Author Archive: Jay

I live in Northern Ireland though, for me, home is simply wherever my loved ones are: my wife, best-friend and soul mate, Carole, and our two wonderful little boys - Mackenzie (5) and Nathaniel (3).

While I have a degree in art I'm really nothing more than an enthusiastic sketcher. Most of my creative energies are focused on writing - predominantly a short story author but have delved into novellas and am current researching/prepping my first novel.

I founded, and edit, 'With Painted Words' - www.withpaintedwords.com - an online literary magazine that takes inspiration from monthly image prompts and 'The WiFiles' - www.thewifiles.com - a weekly speculative fiction 'zine.

I'm also a co-host on the Folowing The Nerd - www.followingthenerd.com - radio show, and a contributor to their news/reviews website.

I teach kung fu.

I'm a school Governor, a Director for the Arts & Disability Forum of Ireland and a lobbyist/advocate for the Northern Ireland Rare Disease Partnership.

... and sometimes I sleep.

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#4 Kung Po Panda

| November 5, 2013 | 0 Comments

KungPoPanda

 

Po … no, not THAT one, it is a common name, you know … was a panda with a great destiny: to be the Dragon Warrior.  Unfortunately he lived quite close to Mr. Ping’s Noodle Restaurant and became addicted to one of their delicacies, Kung Po Noodles.  So while Po … yes, THAT one …went on to join the Furious Five as the Kung Fu Panda, Po … the OTHER one … drowned his sorrows in tub after tub of spicy goodness, becoming bigger and bigger, and earning himself a less distinguished name: the Kung Po Panda!!!

#3 The Avianator

| November 5, 2013 | 0 Comments

Aviantor

 

Herbert Wilberforce always dreamed about flying; he signed up to the Air Force on his 16th birthday, only to realise that he was profoundly colour blind so wasn’t able to be a pilot.  Being a passenger in a plane didn’t feel right, neither did hot air balloons, gliders, or even hang gliding.  Parachuting was close but, as he said once, it was more like falling with style than flying.  He spent the next 70 years of his life trying to fulfill his dreams.  Invention after invention was discarded, as he worked to build the ultimate flying machine fuelled by his love for his favourite movie: The Rocketeer.  Every spare penny he had went into his desire to fly; his parents’ home, left to him when they died without him really noticing, was sold off bit by bit until all that was left was the small shed were he built his inventions …and lived, if truth be told … and the large oak tree that sheltered it.  His only company was that tree and the birds that lived in it; birds that he fed each and every day, wind or rain, sharing the meager food he himself ate.  Eventually even this small plot of land was bought from under him …shed, tree, and birds alike.  The strain was a little too much and as he attempted to fight off the developers his frail body gave out but, as his heart gave out, and his body began to collapse, the birds that he had sheltered and fed took him by the arms and lifted him into the sky, higher and higher.  With his last breath he gave a smile as he realised that, finally, he was flying.

#2 Homonculeye

| November 2, 2013 | 0 Comments

Homonculeye

 

The Homonculeye is a magical espionage tool of the grossest variety; through it a practitioner can remove their own eye, sending it on its way to places that they can not physically reach and via the dark magics see all that it can see.

#1 Eclipse

| November 1, 2013 | 0 Comments

Eclipse

 

Eclipse is a luxamancer and has the ability to absorb light.  Depending on the extent to which he does this he can either simply shroud himself in shadows, becoming almost invisible, or can blanket a wide area in darkness, smothering all lights within it; the extent of this range has not been established but he has been known to cover an entire football pitch (about 8000 square meters).

He has three other abilities, both linked to his luxamancy, which are: the ability to see in complete darkness, as if it were daylight; to cope with extreme changes in light (from blinding to dark) with no issues; and to project the built up, absorbed ambiance …this can be as subtle as the level of a candle, blinding strobes, or as a burst of of all contained light at an intensity of in excess of 42.3 billion candela …bright enough to be seen from space and raising the immediate temperature to 300 °F/149 °C.  Doing so, however, weakens him.

Eclipse is also an excellent hand to hand combatant.

2013 returning challenger: Jay Faulkner

| November 1, 2013 | 0 Comments

Hi all, my name is Jay and this will be my fourth year of attempting the challenge with year one happening in 2010.  The first year was the only time I managed to get close to finishing this thing, with  10 characters sketched and 30 characters ‘created’ in text form only. Year 2 I managed a handful of sketches and last year nothing past the initial planning stage.  Each year I’ve managed to get ill during the event but, this time, I managed to have my ‘near death experience’ early so am hoping that I can get to the end of November without something bad happening …if the zombie apocalypse does happen though, it will probably be my fault 😉

I’m really a writer nowadays, rather than an ‘artist’, and would say that I’m only an enthusiastic sketcher, so nowhere near as good as the majority of the people here (who I am a little in awe of) but I’m really here to have fun and see how close to 30 I can actually get … will aim for the total, of course, and see how things go 🙂

2012 Chalenger: Jay Faulkner

| October 22, 2012 | 0 Comments

Hi all, my name is Jay and I’m a 30Charactersaholic 🙂

This will be my third year of attempting the challenge with year one (2010) managing to get 10 characters sketched (and 30 characters ‘created’ in text form only), and year two only 3 characters created at all … both years I got ill (2011 requiring a week in hospital and ventilation as I kinda stopped breathing on my own) so I am hoping that Tyler and 30 Characters are not my own personal Typhoid Mary (or Typhoid Tyler I suppose); if I do get ill this year I am going to hunt him down!!! 😉

I’m really a writer nowadays, rather than an ‘artist’, and would say that I’m only an enthusiastic sketcher, so nowhere near as good as the majority of the people here (who I am a little in awe of) but I’m really here to have fun and see how close to 30 I can actually get … will aim for the total, of course, and see how things go 🙂

I’ve decided to also try something a little different, this year, and make a personal goal of including the characters that I create in short stories after the challenge has finished. So, in a nutshell I’m here to have fun, beat the curse of the 30 Characters Challenge, and incorporate some/all of these into publishable stories.

