Art Thread

Recent events (as well as the excellent extension of  last year's SDCC Voltron poster at this year's SDCC ) with Jason and various holograms inspired this. Far from finished, but I figured I'd share because it amuses me greatly and I like this simpler design for Jason than what I'd previously gone for. (Also, because I know this will come up: does my mentioning of the Voltron cast poster mean I'm going to make a full poster with all the PCs and NPCs from the Masks game?  No, that would be crazy.  Who has time for that?  Certainly not me.  But I did make a Photoshop file for it.)

The level of detail is great, like the clipboard text with charts and graphs. Looks awesome.

Far from finished, but I figured I'd share because it amuses me greatly and I like this simpler design for Jason than what I'd previously gone for. That's awesome. Great perspective, the little bubbly hologram effect, the giggling Alycia, outraged Byron ... The only problem is that Jason doesn't cover his ears often enough --  and that's not a problem with the art, that's a problem with Jason: he'd be more likely to be doing double-takes between the Alycia and Byron as he walks along. But I love this.

I was feeling like being lazy about unpacking today, so I broke open Sketchbook Pro for the first time in a couple months and sketched out some characters.  We have (from left to right, top to bottom) Link's armor, an alternate Link helmet that I actually dig a whole lot, a pair of heads for Otto, and then Mercury both without and with his "varsity" jacket. This second one is a picture I sketched out a while ago to help with proportions for Otto (who I still can't seem to get a good look for without him looking like an off-brand Transformer). Still trying to come up with some finalized designs, unfortunately.  Who would have though that superheroes would be difficult? :p

The helmet for the Link Suit is solid. I am cooking up some suggestions for Otto, if you want. I'll write those up soon. Also looking forward to when inspiration strikes for Pneuma.

Bill G. said: The helmet for the Link Suit is solid. I will ask you to clarify that with which one you're referring to.

Sorry, the standalone alternate. Second column, first of three.

Worked on some more Mercury outfits.  I think I like the very last one, mostly because it seems like the closest to what Katherine actually wanted (I don't know how I went this long without remember that one bit of Mercury's bio).  I do however like the middle one just because I have a design in mind for Tempest (Mercury's mom) and I like Mercury's outfit being a mixture of both mom and dad's outfits (with a more modern style bomber jacket from Uncle Chase [because with a name like Comet, I expect him to be less of a typical speedster and more like Cannonball from the various X-Men titles]).

The only thing that scares me about those pictures is the possibility of road rash at super-speed without knee protection. :)

I like the third one best, too (as someone with no unstable molecules in this game). Maybe, if you want to pull in some Tempest elements, change the white to that sky blue tone (or just the piping/trim). (I like the boot wings.)

*** Dave H. said: (I like the boot wings.) That would be the one element that Katherine actually specified and I completely forgot about until last night.  Yay for my memory. Speaking of my memory, I'm going to now echo her original lament for how hard it is to come up with an original speedster name with it being equally hard to come up with an original speedster costume.  I put together a couple of design elements I liked (the goggles ala Booster Gold, the tapered almost triangle shape to the design on the legs, the wings on the ear pieces) to come up with that third one... and I just realized it's almost an exact copy of  Impulse's costume .  Bluh...  Expect a couple changes to the final design.

You have more options once you move away from self definitions like "how fast I am". For example, a speedster named Tao. He doesn't run fast, although he could. He carries a sword which he uses to cut through bullets or cut the clothes off muggers or bank robbers to embarrass them. His problem is that his subconscious mind would act at superspeed before he could consciously stop himself, so he turned to meditation and philosophy to attain a state of calm.

