Superhero Sketches

In between projects I like to cook up ideas for original superheroes often with goofy puns names in that classic Silver Age style. Just to give an inkling of my process I thought I'd showcase some of my sketches.

Admiral Atlantis

I never liked the idea of characters like Aquaman and Namor being both King of the Seven Seas and part time surface superheroes, being a ruler is a full time responsibility. Instead our aquatic actioneer is a former Atlantean war hero and master strategist. I wanted something that emulated a old style of naval uniform with some decorative nouveau shapes of underwater animals like the manta chest emblem which is meant to resemble an "A".

Bamboozle!

Billionaire Biff Powell’s parents were tragically murdered by ninjas. Now he has dedicated his life to avenge their deaths by battling the ninja underworld by studying the ancient art of Onomatopoeia; the ability to manifest sound into a physical form. 

"Criminals are a sneaky, silent lot. The sound of an alarm or siren will send them fleeing. I must become something that shatters the silence!" Hours later after surfing the Internet for inspiration, Biff stumbles across the famed "Sneezing Panda" video. "GASP! A simple sound that strikes suddenly! It's Perfect!"

I loved the old Adam West Batman show as a kid and was disappointed to discover that creating sound effects with his fists was not an actual superhero and wanted to create a tongue-in-cheek type of hero that would reconstruct that fun feeling I had with the character when I was young.

Battle Butler

Geoffrey Grieves is a servant themed superhero, one of a long legacy of Battle Butlers. Tall and slim, with heightened reflexes and agility, ninja level stealth and precision. Armed with a serving tray and silverware that act as discus and shirken. Being clean and meticulous has helped to hone his keen observational and detective skills.

Crown Jewel

She's probably the one superhero I've spent the most time trying to visually develop, and yet her eponymous headgear still remains ill defined. 

Film Buff

Golden Guardian of the Silver Screen! Film Buff's powers mostly include deducing the obvious.

Pocket Protector

A pint-sized powerhouse in the vein of tiny titans like The Atom or Ant-Man. He's also a bit of a super nerd as emphasized by his costume designed to resemble a quilted sweater and suspenders. 

The Scarf

For whatever reason, the letter "S" was really popular with pulp heroes of the '30s and '40s. The Shadow, The Spider, The Spirit, The Scarab, The Saint, The Shield, The Spectre and more. To that impressive list I'd like present my own entry; "The Scarf", the Silky Scourge of Crime! Starting out as a Golden Age coat, hat and aviator goggles style of crimefighter-adventerer before moving into the Silver Age with bright tights and an atomic powered utility belt.

Snow Angel

Giant snowflakes for wings. Thats all I've got so far. Did I mention how much I love puns?

Sneak Peek

The Return of Crown Jewel: The Empress of Awesome!

I've made quite a few changes to the appearance of her costume, and its colors since the last time I posted her here.

I think I've finally come up with a design were I find myself satisfied. Its definitely a more "balanced" composition than last time. Keep watch for some dynamic action poses to come!

Crown Jewel: Empress of Awesome!

Wanted a chance to pipe up in between my posts celebrating professional and historical illustrations, to talk briefly about a project of my own I've been scratching across three sketchbooks over the past two and a half months. You see I love comics in all forms and ever since graduation over a year ago I have been trying to come up with my own ideas and characters in hopes of creating sample pages to showcase at conventions and wherever else I can.

I'm not well known for my confidence in my own work, so I thought I'd implusively spring for talking about some of my ideas on perhaps my readers (now in the double digits!) would be kind enough to share their thoughts.

This is my first drawing of "Crown Jewel", a comic book superheroine I've been developing since around April. This is a rather simple design conveying her royal and bejeweled theme with a simple tiara, crown shaped breastplate and belt buckle along with a diamond shaped skirt with large studded gems which could open to reveal weapons or tools like her Scepter Deflector.

But alas, I could never stay satisfied with something so simple, wanting to give her a more distinct look.

This version replaced the breastplate with a large glowing jewel over her heart and several smaller gems leading down to her belt which formed a "CJ" kind of shape.

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Her breastplate and boots became more ornate and complex.

Most pages were cluttered like this, I've just been giving you the highlights thus far.

This is were my peristance pays off, as the upper right corner reveals, I developed a shape that looked like a series of three pointed crowns interlocking around the letters "C" and "J" with an octagonal gem in the center. This would be a permanent fixture in every design afterward.

I also experimented with giving her a mask to break the silhouette as well as make her a bit unique as very few heroines wear masks. Least their faces no longer be pretty or something like that.

I thought I had all the pieces together when I did this page, only to step back and saw an odd juxapostion of a doe eyed face with the broad body of a female wrestler, to say nothing a very complicated set of boot buckles.  I decided some action poses would help loosen thing up and give Jewel some more life.

I continued to experiment with torso designs before moving on to her eponymous crown.

Here I hit about the idea of abandoning the skirt for two colored bars on either side of her hips with a elongated chestpiece and loincloth, so as to form a crown shape across her body and to allow for negative space through darker colors.

I also briefly replaced her hair with crackling energy. 

I refined the design, adding golden shoulder pads to make her look stronger and more balanced. This design helped to guide the eye down, but had the unfortunate side effect of splitting textures on her breasts, which made her torso look angry.

Further refinement with a new breastplate

New breastplate fits firmly, with jewels on over her heart and both shoulders. Darker areas crackle with shimmering sparks of energy just beneath her skin like a living engine. Her crown and face are now one in the same.

Finally, Color! Lots of gold, particularly around the torso, she turned out to be brighter than I imagined, and combined with the flaming red hair I think she resembles Frankie Raye from the Fantastic Four a bit too much I think and fully golden breastplate reduces the amount of purple lines to guide the eye down to the rest of the figure, so there may still be some more tweaking to do yet.