#3 – Wu Xing

| November 6, 2011 | 0 Comments

#3 - Wu Xing - Jay Faulkner

Shen Yat-Sun, a humble fisherman from the Hainan Province of China, was half asleep in his small boat, the rod loosely held in his hand, when the blinding flash of light hit him.

Waking with a start Shen fell into the cold water and, when he surfaced, his rod had changed into a wooden staff, with five coloured rings through the top of the shaft.  Gripping the staff tightly he found himself floating up from the water, rising above it and drifting to the shoreline where he suddenly realised that he knew what he held – and who he now was:

Wu Xing – the master of the five elements.

Each ring on the staff represented one of the fabled elements – the black ring was metal, giving him strength and protection; the blue ring was air, giving him flight; the red ring was for fire, giving him blasts of powerful heat and flames; the brown ring was for earth, granting him the power of the earthquake; and the green ring was for water, granting him invisibility.

#2 – Legacy

| November 6, 2011 | 0 Comments

#2 - Legacy - Jay Faulkner

After a tour of Iraq, Sergeant Eric Danielson returned to his home in Swindon, England and a life that felt as if it were someone else’s.  Each day he awoke and trudged to his new job in the City, dealing with the reams of paperwork that never seemed to get any smaller and then, at the end of each night, to his empty flat and ate another tasteless meal for one.

Many miles away, on a small Greek island, a box was being opened as Eric stated out of his bedroom window, wondering what his role in life was meant to be – wondering, hoping, that there had to be more to it than what he had.

It was at that moment that a bright light flashed through his window and a warm glow enveloped him.  Looking down he found that his clothes had changed – that he had changed.

Now garbed in the tabard of St. George himself – granting him protection from harm; the belt of Waylund Smith- granting him strength beyond mortal men; and wielding the bow of Herne the Hunter – which never missed; and the fabled sword, Excalibur – which could cut through anything non-living.

With the emblems and artefacts of legend Eric Danielson suddenly knew the role that he was destined to play.

#1 – Hope

| November 6, 2011 | 0 Comments

#1 - Hope - Jay Faulkner

Elana Verros woke in the middle of the night, throwing on a pair of old jeans and a faded summer top even though the autumn air was cold.  Half asleep she left her family home – her son and daughter in law and their three children – behind her and trudged across the countryside to the cliff tops that she had spent seventy years exploring.

Moving around and through the familiar rocks she came to an opening that she had never seen before – an opening that no mortal had seen for close to three thousand years – and, without conscious choice, she followed it down, deeper and deeper, not noticing that no matter how far she travelled it never got any darker.

When the ground flattened out, and she could go no deeper, she found herself standing beside a marble funeral bier, the porcelain features of a beautiful woman as clear as the day that they had been carved.  Elena’s eyes were drawn to the small wooden box that rested on top of the bier, between the stone hands.  Reaching out she felt a tingle of electricity as she ran her own hands over the wood, feeling the engraved name on the top of it.

With a smile she lifted the box, gently opening the lid, and marvelling at the lights that dance out of it – flying out into the night and bringing Pandora’s final gift to the world … hope.

2011 challenger : Jay Faulkner

| October 26, 2011 | 0 Comments
Jay - Headshot

Jay - Headshot

Hi there everyone, as you will no doubt have already gathered from the subject my name is Jay.  I attempted this thing last year and even though I didn’t finish all 30 characters I LOVED Tyler’s concept for 30Characters so much that I have come back for more even though I am not an artist! 🙂

… I suppose, at best, I would be willing to call myself an enthusiastic sketcher who happens to have a degree in art but, being honest, never has (or makes) the time to draw in order to improve.

That could be because I work full-time as an IT Services Manager, teach two martial art classes, run two indy publishing ventures, write my own fiction and still try to at least let my wife and kids (two boys – Mackenzie who is 4 years old and Nathaniel who is 2 years old) remember who I am 😉

Excuses aside I fully intend to do better than last year and, to that end, will have a piece of creative fiction written for each of my 30 characters and (Flying Spaghetti Monster willing) also some artwork to go with each and everyone of them … that’s the plan, at least but I also planned to spend the last couple of weeks researching and plotting out my characters – instead I spent the last couple of weeks pretty ill with bronchitis and 10 days in hospital being helped to breathe.

Hey – plans, ey!? 😉

Anyhoo, same as last time the honest reason for taking part in 30Characters is pretty simple: to have fun. I don’t have a comic, I am not planning to pitch for a comic, I am not thinking about going back to art full-time. I’m just here to put some of the ideas spinning around in my head down onto paper and see what they look like. I am pretty sure that they will be (mostly, at least) super-hero based, though I ‘may’ attempt to sketch out some of the characters from current and upcoming stories too.

