The Vault — StarFell

Wing One

First Marks: Character Design

Every hero starts as a scribble. The cast of StarFell evolved through sketches, grayscale paintings, and turnaround sheets before ever facing a monster.

The Portrait Series

Companion pieces, all signed with the StarFell logo. Hang together at the head of the wing.

Levi Levins — color portrait — Levi Levins

Color painting · Portrait Series

Companion piece — red striped tee, the look of a kid who has seen what he has seen.

Johnny Gale — color portrait — Johnny Gale

Color painting · Portrait Series

Final purple-lit portrait — leather jacket, switchblade comb, the moral compass.

Delilah Voltaire — color portrait — Delilah Voltaire

Color painting · Portrait Series

Final portrait — pale, raven-haired, green dress, scissors not pictured.

Alistair Voltaire — color portrait — Alistair Voltaire

Color painting · Portrait Series

Final wheelchair portrait — signed with the StarFell logo. The theater of infirmity.

Levi Levins — Development

Levi pose studies — Pose Studies
Grayscale digital sketch
With the BB gun. Working out the weight of the weapon in the kid's hands.

Levi model sheet — Model Sheet
Turnaround & expression studies
Production reference — the face that has to look the same on every panel.

Levi in goggles — Levi in Goggles
Grayscale full-figure painting
Goggles and gun ready. The aviator-cap look that arrives later in the book.

Boy on the Stairs
Color painting
Levi on the porch — quiet, before everything.

Levi production turnaround — Production Turnaround
Finished character sheet
The model that the artists actually drew from.

Johnny Gale — Development

Johnny jacket study — Leather Jacket Study
Grayscale sketch
Early character study — finding the silhouette.

The Gunslinger
Color painting
Purple-lit — the look that became the Portrait Series.

Johnny production turnaround — Production Turnaround
Finished character sheet
Black leather jacket, white tee, pompadour, Lucky Strikes.

Delilah Voltaire — Development

Delilah with scissors — Scissors in Hand
Grayscale painting
Hair-collecting study. "I've only practiced on my dolls and the cat."

Delilah costume sheet — Costume & Hair
Model sheet
Dress and hair iterations — purple vs. green, ribbons vs. none.

Delilah production turnaround — Production Turnaround
Finished character sheet
The charming nightmare, locked down for production.

Alistair Voltaire — Development

Alistair exploration sheet — Exploration Sheet
Sepia exploration
Faces, canes, wheelchair. The patriarch decided across a single page.

Alistair wheelchair study — Wheelchair Study
Grayscale painting
The theater of infirmity — performed for the town for a century and a half.

Alistair against wallpaper — Wallpaper Portrait
Color painting
Dark portrait against the Fleur Du Ciel wallpaper.

Lina Jane — Development

Lina Jane in green cloak — In the Green Cloak
Grayscale painting
With the scrapbook — moments before the pages start to glow.

Lina Jane production turnaround — Production Turnaround
Finished character sheet
Small girl, green hooded cloak, world-changing scrapbook.

The Rest of the Cast

Production turnarounds for the supporting World Shakers and beyond.

Miles turnaround — Miles Maitland
Finished character sheet
The brain. The orange-and-blue chevron sweater. The gauntlet.

Dash turnaround — Dash Jackson
Finished character sheet
Scout vest, red flat-top, white Chucks.

Kristy Leigh turnaround — Kristy Leigh
Finished character sheet
Pink bomber jacket. '60s tough-girl, hardened beyond her years.

Dr. Maitland turnaround — Dr. Maitland
Finished character sheet
The scientist whose gift from the heavens became Day One.

The Sheriff turnaround — The Sheriff
Finished character sheet
Decency with a badge.

Lilith Voltaire turnaround — Lilith Voltaire
Finished character sheet
Severe gray suit, black hair, perpetual contempt.

Horace turnaround — Horace
Finished character sheet
The gentle giant of Les Grands Jardins.

The Whole Gang

The kid cast, inked together — and a robot fight still in pencil.

The World Shakers group inks — The World Shakers — Group Inks
Group inks
The whole kid cast in one dense inked illustration — UFOs overhead, monster underfoot.

GROM fight pencils — GROM vs. the Monster
Pencils
Lina Jane's movie robot, mid-brawl — a full page still in pencil.

Wing Two

The Bestiary: Monsters of StarFell

The crystals don't create. They corrupt. Local wildlife, local legends — grown wrong.