Mike said: Speaking of my memory, I'm going to now echo her original lament for how hard it is to come up with an original speedster name with it being equally hard to come up with an original speedster costume.  (Bah, screwed up quoting this and lost my reply in the last post) I feel like this kind of works for you in this case, if you and Katherine want? It feels like Harry is being defined by his parents in their image, and in that case having a derivative costume makes perfect sense. "Another Gale, a chip off the ol' block, one of us," and so on. If so, a costume change to something really original would be a victory or at least milestone on the road to being independent

Variations on the previous theme:

I do like the winged boots, even though they are incredibly cliche along with the wings added onto the emblem.  And I agree with Bill's comment that Mercury's costume would be derived from his parents'.  I remember there was some conversation a few weeks ago of every christmas Harry would get new costumes from relatives with their own influence into them.  So I like the idea of the costume being a merge between his parents', but I also think that Harry would probably work to get in something unique.  Maybe it is a different line somewhere.  Maybe it is different colors (though I like the grey and blue because the element is that silvery color).  But I can just imagine him going and talking to Jason for a new costume because his family wouldn't accept if he came up with it by himself but if it was given to him by a team member then that is fine.  Just another way the team builds bonds together.  I think out of the five there (going back to the amazing picture) I like the far right one the most with the emblem and the lines fitting together.  If any of that thought vomit made sense. Also wanted to say that everything is looking really great. All of the ideas for everyone are amazing.

Mike said: Bill G. said: The helmet for the Link Suit is solid. I will ask you to clarify that with which one you're referring to. I was trying to place why that particular helmet looked familiar. Here's Tekkaman:

Bill G. said: I was trying to place why that particular helmet looked familiar. Here's Tekkaman: I thought it looked a bit like a  Spiral Knights' helmet , but I suppose there's enough common design elements there where there's multiple points of comparison.  Regardless, this helmet: there are many like it, but this one is Link's.  :P

And I'm grateful for it :)

Thread has been stickied for reasons that should be obvious.

Mike said: This is still making me LOL every time I scroll past it. Great stuff.

Doyce T. said: Thread has been stickied for reasons that should be obvious. Thank Doyce!  I wish I had time to be more active on this project, but I finally got in more of my stuff and well... Duty (and a high aversion to clutter) calls. Luckily, we got the important stuff all unpacked and setup.  Priorities.

I meant it was stickied because it's awesome and I want to be able to find it easily. :) Not because of any lack of awesome material. :)

Hey, I'm done moving.  Guess what that means. So I think I've been neglecting some of the women in our game, mostly because I've been focusing on the team and that means just Ghost Girl. I decided to rectify that some. So Charlotte... I'm still playing around with her skirt (and this had originally started a series of art studies to try and figure out the best way to represent the idea I'd had) but I think it's starting to come together.  Still working on it though.  Expect a couple more iterations over the week/coming weekend. Alycia is... weird.  There's already a pretty solid image of her, so I'm mostly just playing around with details more than any overarching design (though I did add in some Aeryn Sun just because they're already really close in costume design).  That gauntlet is where I'm going to put most of the design creativity, so I need to mad science it up.  Also, are the tattoos from the Plotagon part of the design, or is that there just for flavor?  I could decide and left it out for the time being. This is my first pass on Pneuma and I feel like I went too much into Distaff Counterpart territory.  I really wanted to make sure that there were design similarities between Pneuma and Link (and Otto) since they're all designed by the same person and use the same tech (and combine together), but I don't think I added enough to the design to make it not just feel like "Lady Link."  Going to need to work on that some. Now for some tiny variations. The biggest change: For some reason I am very taken with the idea of Alycia wearing an old military coat (Dr. Chin's from some job with a two-bit dictator most likely).  It says "I miss my dad" and tells some family history (people Dr. Chin worked for).  It also seems like something a teen would think is really cool.  I'll need to re-read some of Dave's fiction to get some more appropriate designs than this sort of generic greatcoat. I desaturated GG's colors a little here.  I wasn't expected it to grey her hair so much, but that's an easy fix.  Better, but still think there's some better design to be discovered to help this look out. And then I darkened Pneuma's hair to play around with it a little.  Doyce made a suggestion for a darker skinned Pneuma a few pages back and I wanted to try it out to see if it made the design pop out more.  However, since I was making these changes on the finished image instead of going back into my Photoshop file (sort of lazy on my part, but this was a last minute "oh, I made changes to everyone else" thought) so while darkening the hair was no issue, easily changing the skin tone to something vaguely human was not.  Expect a better attempt on my second pass on the armor.

