in for the kill and old friends reveal their true colors, the AUTOBOTS realize that everything—everything—is a lie. All this...and an open briefcase.
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Bullet points:
Secrets are revealed!
Questions are answered!
Lives are changed!
30th Anniversary Variant Cover by Sarah Stone!

I think my brain turned into mush trying to understand.


have a headache now.

So that's why the Rodimus in the coffin was missing part of his head!

It's always fun to watch as speculations from a previous issue proving true!

I'm surprised that they wrote Rung off to simply have died in the explosion rather than have him killed by the Sparkeater as Skids wasn't available to save him, which would make a lot more sense.

Ah so many things falling into place, though think, for that brief moment in time there was two Overlords...looks to be great

Synopsis
REVELATIONS! The fate of an entire planet hangs in the balance as MEGATRON races to solve the dark riddle of Sector 113. As unseen forces move in for the kill and old friends reveal their true colors, the AUTOBOTS realize that everything—everything—is a lie. All this...and an open briefcase.



Story

Death death death death lunch death death afternoon tea death. Pretty much sums up issue 32, the beginning of the Slaughterhouse chapter in More than Meets the Eye, as the DJD are shown - or rather, their aftermath - to make their way through a slightly different Lost Light. With one single, tiny survivor.



Be ready for some explanations that, while making sense even in the non-text world, might take some time to get around in James Roberts' enjoyment of them and the sci-fi genre. At the same time, Nightbeat and, especially, Nautica are still the mouthpieces for exposition, with some nice chemistry between them and with the reader's projection in Getaway and Riptide.



What is also very good to see is a healthy dose of self-criticism, too, as Roberts appears to be aware of potential criticisms from the readership. Mostly humorous, but not only, and scattered throughout the book. And to top it all, we get one of possibly the biggest twists in this series' run so far - and it's pulled off twice!



So far, one of my favourite MTMTE resolutions, after the issues I had with the Overlord and Remain in Light sagas - though I still have some concern for the denouement reserved to the Rewind plotline, and I do hope it gets addressed again before we get lost in Elegant Chaos. As something else seems to be set in motion, very briefly, in the epilogues, too..

Art

Alex Milne's might alone was not enough for this issue, as two inkers join the lineart team to provide some delineation to different scenes - and both Brian Shearer and John Wycough work wonderfully with Milne's pencils, giving some particularly amusing facial expressions, some of which yet unseen in Milne's work alone. Especially Riptide.



What is definitely not unseen, however, is Joana Lafuente's (still) astonishingly good colouring work: from fading to quantum foam, to space, to interiors, different lights, flashbacks, mood settings, the colours really aid the reader in setting further the tone to the scene, if the lines and er.. lines were not enough already.



The letters are once more by Tom B. Long, in a style that I have really come to enjoy, and even though there isn't much in terms of sound effects this time round, the title page and the uses of translucency for certain scenes is just part of the trademark visual quality of this series. Something proven by the variant covers too, from Sarah Stone's to Casey Coller and JP Bove, via the main Milne and Josh Perez haunting Rewind and Nick Roche and Josh Burcham (thumbnail) doing justice to the DJD.


Thoughts
Spoilerish ahead

This is a James Roberts Transformers comic script, no doubt about it. There is a lot of unpacking to be done once you read through (and even as you are reading, for that matter), and I'd be curious to see the wordcount for the script before and after the visual rendition - because there are a lot of words in this issue. A lot. And yet some of the better scenes can be completely silent. Especially the sweeter, and the more horrific ones. Be warned.



And that's where the art team come in, from Milne and Lafuente to Wycough and Shearer and cover artists, making everything flow so smoothly you almost forget about the atrocities, quantum mechanics, heart-wrenching tales of survival and general twistedness. Are we back on track, though, if the issue's conclusion is anything to go by? Or are we to face even more horrors on the Lost Light?

Have some pencils, too.


Via Alex Milne.

And all this because the "Historical Constant" is removed from the picture? Tsk-tsk.

It needs to be tomorrow so I can get all spoilery and gushy about this issue. Looking forward to having it on ink and paper!

ScottyP wrote:It needs to be tomorrow so I can get all spoilery and gushy about this issue. Looking forward to having it on ink and paper!

It needs to be tomorrow so I can READ the flyin' frikker!

The part I find so novel, is that in the preview at least, Rung (Rewind's Rung), whom has been established to be one of the most important secondary Characters in the current IDW mythos; dies in a way so pointless and meaningless that it's genuinely funny that it can even condensed into a throw away line.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:The part I find so novel, is that in the preview at least, Rung (Rewind's Rung), whom has been established to be one of the most important secondary Characters in the current IDW mythos; dies in a way so pointless and meaningless that it's genuinely funny that it can even condensed into a throw away line.