Fat Lance — The Final Boss

Fat Lance — final boss painting — Fat Lance

Underwater concept painting

StarFell's mythological catfish, mutated into a tentacled, frog-legged kaiju. Based on Wetumpka's real river lore.

Process: The First Fat Lance

Before the painting, an in-house photo edit: a real catfish grows tentacles.

Fat Lance cinematic river attack frame — Fat Lance — Cinematic Frame
AI-Assisted Cinematic Frame
A real catfish, photoshopped with new appendages. The seed of the monster.

Fat Lance on Main Street final — Fat Lance Walks
Final color painting
The finished piece — Fat Lance prowling downtown StarFell at night.

The Mutant Snail

Based on Wetumpka's real endangered Tulotoma snail — grown monstrous.

Mutant snail concept painting — Mutant River Snail
Moody concept painting
Red-lit study of the corrupted Tulotoma.

Mutant snail turnaround — Mutant Snail — Turnaround
Production turnaround with human scale
Endangered snail, now endangering the town. Scale comparison included.

Mutant snail cinematic frame — Mutant Snail — Cinematic Frame
AI-Assisted Cinematic Frame
The corrupted Tulotoma prowls past the Old Calaboose at night.

Wing Three

The Sky Falls: Meteor & Environments

Sixty thousand years of patience, painted.

The Fall

The meteor in deep space — The Meteor
Color painting · Deep space
Pink crystal core, en route. The thing that sleeps, converts, and waits.

Meteor entering Earth atmosphere — Atmospheric Entry
Color painting
Over Earth — the moment the sky catches fire.

The fall over Alabama — The Fall
Photo composite painting
The fall over the Alabama river valley. The first scar.

The Crater — Before / After

A companion pair. Hang side by side: dormant by day, awake at night.

Crater dormant — The Crater — Dormant
Color painting · Day
The astrobleme by day, before the experiment. Just a wound in the ground.

Crater awake and glowing — The Crater — Awake
Color painting · Night
Pink glow rising from the dark. The color story of the whole book.

Early Studies & Environments

Crater glow study — Crater Glow Study
In-house photo edit
Early study — pink glow painted over a waterfall photograph.

Bridge with tentacles — The Bridge
Color painting · Night
The bridge at night, tentacles coiled beneath. The series' signature environment.

Welcome to StarFell WIP — Welcome to StarFell
Color painting (work-in-progress)
Sunset bridge, UFOs in the sky, the town sign. The book's establishing shot.

Boy vs Monster early key art — Boy vs. Monster
Early key art
A kid with his gear, alone in a dark alley. One of the first images of the series.

Logotype Study

Art-deco brand exploration

The bridge as letterform. Where the StarFell wordmark started.

Wing Four

Pencils to Print: Making the Pages

Script by Mike Uhlir. Pencils and inks by Lucas Assis. Colors by Gui Sabino. Letters by Leo McGovern. This is how a page is born.

Alistair — Three Stages

A single face study, carried through pencils, inks, and final color.

Alistair pencils stage — Stage One — Pencils
Pencil art
The face begins.

Alistair inks stage — Stage Two — Inks
Inks over pencils
Locked in.

Alistair final color — Stage Three — Final Color
Color over inks
The patriarch, finished.

Cover Process

From pencil layout to inks to the final color of a cover.

Cover pencils — Cover — Pencils
Pencil layout
The composition, roughed in.

Cover inks — Cover — Inks
Inks over pencils
The drawing committed.

Cover final color — Cover — Final Color
Color over inks
Ready to print.

Tree Climb Sequence

Three pages — kids fleeing up a tree.

Tree climb page 1 — Tree Climb — Page 1
Interior page
The flight begins.

Tree climb page 2 — Tree Climb — Page 2
Interior page
The climb continues.

Tree climb page 3 — Tree Climb — Page 3
Interior page
Caught in the canopy.

Maitland & the Mud-Creature

Dr. Maitland's capture, three stages.

Maitland mud pencils — Mud-Creature — Pencils
Pencil art
The hand reaches up.

Maitland mud inks — Mud-Creature — Inks
Inks
Made permanent.

Maitland mud final — Mud-Creature — Final
Final art
Maitland is gone.

Interior Pages

From raw pencil pages to a finished color page.

Interior pencils page 1 — Interior Page
Interior pencils (issue TBC)
A pencilled page from the production board.

