Lionborn is my comic debut. It also turned out to be the first ever English-language graphic novel to be produced in Sri Lanka.
Written and illustrated by me, colors by Chris Lissman. Additional colors by Prabath Wijayantha, Series Cover Colors by Vinicius Townsend, Lettered by Toben Racicot and Katie Kubert as our Consulting Editor. The book was released in August 2017 at the Asus Lanka Comic Con.
Lionborn cover art by me, colors by Vinicius Townsend.
Lionborn is based on a Sri Lankan historical character named Sinhabahu. The legend is probably one of the most well known tales in Sri Lanka. Yet, very little is known apart from few specifics which we learn from general folklore. Considering the interesting character dynamics of Sinhbahu's story, I understood that the tale had immense potential from a narrative and visual perspective. Being a big fan of the detective-noir genre, I planned Lionborn on a similar note as well. Hence, readers will come across new elements alongside the familiar story beats during the course of the story.
Synopsis: When his sister, Sivali is wrongfully arrested in connection to a young girl's disappearance, Sheerdas returns to his hometown of Vanga seeking answers. His investigation leads him on a trail of secrets, betrayals and consequences from the dark reign and murderous past of his father; The Lion.
My line art from the book. Everything was illustrated digitally in Photoshop.
The process...
Few (unlettered) pages from the book. (Art by me with Chris Lissman's colors).
The final book which was published.
Various images for Social Media.
One of my favorite parts of the book is the Variant Art gallery which I was able to put together, featuring pin-ups by some great comic artists from around the world. In total, 16 artists contributed 18 artworks for the final book. Here are some of them...
Artists (L to R): Brett Weldele (Dark Horse Comics' Pariah), Toni Fejzula (Dark Horse Comics' Veil), Kim Jacinto (Marvel's Uncanny Avengers).
Artists (L to R): Stefano Martinuz, Prabath Wijayantha (Samsun Lobe's Ruin), Andrea Errico (Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales)
Artists (L to R):Edwin Huang (Capcom's Street Fighter), Jen Hickman (Image's The Dead), Nimesh Niyomal (Greywalkers)
Apart from the above artworks, I will be making another post with all the cover artworks I did for Lionborn.
Thank you for viewing this project. If you're interested in purchasing the graphic novel, please drop me a line.
Alternatively, for those in Sri Lanka, you can purchase it via www.reddotgeek.com and get it delivered as well.