Mike said: The biggest change: For some reason I am very taken with the idea of Alycia wearing an old military coat (Dr. Chin's from some job with a two-bit dictator most likely). And then I darkened Pneuma's hair to play around with it a little.  Doyce made a suggestion for a darker skinned Pneuma a few pages back and I wanted to try it out to see if it made the design pop out more.

1. The tattoos for Alycia were an intentional choice in the Plotagon. When I first showed the model to Doyce, I commented in the email "Because of course she has tats. Something her father would have had her banished to his Greenland base had she done it while he was still around." 2. I [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [HIGHLY REDACTED] Aeryn Sun, so, yay. 3. I'm mixed on the uniform greatcoat. On the one hand, that "clinging to to something from Dad's era" totally has a charm. On the other hand, I see her as an incredibly hands-on character who spends half her time under the WarCrawler she's retrofitting with a new main weapons arrray, thus the whole cargo-pants-and-tank-top look. In one of the  earliest discussions of Alycia videos I suggested (which might inform her outfit): (I have this thought of Alycia still in charge of her father's vast science criminal empire, such as it is, but mostly to drain its resources on her vendetta and letting her father's lead henchfolk still run things day to day .... "But Mistress Chin, we need your approval --" "GO AWAY, I've just about figured out this carrier wave thingie." "But the Americans will get to the crash-landed alien vessel --" "Fine! Bring it here! I can use the technology for my killer robot." "But we could sell it to the North Koreans, intact, for twenty-five--" "I don't care about that, get me that ship, and get the hell out of my lab!" ... leading eventually to either a palace coup where she's kicked out violently because she's not focusing on whatever efforts were previously making them rich henchfolk, or else an attempted coup where she is confronted with actually having to kill the advisors who are railing at her to "get your head in the game," a la the drug lord's accountant in License to Kill, or John Bigboote in Buckaroo Banzai. I have no idea whether, faced with actually killing someone, she could/would; that particular probability cloud hasn't yet collapsed with having to happen.) (Of course, I can also see Alycia living solo, effectively living on the corpses of her father's schemes, moving from one of her father's safe houses to the next, basically living in science bunkers for weeks on end and eating e-rations and developing her schemes. That wouldn't lead to a very healthy mental attitude, either.) If still running the Chin Empire, having her dad's greatcoat to throw on (or over her shoulders) when commanding an operation would be perfectly reasonable (Chin's love of cravats notwithstanding). If living in safe house bunkers, it seems less likely, though she might use such a garb as a blanket rather than run down the fuel cells to keep the place warm. Since neither of these probability clouds have collapsed, it's hard to make a final call. :-)

Playing around with the Pneuma design.  Going from "Not much different than what I did before" to "Playing up the robotic design."  In hindsight, #2 totally looks like Madem Masque from Marvel comics.  Unintentional, but making her skin gold (playing up that Metropolis robot design) really clinched it. Also, you might notice that the sketch it much rougher than what I normally go for.  Helps the iteration process when I'm not bogged down with details and can focus on strong design.  Expect to see more of that as I do these really quick designs.

Also iterated an Otto design. I don't know why, but flame decals seem like something Otto would do (his own personal teenage rebellion).  I also like the idea of his front and back windshields making an actual shield and his doors making a protective pauldron.  And that fourth wheel should totally be used offensively. The design doesn't really scream powerful (in the Otto, Pneuma, Link triangle, Otto is totally power) but I think we're on our way there.  Another iteration is called for with both Link and Pneuma in the same shoot so we can compare and contrast the designs (again, they should look similar and share design elements, but they shouldn't look the same).

Otto, as a transforming and combining car robot who likes things like football and rock music, jokes that he's a combination of Japanese import and American muscle. Something like the flames is very in keeping with that spirit.