If you want you can find out more by visiting www.jayfaulkner.com

For now though, and try to put something ‘arty’ into this introduction (as well as steal a phrase from all good kid’s TV shows) you can see some of my artistic attempts here – http://jayfaulkner.com/gallery/ – and, to whet your appetite, here are some sketches that I made ‘earlier’ 🙂

Dragon - Ink Motormouth - copyright Marvel UK / Paul Neary Spider-Man - copyright Marvel

The next two images were created for Martin Eden, creator/owner of Spandex (http://www.spandexcomic.com), for a month long theme he called ‘Japandex’. In his own words this was “To celebrate the Spandex team’s trip to Tokyo in issue 2, Spandex creator Martin organised ‘Japandex’, a very special online gallery of Japanese-related art – with a Spandex twist!! The artwork was provided by some of the UK’s top artistic talent and debuted in June 2010. You can see it all here: http://spandexcomic.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/japandex-thank-you-copy-copy.jpg

My contribution was my ‘take’ on Neon and Glitter, inspired by traditional Japanese images:

Glitter - Spandex Comics, by Martin Eden Neon - Spandex Comics, by Martin Eden

My wrap-up party :)

| December 2, 2010 | 0 Comments

As it seems all the cool kids are doing this I thought that I would jump on the bandwagon and join in too 🙂

10/30 characters sketched

10/30 characters sketched - Jay Faulkner

I REALLY enjoyed my first year of doing this and fully intend to take part next year (yes, Tyler, that is a hint that I demand that you do this again! 🙂 ) and am going to ensure that I spend the next twelve months improving with my sketches in the hope that I can not only up the quality level but maybe get closer to 30 characters drawn, as well as created.  Obviously if you want to find out about all 30 of the characters (including the 20 that didn’t make it past just words) you can do so here: http://www.30characters.com/2010/11/30/30-characters-sort-of/

Coming out of this – on top of the fun – I am so very glad to have been able to meet and interact with so many talented and friendly people.   There are some on here that I honestly am in awe of (yes, Mr. Govar, I am looking your way 😉 ) but at least it gives me something to aspire to.  I am now going to definitely use quite a few of my characters in upcoming projects (short-stories, mostly, but potentially a novel) and am actually toying with the idea of a fun webcomic.

So, thanks Tyler, for a great, great idea!

If any of you artists feel the urge to submit your work to inspire creative writers then please don’t hesitate to check out www.withpaintedwords.com – I can always use more great art!

Jay

30 characters (sort of).

| November 30, 2010 | 0 Comments

OK, I want to preface this post with a brief apology as I KNOW that what follows comes fully under the heading of ‘cop out’ but despite the very real reasons behind any and all excuses I wanted to get up a semblance of 30 characters in 30 days. 

So, as I haven’t been able to draw, scan and upload 30 drawings of new characters – personal health issue, two work disasters and then, most unfortunately, the death of my aunt – I have so far uploaded ten and have another 5 sketched and I am going to post the following pen-portraits of ALL 30 characters, text only:

– – – – –  

1 – The Hobo 

A man with no memory of who he is at all.  The only thing that he recalls clearly is that he was locked up while faceless men experimented on him.  Then, one day, he realised that anything that he imagined came to life and used this ability to escape capture … and now he is busy dreaming up new, and powerful, characters to hopefully ensure that he is never captured again. 

2 – Angela, the Unbound Guardian Angel 

There are three things that you need to know about Guardian Angels: 

1 – they are real.  As in REALLY real.  You can see them, should they wish to be seen; you can touch them, should they wish to be touched; they can see you, whether you want them to or not; they can touch you, when they want, where they want, and as hard as they want to.

2- Guardian Angels are neither male nor female but, to the mortal that they are assigned, they are perceived as one or the other; all ‘male’ Guardian Angels are called Angelo and all ‘female’ Guardian Angels are called Angela.  We don’t know why this should be so; it just is.

3- they are second only to the Creator in terms of power.  Their calling in life is to protect, guide and succour the very special, very few, mortals that are destined to play an instrumental role in the Universe.  They WILL do whatever it takes to fulfil their role and, once linked to a mortal they are bound to them for all of eternity.  They live for only as long as their charge does and, when their time is up they are ‘unmade’; as Angels, unlike mortals, do not have a soul, this means that they are gone – destroyed – for ever. 

…at least that is the plan.  A plan that – since the dawn of time itself – has always worked.  Until now.  Until Angela, the Unbound Guardian Angel.  Until the day that she broke her bonds by breaking the neck of the mortal she was guarding and guiding – a mortal ‘destined’ to play an instrumental role in the upcoming war between Heaven and Hell. 

… a war that Angela has just started! 

3 – Remembrance 

The embodiment of the Unknown Soldier, a combination of all true and valorous warriors who fell in battle. 

4 – Bliss 

Richard Carmichael discovered that he had a brain tumor and, risking controversial and experimental surgery, not only managed to save his life but came out of it with powers that gave him the ability to empahtically control others – making them feel comfortable / happy around him.  He uses this power in his confidence tricks in order to make himself richer than his wildest dreams. 

5 – Sequoia 

Little Acorn was a Native American boy, after witnessing his parents killed during a massacre by another tribe, who continued to grow and grow and grow – finally reaching the size of a Giant Redwood -  after begging the spirits to have the strength to protect them.  While he was too late to save his family he is now big enough to ensure that his tribe never experiences the heartache again. 

