https://www.zaratecomic.com/home daily 1.0 2026-06-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/3487dfa8-69ed-4b95-b7f1-852fcf04df69/site_BG_03.png https://www.zaratecomic.com/about daily 0.75 2026-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/de8ea7cb-8a58-4b88-8596-6a3e4e6da79a/site_BG_book.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/b5583b2d-a8cc-40af-ac37-3ec3f32099e5/site_BG_author.jpg https://www.zaratecomic.com/gallery daily 0.75 2026-06-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/dfa021fc-30c6-4db7-ace1-1e9e2c8a569a/ZART_sketchbook_00.jpg Gallery This is the sketchbook I used for this comic. It’s a Steven Universe pink Moleskine with a gold star on the cover. I found it amusing that I created such a bloody horror comic in a sketchbook associated with such a colorful, wholesome series. I was constantly annoyed, though, because some pages included printed sketches by Rebecca Sugar. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/e4580790-23d4-4037-91e0-35c6f7efd2b4/zarate_gallery_01.jpg Gallery Graphic novel mockup, with final pages included. novel is Black, white and red. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/136437b3-6f1d-4ea6-8c5c-25f4bf57f659/ZART_sketchbook_01.jpg Gallery Initial planning of layouts design and logo development sketches. (Plus personal random sketch) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/4d938c9c-9dd8-4844-9d39-3dbed3736a84/zarate_gallery_02.jpg Gallery Final page with text bubbles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/11a8d1cc-da7d-470c-882c-dc51a2d8ff53/ZART_sketchbook_02.jpg Gallery Character and style explorations, along with a printed sketch by the creator of the Steven Universe sketchbook. Those printed pages constantly annoyed me, so I even started calculating how much drawing space they took away. Also included are some object designs and random sketches. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/859bc74a-c39b-4782-8111-d2263304d5c2/zarate_gallery_03.jpg Gallery Character Designs. To respect the history and cultures of real Indigenous tribes, I chose to create a completely fictional tribe. The names, patterns, decorations, customs, and traditions portrayed in this graphic novel are works of fiction and are not intended to represent any existing Indigenous culture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/0539a915-bf75-4745-8ee8-f447ca3fd9ce/zarate_gallery_04.jpg Gallery More characters and style explorations. I've made this graphic novel entirely using Procreate on my iPad. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/303948b3-f13e-44d7-9e71-11815505c816/ZART_sketchbook_03.jpg Gallery Page layout explorations. I first worked through the story as I imagined it, creating rough illustrations based on the written script. This stage was quick and loose, but it defined most of the action on each page. From there, I refined the layouts, tested different compositions, and explored key scene details before moving on to the final drawings. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/d306c850-d6b4-4340-93e2-ec40a4171268/zarate_gallery_05.jpg Gallery Final page design with text bubbles and dialogs in Spanish. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/bbf90d17-8773-480d-8201-6610c3ad7f9e/ZART_sketchbook_05.jpg Gallery Here are the initial loose layouts, featuring basic scene illustrations, panel compositions, and key dialogue. Some of the characters are based on real animals, so before adapting them to my style, I like to do some homework by studying reference images to better understand their anatomy and behavior. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/d21a642e-1b0b-477f-a434-c1583103f516/zarate_gallery_06.jpg Gallery More character explorations, there's a time jump between part 1 and part 2. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/93bbfc18-0240-421e-bfc9-c02ea5fc212d/ZART_sketchbook_06.jpg Gallery Page layouts with key dialogue. Sometimes I wasn’t satisfied with the initial layout, or I had to adapt the story to reflect earlier changes. This is what those revisions looked like before moving on to the final page. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/86e93420-b763-44c8-9b78-f24f1cb5195d/zarate_gallery_07.jpg Gallery Scene from the final comic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/3be86231-7b38-407f-9886-01762a1a6b63/ZART_sketchbook_04.jpg Gallery Character exploration and testing one frame concept. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6a3b3f46ccc9b16e5ebb76b9/ffd26648-66a8-4840-ae87-afe944916362/red_moon.png