Mike said: Playing around with the Pneuma design.&nbsp; Going from "Not much different than what I did before" to "Playing up the robotic design."&nbsp; In hindsight, #2 totally looks like Madem Masque from Marvel comics.&nbsp; Unintentional, but making her skin gold (playing up that Metropolis robot design) really clinched it. I dig&nbsp; Nier Automata's 2B and the other androids, so the hair style and color, and the masks on 3 and 8, work great for me personally. I don't know if you intended this, but the skirt effect on 1 and 5-8 reminds me a little of AOA Hawkeye's&nbsp; coat and Matrix Reloaded Neo's&nbsp; cassock , the latter of which especially gave a clerical feel. That feels fitting for the spiritual journey Pneuma started on, and it seems like an element that's good to keep in some form. If/when Leo incorporates EMdrive levitation and other flight systems into her body, the skirt could be under her active control, as flight control surfaces for maneuvering. See also here:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ph9.jp/images/009_NEOWING.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.ph9.jp/images/009_NEOWING.jpg</a>

Huh, hadn't considered the similarities to 2B (I haven't played any of the Neir games) but now that you've pointed it out, it's noticeable.&nbsp; Not a bad thing mind you, just unintentional. The skirt effect was intentional, just not for the same reasons that you mentioned.&nbsp; Compare 7's design with Pneuma's look in the Link Meets the Internet comics you've made.&nbsp; Then groan in irritation a little.&nbsp; ;)

It's always a toss up with character designs until you see them in action (different poses, different backgrounds, etc).&nbsp; I think the Link, Otto, Pneuma designs held up pretty good.&nbsp; Enough shared elements where you know they were build by the same guy but don't look like the exact same design.&nbsp; I still don't think Otto's done, but it is good enough to work from. This would be the scene from Issue 13 where Pneuma is rescued and the three head to AEGIS headquarters to put a spin on the actions at the airport.&nbsp; The background is a little haphazard, but I think it helps set the scene (along with the reporters in the foreground).

Very nice.

I may let my ambition get away with me on this one, but since I have what I think are solid designs for almost everyone (minus a few tweaks and changes here and there) I think it is about time to work on the group picture.&nbsp; So I figured I'd share the rough sketched. BTW, the "letting my ambition get away with me" part is how I interpreted "group picture" As you can see--even in the sketchy beginnings of this--I went total cast explosion.&nbsp; So much so that I had to make a key to keep everyone straight (mostly so I don't get some of the Ponies mixed up, more than anything). Uncle Chase, really excited about how quick Mercury is getting. Mercury, gotta go fast. Silver Streak, stop watch in hand.&nbsp; Gotta go faster. Tempest.&nbsp; "I know you're excited that our son's taking after you, but maybe don't be an asshole to him." Otto, "I swear I was faster than this kid even in reverse!"&nbsp; No Otto, he gave you a generous head start. Alycia Chin, good job holo-me! Tasha Starr, on-site! Tasha's camera guy Travelycia, pestering Jason. Jason Quill, thinking about piloting this QuillDisc directly into a ditch. Not-Dad, at his most overbearing. Numina, thinking Jason needs to get away from all these crazy AIs. The Dragonfly, in the Sepia-Verse! Pandemonium, staring down from Sepia-Verse at Ghost Girl. Rossum-bots, flanking their "master." Rossa Rook, eyeing Otto. Jaysee, manning an expression machine, I think (haven't got a solid thought in mind for this). Lucius, handing out a cup of coffee. Duskshine, getting a selfie with her friends. Powerpony, squeezing in for a hug and the picture. Ghost Girl, just having a great time. Nono! Rodriguez, trying to explain something really, really cool. Taz, not really paying attention to Nono! The Farlander, his vastly superior bug eyes not used to flash photography. A10, wondering why she's stuck around these losers. Driving Vyortivian, nicknamed&nbsp; Rider . Gun-wielding Vyortivian soldier, nicknamed&nbsp; Sniper . Musclebound Vyortivian soldier, nicknamed&nbsp; Truck . The Dread Queen Troll, still trapped in a bubble (I know this isn't how he exited after his appearance, but it'd amusing as all get out) Link, using those grapplers to take his friend for a ride. Pneuma, totally recreating that Luke/Leia swinging scene from Star Wars. Agent Ted Waters, trying to explain something. Agent 1337, too cool for this explanation. Ghostheart, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Generic AEGIS Agent, tired of Ghostheart and taser in hand. Momma Amari Jordan Amari, totally tuckered out. Officer Amari, looking down at Adam. Adam, looking up at Solaris. Solaris-Gamma-Two. Sablestar, thinking this is just too good. Hyena, looking out over all this ridiculousness. Jaguar, wishing she was a part of this ridiculousness. I originally imagined this as just a generic Batman-style overhang, but now I'm wondering if I don't just make this the front of Deja Brew, seeing as how that's becoming a reoccurring location. So, this means I've only left out a handful of NPCs that appeared in the first fifteen issues of the game: AEGIS Press Conference Guy, Lil'lycia, Mr. Vigil, Dr. Dawes, (and the other teachers from Adam and Leo's school but I didn't have names for them), Rawhide and Ghost Armor, and (the biggest disappointment for not being able to easily fit them in) Iconoclast.&nbsp; I also kind of wanted to fit in some generic HCPD officers just since I imagine in the TV show of this game, we've got like four officers (and Adam's dad) who just rotate on who shows up in a given scene.&nbsp; Probably the same for AEGIS agents, but they're much more infrequent (I think they only showed up at the press conference and to pick up Ghostheart after questioning). So how to do I fit them in?&nbsp; Lil'lycia's easy, she can go up on the QuillDisc with the rest of the mass-less individuals and Jason. (I mostly just forgot about her until I was writing this out.&nbsp; Forgive me, but this is a ridiculous number of characters to keep straight and forgetting a one-scene wonder is easy.)&nbsp; I could tighten up the AEGIS agents and try to fit in another one with a cuffed Iconoclast.&nbsp; Rawhide and Ghost Armor could be swirling around Pandemonium maybe.&nbsp; Regardless, I'm up for suggestions, including moving people around.&nbsp; I feel like I'm under-using the vertical space and putting most of the people on the ground-level when a lot of my inspirations for&nbsp; this picture use the vertical space rather well, so if anyone has ideas on that I'm all ears.&nbsp; Also, if I forgot someone or something (dammit, I'll fit in key props where appropriate) let me know.