6 – The Arachnaphobaphiliac

Parker Peterson was a janitor at the local museum when, during a science exhibit, a high school student was bitten by a radioactive spider. During the chaos that followed Parker himself was bitten by the same spider, in its dying moments. 

Unlike the first bitee, however, Parker didn’t gain any miraculous powers from the bite. Instead he lost his job, being blamed for the accident, as well as picking up (as hs theraist told him) the only known case of phobia and philia at the same time … simply put Parker Peterson is both deathly afraid of spiders (and most creepy crawlies, to be honest) and uncontrollably drawn to them! 

The only way that he can balance his irrational love/hate relationship is to don his costume – bee-keeper’s hat, ‘stomping’ boots, bug spray and zapper – and ptrol the streets as his alter-ego: The Arachnaphobaphiliac! 

7 – Ursa and Mina 

Mina Jeffries is eight years old and, to her, every day is an adventure. 

Now most eight year old children probably think the same thing but there is something that makes Mina’s views different … every day IS an adventure for her! 

You see her very best friend in the whole wide world is her teddy bear – a bear passed down from her grandmother – Ursa. And while it is true that most, if not all, eight year old children will have a teddy bear as a best friend there is yet again something that makes Mina’s bear different … Ursa, when Mina wants him too, becomes a real, living and breathing, bear! 

8 – Veritas 

Edward Campbell is a former attorney, scion to a large and successful family who have always been involved in the judicial system.  After a kidnapping plot went wrong, and he went into anaphylactic shock after the kidnappers injected him with a powerful truth serum, he woke from a three week coma to discover that he could tell if people were telling the truth simply by seeing or hearing them. 

… and with a simple touch he could force them to tell the truth. 

Using his new found abilities, and trust fund, Edward set up the Veritas Organisation – a business that can get information – about anything and anyone – no matter the cost. 

His abilities have enabled him to gather together a team of individuals to help him in his goal – people that he has helped (with his money AND abilities) despite their backgrounds as he knows that, despite their pasts, that he can trust them absolutely. 

9 – Goggle 

Bartholomew Bennett is one of a set of triplets – his brothers being Benjamin and Barnabus – born to the inventor and physicist, Bancroft Bennett III. 

Bancroft Bennett III was best known, infamously to be correct, for his theories on time travel; a line of research which made him the laughing stock among his peers. While it is true that he never managed to prove time travel waspossible himself his experiements had a lasting effect on his children – and the wife who died birthing them! 

Bartholomew -like his siblings – was born with a special ability relating to time: the ability to retain every piece of information that is available at that moment in time, no matter where on Earth it is. 

Unfortunately he isn’t always able to choose what to retain and what to forget so he appears to be confused at times, misdiagnosed as a high functioning autistic. 

Streams of information and data are constantly bombarding him, perceived as a blinding light. The only way that he can function normally is to ensure that his eyes are blinkered at all times – using a pair of goggles that his father made for him. These goggles not only ensure that his brain is not overloaded with information but also allow him to project his memories as holographic images … unfortunately they also keep him in a world of darkness, blind to everything around him when he isn’t actively needed to use his powers. 

A member of the Veritas Organisation, Bartholomew has taken the codename of Goggle and tries to make the world a brighter place. 

10 – Recall 

Benjamin Bennett is on of a set of triplets – brother to Bartholomew and Barnabus.  As with his brothers Benjamin’s special ability is related to time: he is a pyschometric, able to read the ‘memories’ and past of any inorganic object simply by touching it.   The longer the touch the deeper and stronger the memories.  

On top of this Benjamin also has eidetic memory – the ability to recall, with near perfection, anything that he has seen.  Unlike his brother Bartholomew (Goggle), Benjamin is able to ensure that his brain doesn’t become overloaded by compartmentalising his memories and regularly ‘cleaning’ his vault of memories to ensure that they don’t become too much to bear. 

… his powers do work on organic matter too but the more ‘active’ memory retained the more traumatic the experience for Benjamin.  Touching another human being, for example, overloads both him and the recipient and has been theorised as being potentially fatal to one or both.

Codenamed Recall he is also a member of the Veritas Organisation. 

11 – Fugue 

Barnabus Bennett, third of the triplets, is at one time the most powerful of the three and at the same time the weakest. 

His ability is to see the future – unfortunately he has no control over his ability at all and sees every future at every moment, with no sense of where or when things will happen.

Electrodes are hard-wired into his brain so that everything that his ‘mind’ sees is portrayed on a bank of screens that surrounds him – people monitor these screens 24 hours a day, every day of the week and are often able to link these glimpses of the future to actual events, people and or places. 

It is through Barnabus’s ability that the Veritas Organisation is able to stay ahead of the game as they – literally – can see what is coming. 

Barnabus’s ability has had a very sever side-effect, leaving his higher brain functions all but atrophied and he lives in a permanent vegetative state with his every physical function kept working by life-support machines.

The Veritas Organisation have ensured that every medical benefit possible has been provided for him and, as their best kept secret – known only to the brothers and a handful of others – have given him the codename Fugue. 

12 – Veil 

Valerie Owens is a middle-aged former thief who, after a brutal assault while in prison, discovered that she had the ability to make people ignore her very presence.  While not quite invisibility – in that machines, and in fact people, can see her, she can will herself to become inconsequential.  This ability is one that she has developed to such an extent that, through effort, she can actually mask the presence of a group of individuals. 