Interior pencils page 3 — Interior Page
Interior pencils (issue TBC)
Another pencilled page.

Finished color page — ...And Finally
Final color page
The finished article.

Ink to Color

Issue 3, side by side: Lucas Assis' inks on the left, Gui Sabino's finished color on the right. Hang in pairs.

Issue 3 page 7 inks — Page 7 — Inks
Inks by Lucas Assis
The shockwave's aftermath, committed in black.

Issue 3 page 7 final color — Page 7 — Final Color
Colors by Gui Sabino
The same page, colored and lettered.

Issue 3 page 9 inks — Page 9 — Inks
Inks by Lucas Assis
Ink to color. Downtown, the morning after.

Issue 3 page 9 final color — Page 9 — Final Color
Colors by Gui Sabino
Ink to color, finished.

Issue 3 page 12 inks — Page 12 — Inks
Inks by Lucas Assis
Night scene: heavy blacks, waiting for moonlight.

Issue 3 page 12 final color — Page 12 — Final Color
Colors by Gui Sabino
Night scene: heavy blacks to moonlight.

Issue 3 page 18 inks — Page 18 — Inks
Inks by Lucas Assis
Ink to color. Miles, the gauntlet, and the moon.

Issue 3 page 18 final color — Page 18 — Final Color
Colors by Gui Sabino
Ink to color, finished.

Wing Five

The Covers Gallery

Every issue, every variant — including guest covers. Hung in series order, variants grouped.

Issue 1 cover — Issue #1
Front cover
Levi vs. the tentacles, Franks' Grocery.

Issue 1 back cover — Issue #1, Back Cover
Issue #1 back cover
Lilith's pinup — the wooden briefcase has tenants.

Issue 2 cover A — Issue #2, Cover A
Cover A
The World Shakers — armed and marching.

Issue 2 cover B — Issue #2, Cover B
Cover B
Delilah's camera — close enough to taste.

Issue 2 Ashley variant — Issue #2, Ashley Variant
Variant cover
Mutant snail vs. sneaker.

Issue 3 cover A — Issue #3, Cover A
Cover A
Johnny chained inside the Old Calaboose.

Issue 3 cover B — Issue #3, Cover B
Cover B
The horror in Miles' glasses.

Issue 4 cover A — Issue #4, Cover A
Cover A
Candles, skull, and Voltaire secrets — The Book of Delilah.

Issue 4 cover B EC pastiche — Issue #4, Cover B
EC-Comics pulp pastiche
"Mutants, Mystery and Mayhem!"

Issue 5 cover A — Issue #5, Cover A
Cover A
Rooftop, tentacles rising.

Issue 5 cover B — Issue #5, Cover B
Cover B
Kristy & Miles — "Tell me that was a snail."

Day One TPB cover — StarFell: Day One
Trade paperback cover
The ride into town — the collected first arc.

Guest cover artist: Will Robson (Spawn Kills, Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Howard the Duck).

Wing Six

Location Scouting: Wetumpka Becomes StarFell

StarFell is a real place. Its name is Wetumpka, Alabama — a town built inside an 85-million-year-old impact crater. Mike photographed it street by street, then handed it to the monsters.

Then & Now

Real place, fictional place. Hang in pairs.

Real house in Wetumpka — The Real House
Location scout photo
The house that became Levi's home.

Levi on porch painting — Levi on the Porch
Color painting
The same house — turned into a memory.

Real Old Calaboose photo — The Real Old Calaboose
Location scout / photo edit
The 1820 jail, photo-edited with a "StarFell" historical marker.

Issue 3 cover — Johnny in the Calaboose
Issue #3 cover
The same building — now with a greaser chained to the wall.

Downtown Wetumpka
Location scout photo
The street that became Main Street, StarFell.

Fat Lance downtown final — Fat Lance Walks
Final color painting
The same street — now with a kaiju coming up it.

The Wetumpka meteor impact crater — The Meteor Impact Crater
Location scout photo
Wetumpka's real 85-million-year-old astrobleme — the wound the whole story grows from.

The crater glowing at night, concept painting — The Crater, Awake
Final color painting
The same crater on Day One — glowing pink.

Wing Seven

Beyond the Page: The Live-Action Dream

What would Day One look like through a 35mm lens? Development imagery exploring StarFell as live action.

★ Note: Every piece in this wing is AI-assisted concept and development imagery, not a final production frame. Posted here as an exhibit of the live-action exploration only.