Like a smart person, I'm tackling this in segments.&nbsp; Have some Amaris (with uninvited guest Solaris up in the corner). Only the lineart and flats for now.&nbsp; I figure any shading I might do here needs to be done all at once or I'm going to have uncertain light sources all over the place.&nbsp; Also, I decided to limit the number of indy comic references I worked into this family to only two, so I picked two of my very favorites.&nbsp; Points to whoever finds them.

15. Rossum-bots, flanking their "master." 16. Rossa Rook, eyeing Otto Thought 1: "Except it's Rosa &nbsp;Rook [quick verifies]. It's Rossum &nbsp;that's spelled with two S's." Thought 2: "Uh-oh." Lil'lycia's easy, she can go up on the QuillDisc with the rest of the mass-less individuals and Jason. (I mostly just forgot about her until I was writing this out. Forgive me, but this is a ridiculous number of characters to keep straight and forgetting a one-scene wonder is easy.) Li'lycia's had a tremendous impact (or conversational presence) for someone who has had no lines and who showed up in one brief scene, stuck her tongue out a few times, and disappeared. All that said, this is astonishing stuff, sir. I doff my hat.

Reworking some sections and made a good pass on the villain-of-the-week section.&nbsp; Also, having a little too much fun with detailing the HCPD officers. Seeing some issues already, but this thing is going to be huge and I've only got 18% of the characters on the canvas after like ten hours of working on it, so I'm definitely trying to follow "finished, not done" here.

Very nice.&nbsp;

Ghost heart and iconoclast are fantastic. :-) I mean everyone is, but those two made me laugh.