She works for the Veritas Organisation as Edward Campbell was instrumental in getting her released from prison and helping her overcome the trauma of her past. 

13 – Strongarm 

Betty Doyle is a near seven foot, 280lb, muscle bound freak of nature.  She has superstrength and partial invulnerability, a side effect of which is that she has little tactile sensation.  Even heavy impact barely registers on her skin. 

Abandoned and disowned by her parents at a young age Betty lived on the streets until coming to the attention of a local pimp who made her into a very successful ‘fetish’ prostitute.  Not being able to feel what she was being forced to endure made it easier for Betty at the start but, as time went on, she realised that the mental scars were as bad, if not worse, as the physical ones that she couldn’t feel. 

While breaking up a prostitution ring Edward Campbell came across Betty and rescued her from the ordeal, gaining her trust over time and helping her come to terms with what she had endured.  She now has much of her self-esteem back but has an admitted attitude problem, especially against most men with Edward being one of the few examples.  While he never asked her to she has vowed to devote the rest of her life to protecting him, and helping him to do the work of the Veritas Organisation, and has taken the name ‘Strongarm’. 

14 – Professor Alan Weir – codename: ‘Prof’. 

Part of the Veritas organisation. 

Power: Genius level IQ and biomechanical specialist.  Inventor of all of Veritas’ special equipment, including the clothes that Recall wears (which don’t invoke his tactile pyschometric powers). 

15 – Snapshot 

Karl Gray is a technical genius with a background in quantum physics and optics.  When his funding, from the Department of Defence was cut, he decided to take his research into a new area – that of crime. 

He created a set of equipment that he built into a reflective suit, which emitted light at different frequencies:  one that he built into a wrist device able to emit tightly controlled, by extremely powerful lasers, and a second that induced a ‘fugue’ state in anyone viewing it.  Basically it shut people down, in their place, and they woke with no recollection of the events or even of being stopped at all.  A side effect of the light emissions, as Karl soon found out, was that the longer he subjected a person to it the greater the chance of them having a seizure or even a haemorrhage. 

However the lure of greater riches outweighed the risk and Karl Gray – Snapshot – embarked on a full-fledged career of crime. 

16 – Demise 

He may look old and frial but looks are, as they say, deceptive – just like the man himself.  First of all he isn’t frial in the slightest and, in fact, is nigh on invulnerable and, should one be lucky enough to injure him, he has amazing powers of recuperation and heals from injuies that would topple most in a matter of moments.  

Secondly while he may look simply ‘old’ the truth is that he was ancient when New Orleans was a handful of hovels in the mud … because he is no man but, rather, a demon.  

The demon, Demise. 

Sent to Earth to prepare the way for his Master’s arrival Demise is playing the long game.  Fronting a well-respected, and successful, business he is biding his time while looking for mortals that he can corrupt, or sacrifice, to open the portal that will allow his Master to take corporal form himself. 

Demise is an accomplished practitioner of the black arts, and uses these to his every advantage.  

He summoned four elemental demons – Hellfire Brimstone, Styx and Stones –  collectively known as the ‘Reservoir Demons’ as, to mortal eyes, they simply look like black-suited humans but also because a vast amount of Demise’s power is held within them, to serve and protect him, who seek out the mortals that he needs.  He also has one further ‘trick’ up his sleeve … his innate ability to know the deepest, darkest fear of any mortal simply by looking into their eyes … and then projecting this fear into them so that they see nothing else, going first mad, then dying, from the terror that he instills.

If you meet him you will understand why his legend grew in the back streets, from the screams and prayers of the dying as they warned others not to look into them eyes … dem eyes … demise. 

17 – Hellfire.  

Fire demon, servant of Demise.  Fire based powers, can control any flame and use it as a weapon, superspeed, teleportation through fire.  

18 – Brimstone.

Air demon, servant of Demise.  No physical form at all as composed of sulfur and has the ability to pass through any solid matter that has any air gap.  Noxios body can knock unconscious, or kill, anyone.  Teleportation. 

19 – Styxx

Water demon, servant of Demise.  Water based powers, can control any liquid and use it as a weapon.  Ability to leech memories from anyone immersed within its form.  Mostly invulnerable to physical attacks as they simply flow through it. Teleportation through water. 

19 – Stones

Earth demon, servant of Demise.  Strength, invulnerability, regeneration from damage as rock like skin simply reattaches.  Teleportation through earth. 

20 – Wyldcard (Rachael Barry)

Powers: Creation of line of sight teleportation portals.  Secondary power: Uncontrolled probability power (good luck / bad luck scenario) – powers/legacy related to Demise who, unknown to Rachael, is the progenitor of all of her family’s substantial fortune (and misfortune) since a ‘deal with the devil’ six generations before her – making Rachael the seventh generation and payee for the bargain. 

21 – Tomahawk.  

Native American with powers of supersonic flight and controlled aura making her indestructible when flying.

22 – Slingshot.  

Powers: Unconscious gravity manipulation to allow super dexterity, kinetic type bouncing, leaping, landing, etc. 

23 –Inertia (Andrea Martin) 

Powers ability to control the level of resistance of movement … things either stick or slide when she wants them to. 

24 – Wildfire

Powers: Superspeed, flight, and kinetic manipulation causing extreme heat/fire/explosions. 

25 – Triage 

Stephen Quinn is a doctor who, after a fatal car accident, wakes up in his coffin to find that he is basically the reality behind the vampire myth.  He needs a certain energy to survive, which is most easily obtained through living blood but can be taken from any living organism – with effort. 

