Before I begin the post, Rachel and I would like to take a moment to welcome our new official page artist for The Adventures of Cain & Yurk and Song of the Eastern Sands, Jerome Jacinto! For those who may not know, Jerome has been an incredible supporter of the world of the Western Deep since its early days, and has contributed some of our favorite pieces of guest art. His artwork also graced the special edition Volume 1 hardcover, and it is an honor to introduce him as a now-official Western Deep artist working in our canon while Rachel takes a well-deserved and long overdue vacation from Western Deep pages!

Starting this week, we shift our focus away from the death and mayhem taking place in the border regions to the north, and travel southeast — to the desert paradise of Nessa, in the Vulpin kingdom of Navran. Here, life is a little more idyllic, moods are a little lighter, and a Canid and Ermehn can hang out without the thought of murder encroaching on a perfectly good day.

CainYurkspot1

Cain & Yurk began their lives as background characters in a concept piece Jerome put together in the early brainstorming stages of Song of the Eastern Sands. The concept of Canid/Ermehn bro buddies was so enticing to Jerome that he continued to doodle them. They would constantly find their way into concepts for the main story, even other story ideas of Jerome’s, lurking in the corners. Personalities were beginning to take shape! Then, finally, Jerome decided he wanted to do a short story with them alongside the creation of Song of the Eastern Sands.

JeromeDoodles_01

Intrigued by the characters and liking the idea of a short buffer story between Western Deep Chapter 2 and Song of the Eastern Sands, I helped Jerome plan out and write a short four-page story featuring the characters. We have a lot of fun ideas for them — carrying over the notion that in this world, every background character has the potential for their own story.

This week, as a wonderful Chapter 2 sendoff for Quinlan, Dakkan, and Hardin, we have some awesome guest art from jerijune featuring the three in some awesome action poses!

BWD

Oh man, I love seeing the characters looking badass like this — Quin nocking an arrow, Dakkan taking out Random Ermehn Bandit #142, and Hardin ready to avenge Random Ermehn Bandit #142! It’s the circle of awesomeness! Thank you so much for sending this in, Jerijune! We love it!