The secret is character and visual storytelling. Ghostheart is fairly easy.&nbsp; They're a cartoon character in a lot of respects.&nbsp; They've got a major tick that you know is going to get hit in whatever scene they've in.&nbsp; Hit that tick, but don't go overboard.&nbsp; You can just hear them screaming "don't touch me" from that image.&nbsp; One-dimensional sure, but then again&nbsp; Dr. Dinosaur is my&nbsp; favorite villain from&nbsp; Atomic Robo , so&nbsp; not saying one-dimensional&nbsp; is bad . Iconoclast is a bit subtler, mostly because I have head cannon.&nbsp;&nbsp;Most villains scream "I'll get you next time!" when they flee. With Iconoclast, however... well, someone on my Discord chat put it best with this meme'd up screencap: I totally think she has a Youtube vlog where she spouts her rhetoric and funds her tech through a GoFundMe.&nbsp; This just amuses me to no end.&nbsp; I would love if the next time we see her in like Kill Devil Prison, she's got someone in the visiting room filming her on a cellphone saying something like, "Thanks to xxSuperHeroFailure920 for all the well-wishes and the huge donation on our Patreon!&nbsp; Remember Patrons, if we get up to the $2,000 a month level I will perform at a protest selected in a poll by the Patreons each month... so long as I'm not currently incarcerated!"

So you need to finish the picture just so everyone can start writing their captions on it in one of the Roll 20 screens

Doyce T. said: So you need to finish the picture just so everyone can start writing their captions on it in one of the Roll 20 screens ...shit.&nbsp; Project cancelled!&nbsp; :p

Oh no, can't stop now. :) it will be their mightiest creation of graffiti yet.

I know I said I was going to take a break, but this was totally a self-indulgent project that I threw together in about an hour.&nbsp; Adam's always had bits of inspiration of magical girl anime (his powers are based on his feelings, for crying out loud) so I've always thought he needed a decent transformation sequence.&nbsp; This isn't decent, but I think this quick storyboard should at least give a decent idea of what I had in mind for it. (Weird quirk, but click for animation.) While I'd love to do a "good" version of this some day, this was already more of a dive into 2d animation that I really wanted to for a first go. :p

Related: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efkEDR-1LBI" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efkEDR-1LBI</a>

Dude that's amazing.

Very cool! Now, clearly, we need Mike to do transformation / power-up sequences for ALL of us ... Can you have those by the next game, Mike?

Mike said: While I'd love to do a "good" version of this some day, this was already more of a dive into 2d animation that I really wanted to for a first go. :p "Your costume... looks really cool," the other hero said, in a somewhat awkward attempt a small talk. "Does it?" He looked down at himself again. "I know I'm always doing some kind of reversed triangle white shoulder/chest piece thing, but I just like how it looks." "No, it's cool." "The scarf isn't too much? I'd tone it down but I think the Concordance just kind of... does what it wants. Or what I want. Even when it's a crazy--" "Seriously, it's cool." She paused. "And... I mean... it's not like anyone's ever seen other Concordance agents activate the power." She pushed on, before she lost her nerve. "...ffffor all we know, they all do the Sailor Moon ribbon thing." He'd started to turn red, which was ridiculous, since his face was an infinite field of stars. And yet. He crossed his arms over the triangle design thingie on his chest. "It did that on its own," he muttered. "I believe you." "I wanted something much cooler." "It's totally cool." "... Thanks." "No problem." The interdimensional gate continued to pulse. Their respective teammates continued to not show up. "... I mean." She waited. "It's an iconic transformation sequence."

He'd started to turn red, which was ridiculous, since his face was an infinite field of stars "His face suddenly red-shifted as his mind tried to flee the conversation at near- c &nbsp;speeds. The existing red super-giants there swelled, their wavelengths stretching out into a hot flush of infrared."

I was never a huge Freakazoid fan back in the day, but my attention has been called to this one-off segment ( originally planned , it seems, for an episode of Animaniacs). It's the Adventures of Toby Danger: Main titles:&nbsp; <a href="https://youtu.be/il2HpBeHa30" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/il2HpBeHa30</a> The (sub)episode at the proper cue point:&nbsp; <a href="https://youtu.be/XWxHe6P61N4?t=8m50s" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/XWxHe6P61N4?t=8m50s</a>