Today we introduce a new character into the storyline: Dakkan!

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Dakkan has always been an important character in the story, going all the way back to when the idea was nothing more than a few pages of prose. Dakkan is actually Rachel’s character, and originally had nothing to do with Beyond the Western Deep at all! When I realized I just absolutely had to work with Rachel on this comic, it also made perfect sense to request that her Dakkan character – with whose design she was familiar and could easily work him into the BWD canon – join the party.

One of the first Dakkan/Quin sketches ever!

The character’s original demeanor, pre-Dakkan integration, was as a kind of jokester – the type of character who would put you in good spirits regardless of the circumstances. Dakkan lent himself very well to this, just by design, and I personally love writing his character – so it all worked out well!

Of course, as with all elements of Beyond the Western Deep, Dakkan went through a number of iterations before we settled on his current look. Originally, his outfit was very simple – nothing really to look at. I’ve talked a lot previously about simple outfits looking too much like “costumes”, and Dakkan was no exception.

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He wore a simple breastplate, some light chain mail – the staff was always a part of his getup, even before we worked him into the comic story, so it felt right to keep it. The scarf/ascot was always there as well, though the design for it has changed as the Lutren armor designs changed.

After the original printed pitch was turned down in 2010, Rachel went back to the drawing board on a lot of pre-established designs, eventually turning her attention to the Lutren themselves. We began to ask ourselves questions like “What would a water-born race wear for armor?” and “What materials would these creatures use?” Basically, questions we should have asked ourselves way back at the beginning. The Lutren redesign had begun!

Up-ending the tea table!

The first things Rachel updated were Dakkan’s clothes/armor along with his father’s. Kenosh makes an entrance in a couple pages, but his design has always been important along with Dakkan and Quinlan’s own.

I could go on about it, but instead I’ll just insert the rather detailed image Rachel did to illustrate the changes are describe the process:

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The redesign helped in more ways than one. It made Dakkan’s and Kenosh’s outfits more visually interesting, and also led to future redesigns of the other races. As I mentioned a few weeks back, Quinlan’s outfit changes went through a very similar process – and it was all thanks to this little experiment!