He is drawn into a World where others of his kind have been working in the shadows to control mankind, all to the end where Stpehen would come to be so that eh can fulfil the destiny they have laid out for him: to ‘heal’ the first ever ‘Vampire’ so that they can rule mankind forever. 

Powers: Ability to heal other people’s wounds, transfer wounds to someone else and reopen old/healed wounds. 

26 – KRISS (Christine ‘ Chris’ Lattimore) 

Powers: after falling into the vat of ink which contained the blood of the members of KISS, Kriss can now take on four different powersets based on the facepaint of KISS members:

Demon – winged flight, strength, fire-breathing.

Starchild – hard-light based powers, shaped like stars, shield, projectiles, etc. 

Cat – agility, claws. 

Spaceman – gravity control, phasing. 

27 – Half-Life 

15 year old Matthew Dawson was waiting at the Museum of Natural History where his father worked when it was broken into by a Roman legend inspired villain, named The Emperor, and his henchmen.  Hiding in one of the disused artefact rooms, Matthew took shelter behind a statue of Echidna – said to be the mother of all so-called monsters in Greek mythology. 

His tears fell on the statue, as he heard shots ring out and his father scream, and he quietly begged for help.  A cry that Echinda heard as, within his head, he heard her voice speak to him – as a stone bracelet that the statue wore flowed onto his own arm, becoming vibrant silver as it did – promising to aid him if, in the future, he became hers.  Without really knowing what he was promising, but wanting only to help his father, he said yes. 

Instantly he felt a change course through him and, with his newfound abilities, he managed to defeat the henchmen and the criminal but, as the police burst in, the real villains vanished leaving Matthew – in his new guise – alone to take the ‘blame’ for the attack on the museum and the assault to his own father. 

The police named the new ‘villain’ Half-Life as they saw him change forms, and now, as his father lies in a coma, he is deemed to be at the top of the city’s most wanted list. 

Powers: Greek bracelet allows him to assume the form of mythological creatures that are half-human and half-beast (harpy, centaur, naga, merman, etc).

28 – Adam Hunter, Demon Hunter 

On his 13th birthday Adam is given an old book as a present, from a tramp that he has never seen before.  As he tries to refuse the gift the man dies, falling at his feet and in the shock and confusion Adam takes the book home with him.  That night he discovered two things:  that the book is now ‘hanuted’ by the spirit of the old man who was one of the last of a line of fable Demon Hunters – protectors of mortals from any creatures from fairytale, legend or myth that breached the Veil between their world and ours, and that Adam himself is now the actual last in that line.

The book is an encyclopaedia of facts about the forces he may be facing, an atlas of the borders between reality and the world of myth and legend, a book of spells and – as Adam quickly begins to realise – a real pain in the backside as it holds the memories and consciousness of ever Demon Hunter, all of whom have a ‘take’ on what he is doing wrong (as they never thing that he is doing anything right). 

From the moment that he takes possession of the book, and without the guidance and training that usually is given to a Demon Hunter before they take up that title and mantle (unfortunately his predecessor thought that he was immortal and left it too late to pass on the knowledge and training that he should have), Adam comes under attack from the forces of darkness that would like nothing better than to remove the only thing standing between them and free reign over our World.

Him.

29- Snitch 

One of the first spells that Adam tries is one that will allow him to track/locate the ‘thing’ that attacked him during the night – unfortunately, not really knowing what he was doing, Adam actually summoned, and bound to himself, a small demon specialised in the art of surveillance.  Snitch, as Adam named him, is about the size of your thumb, with tiny wings, tiny claws and a massive foul mouth.

While he can, almost literally, get anywhere and find out anything about anyone, he doesn’t’/t actually like being bound to the Demon Hunter in the slightest and goes out of his way deliberately misinterpret every instruction given him. 

30 – The Doctor

Powers: none.  The Doctor – Gordon Potts – is actually ‘The Hobo’s’, real name Gareth Proctor, psychiatrist, who is treating him for severe paranoid schizophrenia,  delusions and a profound messiah complex.  Gareth has been confined to an asylum for most of his life, for his own safety and that of others.  Treatment doesn’t seem to be working, despite Gordon’s profound desire to help his poor patient, who spends his days in a padded cell, drawing pictures of fantastical people and creatures, in his own little world. 

– – – – - 

So, there you go, those are the characters that I intended to illustrate but, unfortunately, I only managed to get a third of them up here.  The 30th character was actually going to be a full colour picture, showing the doctor in front of the padded cell, with ‘the hobo’ (or the poor, insane, patient in reality) in the background painting his characters to that everything came full circle and, in effect, there wouldn’t have been 30 characters at all – just 2, the hobo and the doctor.  Great plans, and all that ;) 

Anyway, I completed what I set out to do which was have fun.  Really enjoyed every minute I could devote to this which simply wasn’t as many as I wanted.  That said I have also kick started the sketching lark again so that is another positive I will take from this and while I didn’t get the characters drawn in the 30 days I fully intend to finish the sketch pad of with all 30 characters over the next month or so. 

Next year I aim to get all 30 drawn :D 

Thanks for the fun guys, I have LOVED seeing all of your work and taking part in my own small way.

