Sunday, January 25, 2009

First We Take Manhattan (NY Countdown Day 5)

Day, uh, five of my countdown to NYCC - and it's an all-colour special, folks!

First up, a few colour guides for the main characters who show up in issue one. I really dig how these look - kind of like toys. I would chew off my left arm (the most rubbish of my two arms) to see these characters turned into toys. Hasbro - call me.





Secondly, another early design for Barock. I was really closing in on what I wanted here - note the slightly simian features and Goon-like shadowed eyes. Barock had to be someone who could concievably be handsome in one panel and monstrous in another.




In the end, I simplified his tunic way down, lengthened the sleeves so they had more of a sporting cut and gave him nifty little pouches on his belt to balance the design out. Knee-high boots are one of my favourite things - blame Captain Britain.

Aaaaand, finally - a panel detail from issue one. I think I mentioned this on the blog before, but in the early days of development this was going to be a black and white comic with blue tone. I coloured all of issue one and some of issue two that way. I think it looks really nice - but our kind of superhero action probably needs to be in full colour. And our wicked colourist Rachelle is doing a bang-up job, so I'm not complaining!

11 comments:

Mark Kardwell said...

Love the two-tone image, that's what being brought up on IPC comics annuals will do to you - those and CASANOVA I suppose - but yeah, superhero comics should always be in big bright colours, I reckon.

michaeljsmith said...

you continue to show us a lot of goodness... spoiling us rotten and i love it

Glen Brunswick said...

I love that space helmet on Barock. How on earth did you design such brilliance? What a pity you couldn't have kept that. :)

Dan McDaid said...

Thanks chaps. Mark, I really think the single colour thing tickles some nostalgic gland in my head (wow, that came out weird...). Marvel UK comics were largely printed that way when I was a kid - loved it.

Brikhed, I'm thrilled you're so into it. I hope the book does your excitement justice (don't worry, it will - I've seen it and it's awesome).

Glen - I think the problem with the helmet is that it was *too* awesome. Every time I tried drawing it, I would be overwhelmed with celestial music and the art board would catch fire. If I'm feeling *very* daring, I'll post your original design up on here very soon...

wolfboy said...

I love seeing these designs. And yeah, Capn' Britain's boots do it for me, too!

As much as I like simplified color (or, in your case, colour)--I really dig the glow on his shirt.

Glen Brunswick said...

I smell a bit of sarcasm in here. Acute senses, y'know?

Dan McDaid said...

Andy - me too. Might have got a bit distracting if we'd had it on all the God characters, tho, which is why I ditched it.

Glen, I'm just pulling yer chain, man! :) I genuinely regret leaving out the space helmet - it would have given him another cool prop. And I loved the little mother box style communicator in his chin. If we ever have him travelling in time or hyperspace or some "weird" dimension, I'll definitely bring it back in.

WJC said...

The two tone stuff is a treat but the full colour work is just Amazing!
I love Barock's glowing shirt, make sure they use it in the movie. (they'll be a movie one day won't there?)

Dan McDaid said...

Warwick, production on the Jersey Gods movie begins next month, in Scotland, in my back yard, with a cast of two and an effects budget of 6p. It'll be the sleeper hit of the year!

Glen Brunswick said...

I don't think he's referring to the XXX version that you're shooting in the backyard.

Dan McDaid said...

XXX? We're going for XXXXXX baby! This thing would have been illegal in ancient Rome!