That 's probably a reference to his always being in the background of major incidents.

That ending and coda, so touching yet so deliciously sinister.

I wonder if Hasbro will be adding a new feature to that toy.

Neurie wrote:That ending and coda, so touching yet so deliciously sinister.

I wonder if Hasbro will be adding a new feature to that toy.

I doubt it, but that doesn't mean it won't sell like even hotter cakes now!

Wow. Just wow.

So if Brainstorm is the Decepticon mole, did the DJD kill him, or was he offed by an Autobot? Because if he's a traitor, I get it. But if he's not, did he just somehow end up as collatteral?

Interesting twist.... Opens up a whole lot of questions though

On another note, looks like we're getting a Legends Brawn outnofmthe swerve/gears mould if that bar scene is anything to go by

chaosmage42 wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Wow. Just wow.

So if Brainstorm is the Decepticon mole, did the DJD kill him, or was he offed by an Autobot? Because if he's a traitor, I get it. But if he's not, did he just somehow end up as collatteral?

my theory is that it might be something far more devious i think that the brainstorm we are seeing right now isn't the brainstorm we know i think its a case there being 2 of them or if i dare hope its a case of body jacking -maybe this brainstorm is a head master and the reason we see him doing this is another headmaster has jacked his body. i just don't buy that the brainstorm is evil -at least not totally -it also is possible that he in't a member and that the plate is related to something else -like he joined when it first started but he got out but the brand on his face plate couldn't come off or he keeps it to remind him of something we don't know yet

That's crazy. So crazy...it just might work.

well the thing is don't assume what we see is everything - for example pharma we assumed he was a good guy turns out psyco, we though overlord was also a fake out-skids also not what he though he was -all of this is a series of fake out we assume right now that this person is the traitor but that doesn't totally add up -if he were he wouldn't have helped with the overlord research to find out how phase 6 are made if the autobots get that the djd would have killed him the question is who is the real traitor is it even someone still on the lost light-although events are similar ie the spark eater thing -also there is something far more dangerous that we all seem to have forgotten about -THE POINT ONE PERCENTER SPARK -Brainstorm had it what has he been doing with it. Now this is kind a issue as what could he be doing with that. I have a bad feeling.

Also i just realized something MAJOR ok here is the thing if brainstorm was the traitor why is it that only after the entire crew knew about overlord being there that they when disabled the clock that hid him form the djd and got them all killed everyone. also since brainstorm as the bot who built it could have done it but the timing is wrong-why only after everyone knew about overlord. because brainstorm as a con would have done this first chance he had after they left in which case the djd would have also caught up to the ones we followed and killed them too. so what im saying although its not proof i think that who ever betrayed everyone did it because he found out overlord was alive because rodimus died-also another thing thats important is that the events of the first comics are what didn't happen exactly the same -also its issue 8 when the signal is picked up so far i can't think of who are when it could have happened but what ever it is the person who is the real spy or what ever made brainstorm do it was not present. Also as for him acting nuts in the bar i think that the dead universe zombie thing its hard to say weather its him being nutty or not. Also i think atomizer is more of a possible mole think about this if he is a con agent then he would give rodimus false information to eliminate people who he didn't want coming with them -if he hadn't talked to rachet how would he have known the list was a fake-i would say if he isn't bad he is definatly up to something

Judging from the crossed out lines I can't talk about how much I like a certain character this way, so I'll talk about the characters I don't like. Chromedome and Rewind. They're sickening together even though they're not really doing anything. It's what is implied with the whole Conjunx Endura thing. It looks like a man carrying on a improper relationship with a little boy.

i don't see the problem transformers have no females till recently -beside their robots its like having a really good best friend you talk to a lot

also i found something interesting in issue 21 after the bit were cyclonus uses his great sword on tailgate there is a pannel with brainstorm holding that .1% spark i think there is a hole in is cheast cavity -im just guessing but maybe that means as i guessed his spark is in his head because he is a head master -just a guess -also might explain why he lied about being forged -maybe brainstorm is forged and the head master how has body jacked him is not

It just dawned on me, what happened to Bluestreak when everyone on the Lost Light was disappearing? He wasn't on the ship during the first trip. Did he end up floating around in the empty space that was once the Light or another shuttle?

Poor Streaker.

might be what the next issue is it involes 4 bots on a planet so im guess he and 3 others who were also new recruits are stuck on a planet while everyings going on

Good to know. Thanks, chaosmage42.

no prob =i didn't know he was on board anyone else -new we didn't see -its hard to keep track lots of bots on lost light -one of my objectives is to make a lost light crew set

So how does this connect to when he had the life signal checker thing, and it showed 0 for him?

i think what may be happening to him is he may have gone nuts -people exposed to the dead universe tend to have a habit of going crazy