#10 – Demise

| November 14, 2010 | 0 Comments
#10 - Demise - Jay Faulkner

#10 - Demise - Jay Faulkner

 

He may look old and frial but looks are, as they say, deceptive – just like the man himself.  First of all he isn’t frial in the slightest and, in fact, is nigh on invulnerable and, should one be lucky enough to injure him, he has amazing powers of recuperation and heals from injuies that would topple most in a matter of moments.  Secondly while he may look simply ‘old’ the truth is that he was ancient when New Orleans was a handful of hovels in the mud … because he is no man but, rather, a demon.  The demon, Demise.

Sent to Earth to prepare the way for his Master’s arrival Demise is playing the long game.  Fronting a well-respected, and successful, business he is biding his time while looking for mortals that he can corrupt, or sacrifice, to open the portal that will allow his Master to take corporal form himself.

Demise is an accomplished practitioner of the black arts, and uses these to his every advantage.  He summoned four elemental demons – Hellfire Brimstone, Styx and Stones –  to serve and protect him, who seek out the mortals that he needs.  He also has one further ‘trick’ up his sleeve … his inate ability toknow the deepest, darkest fear of any mortal simply by looking into their eyes … and then projecting this fear into them so that they see nothing else, going first mad, then dying, from the terror that he instills.

If you meet him you will understand why his legned grew in the back streets, from the screams and prayers of the dying as they warned others nt to look ito them eyes … dem eyes … demise.

#9 – Veritas

| November 14, 2010 | 0 Comments
#9 - Veritas - Jay Faulkner

#9 - Veritas - Jay Faulkner

# 8 – Ursa and Mina

| November 13, 2010 | 0 Comments
#8 - Ursa and Mina - Jay Faulkner

#8 - Ursa and Mina - Jay Faulkner

Mina Jeffries is eight years old and, to her, every day is an adventure.

Now most eight year old childen probably think the same thing but there is something that makes Mina’s views different … every day IS an adventure for her!

You see her very best friend in the whole wide world is her teddy bear – a bear passed down from her grandmother – Ursa. And while it is true that most, if not all, eight year old children will have a teddy bear as a best friend there is yet again something that makes Mina’s bear different … Ursa, when Mina wants him too, becomes a real, living and breathing, bear!

#7 – Goggle

| November 13, 2010 | 0 Comments
#7 - Goggle - Jay Faulkner

#7 - Goggle - Jay Faulkner

Bartholomew Bennett is one of a set of triplets – his brothers being Benjamin and Barnabus – born to the inventor and physicist, Bancroft Bennett III.

Bancroft Bennett III was best known, infamously to be correct, for his theories on time travel; a line of research which made him the laughing stock among his peers. While it is true that he never managed to prove time travel waspossible himself his experiements had a lasting effect on his children – and the wife who died birthing them!

Bartholomew -like his siblings – was born with the ability to retain every piece of information that is available at that moment in time, no matter where on Earth it is. Streams of information and data are constantly bombarding him, perceived as a blinding light. The only way that he can function normally is to ensure that his eyes are blinkered at all times – using a pair of goggles that his father made for him. These goggles not only ensure that his brain is not overloaded with information but also allow him to project his memories as holographic images … unfortunately they also keep him in a world of darkness, blind to everything around him when he isn’t actively needed to use his powers.

A member of the Veritas Organisation, Bartholomew has taken the codename of Goggle and tries to make the world a brighter place.

#6 – The Arachnaphobaaphiliac!

| November 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
#6 - The Arachnaphobaphiliac! - Jay Faulkner

#6 - The Arachnaphobaphiliac! - Jay Faulkner

Parker Peterson was a janitor at the local museum when, during a science exhibit, a high school student was bitten by a radioactive spider. During the chaos that followed Parker himself was bitten by the same spider, in its dying moments.

Unlike the first bitee, however, Parker didn’t gain any miraculous powers from the bite. Instead he lost his job, being blamed for the accident, as well as picking up (as hs theraist told him) the only known case of phobia and philia at the same time … simply put Parker Peterson is both deathly afraid of spiders (and most creepy crawlies, to be honest) and uncontrollably drawn to them!

The only way that he can balance his irrational love/hate relationship is to don his costume – bee-keeper’s hat, ‘stomping’ boots, bug spray and zapper – and ptrol the streets as his alter-ego: The Arachnaphobaphiliac!

#5 – Sequoia

| November 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
#5 - Sequoia - Jay Faulkner

#5 - Sequoia - Jay Faulkner

#4 – Bliss

| November 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
#4 - Bliss - Jay Faulkner

#4 - Bliss - Jay Faulkner

#3 – Remembrance

| November 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
#3 - Remembrance - Jay Faulkner

#3 - Remembrance - Jay Faulkner

I think that this one speaks for itself.

#2 – Angela

| November 10, 2010 | 0 Comments
#2 Angela, the Guardian Angel- Jay Faulkner

#2 Angela, the Guardian Angel- Jay Faulkner

 

There are three things that you need to know about Guardian Angels: 

1 – they are real.  As in REALLY real.  You can see them, should they wish to be seen; you can touch them, should they wish to be touched; they can see you, whether you want them to or not; they can touch you, when they want, where they want, and as hard as they want to. 

2- Guardian Angels are neither male nor female but, to the mortal that they are assigned, they are perceived as one or the other; all ‘male’ Guardian Angels are called Angelo and all ‘female’ Guardian Angels are called Angela.  We don’t know why this should be so; it just is. 

3- they are second only to the Creator in terms of power.  Their calling in life is to protect, guide and succour the very special, very few, mortals that are destined to play an instrumental role in the Universe.  They WILL do whatever it takes to fulfil their role and, once linked to a mortal they are bound to them for all of eternity.  They live for only as long as their charge does and, when their time is up they are ‘unmade’; as Angels, unlike mortals, do not have a soul, this means that they are gone – destroyed – for ever. 

…at least that is the plan.  A plan that – since the dawn of time itself – has always worked.  Until now.  Until Angela, the Unbound Guardian Angel.  Until the day that she broke her bonds by breaking the neck of the mortal she was guarding and guiding – a mortal ‘destined’ to play an instrumental role in the upcoming war between Heaven and Hell. 

… a war that Angela has just started!

#1 The Hobo

| November 8, 2010 | 3 Comments
#1 The Hobo - Jay Faulkner

#1 The Hobo - Jay Faulkner

There was a time when he could remember who he was, what his name was, where he was from … or even where he was right now.

That was before ‘they’ realised just what it was that he could do.

That was before ‘they’ got their hands on him.

That was before ‘they’ locked him up, pumped him full of drugs, and tried to bend him to ‘their’ will.

All because of the one thing that makes him different; makes him special.

… his thoughts, his dreams, his imagination all become reality.

Now, somehow – though he doesn’t recall quite how – he has escaped ‘their’ clutches and is on the run, dreaming up bigger, better and mightier creations to form an army of super powered beings to protect him because, no matter what, he won’t go back!

30 Characters Challenger: Jay Faulkner

| October 25, 2010 | 1 Comment

OK … *DEEP BREATH* … here we go:

Jay - Headshot

Jay - Headshot

Hi there everyone, my name is Jay and I’m the confused guy wondering just what on Earth he is doing here amongst all of these creative, talented people.  All I can say, in advance and by way of a pre-emptive apology, is that I LOVED Tyler’s concept for 30Characters so much that I entered it before really thinking through the consequences: i.e. having to actually come up with 30 new characters during November, and attempt to draw them, even though I am not an artist! 🙂

Anyway, I’m here now so am going to make the best of it so may as well tell you a little bit about me.  Like I said my name is Jay (Faulkner) and I currently live in Northern Ireland; my dad was in the Royal Air Force so I’ve spent a lifetime moving from country to country and air-base to air-base so don’t’ really ‘feel’ like I am from anywhere in particular.  Home, for me, is simply where my loved ones are, which is my wife, best friend and soul mate, Carole, and our two wonderful baby boys Mackenzie and Nathaniel.  I’m lucky enough that the rest of my family also happens to live in Ireland so am close to them too.

Educationally I have a degree in Art and Design but, after moving to London a long time ago, I fell into the evil grip of ‘working for a living’ and unfortunately I realised that I got paid more for tinkering with computers than I did for sketching so picked up an increasingly growing set of qualifications in I.T.  So now, by day, I am an I.T. Services Manager, specialising in Information Security – yes that is as boring as it sounds which is why by night (and any spare moment during the day) I teach martial arts and write … though usually not at the same time.

Writing is probably my main creative outlet these days, though I still try to dabble with art when I get the chance, and took the plunge in August 2009 by actually sending a piece of my work to a magazine – they were mad enough to publish me and, since then, I have been writing and submitting (rather than writing and burying in the garden) more and more.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been published in Offshoot Magazine, Apollo’s Lyre, Campfire Tales, Nanoism, Long Story Short, Every Day Fiction, Static Movement, Twisted Tongue, Trapeze Magazine and Full Armor Magazine to name a few and my work can be found in multiple print anthologies, including Rigor Amortis, a collection of zombie romance tales … yes, you read that right, zombie and romance!

I was also short listed in the 2010 Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition and am currently working on my first novel, ‘Wednesday’s Child’.

I founded, and edit, ‘With Painted Words’ – http://www.withpaintedwords.com – a creative writing site with a monthly image prompt that is just about to celebrate its first anniversary.

That’s a lot of words but, in summary, I would say that while I’m a hopeful writer, martial-artist, sketcher, and dreamer that mostly I’m just a husband and father.

If you want you can find out more by visiting www.jayfaulkner.com

The honest reason for taking part in 30Characters is pretty simple: to have fun.  I don’t have a comic, I am not planning to pitch for a comic, I am not thinking about going back to art full-time.  I’m just here to put some of the ideas spinning around in my head down onto paper and see what they look like.  I am pretty sure that they will be (mostly, at least) super-hero based, though I ‘may’ attempt to sketch out some of the characters from current and upcoming stories too.

For now though, and try to put something ‘arty’ into this introduction (as well as steal a phrase from all good kid’s TV shows) here are some sketches that I made earlier:

Dragon - Ink Motormouth - copyright Marvel UK / Paul Neary Spider-Man - copyright Marvel

The next two images were created for Martin Eden, creator/owner of Spandex (http://www.spandexcomic.com), for a month long theme he called ‘Japandex’.  In his own words this was “To celebrate the Spandex team’s trip to Tokyo in issue 2, Spandex creator Martin organised ‘Japandex’, a very special online gallery of Japanese-related art – with a Spandex twist!! The artwork was provided by some of the UK’s top artistic talent and debuted in June 2010. You can see it all here:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=183778&id=137375331859

My contribution was my ‘take’ on Neon and Glitter, inspired by traditional Japanese images:

Glitter - Spandex Comics, by Martin Eden Neon - Spandex Comics, by Martin Eden