"Fight at the Museum" Preproduction

So this is sketches and notes toward this years bunch of sample pages for the portfolio reviews at San Diego

Comic Con. Can you guess who's fghting?

Batman 2.0 Design Process pt. 2

Continuing from the last post.

So I've got my Design locked I think. I initially wanted the cape to be short for agility and connect to the underside of the arm. I then started to think that was too derivative of my Vampirella Redesign. So I went back to an idea I've had kicking around in my head of the riding cape/parka, which when flared would kinda make the bat symbol shape.

This is the costume design as it was going into the final drawing, minus the cape. It's your common bat costume with only a few minor tweaks that are Nightwing-ish. All the pieces that were black were going to be reinforced leather or amor. The face mask is meant to echo the old Dick Sprang/Adam West cowl look. It also recalls Robin's domino mask and the sculpted armor of the Batman movies. I figured the movies really inform on the way the general audience perceive Batman, so any new comicbook design shouldn't reject that style entirely. So the emblem has relief dimension to it as well. The gauntlets on his forearms become a short glove with (wrist spike) over arm-guards.

The Belt. The belt was originally going to be the old Robin, mixed with a police utility belt. all black leather with brass fittings. In the final drawing that looked under designed and way out of place. Or bad. It looked bad. So back to the literal drawing board. I redesigned it to have a more climbing-harness-lifting-belt look to it. This was too busy and still clashed with the rest of the design. So I started to strip things out. Irregularity of shape and extra elements were thrown out. What's left with is an all black belt made up of uniform compartments with a single button in the center. No buckle! The flares up the side is the same ribbed elastic armor from the arm guards. They serve to hold up the weight of the belt, and look Nightwing-ish.

This is the final drawing before rendering and background were added, paired with the color flats. The blacks aren't really black but a very dark and desaturated navy. The cape is a felted wool, lined with blue silk and reinforced with fabricised Kevlar. The suit is lined with that as well.

And finally a preview of the finished piece:

Batman 2.0 Design Process pt. 1

It's time for another Project: Rooftop Contest

This time it's design Dick Grayson (Nightwing, f. Robin) his own Batman costume. Very specific. Very Nerdy. Very Fun.

I wanted this to honor all the character's previous designs and be instantly recognizable as Batman. But what I didn't want was to be lazy and draw an electric blue bat-symbol that runs down his arms. So I got sketching. Many bad sketches were produced. You're not going to see those. These are the good stuff from the pile of brain spew.

 

The photo's are examples from Ferragamo and Alexander McQueen's new collections. Big Influence on the finished design. So is the BMW Z4.

More process and final design coming soon.

Vampirella Revamp

My Vampirella redesign for Project Rooftop.

This was a rough one. How do you redesign a character that IS her costume.

I started with the thing I hated most about her classic look. It's her Magic Grow Back Wings. Yee-eee-yuck.
I gave her more anthropomorphic arm-wings. When researching that, I was inspired by photos of bat wings that are back lit and appear to glow red. And from there I was off to the races.

When the wings grow, the full sleeve costume grows over it (Drakulonian Spandex is very stretchy). Since she no longer can wear bracelets without impeding her transformation, the anklets she now wears have a purpose. They are like the Kung Fu rings worn by the Shoalin on their wrists.

The costume zips up the front with the vamp logo becoming a zipper charm. She can now keep her breasts put away for those quieter character moments. Combined with the black shoulder panels, it evokes the classic costume when unzipped. The back is all black aside from the boy shorts. I love the way that the collar + wings creates a bat silhouette. That was an accident.

I think I might have a shot at winning this one.

Update on Friday, September 26, 2008 at 4:23PM by Daniel Heard

4th Place! That's F@*&ing Bull$#!t.

Just kidding it really amazing. Many thanks to the fantastic folks from Project: Rooftop who always come up with new and exciting challenges that eat at the inside of my brain and force me to draw. Special thanks go to Trina Robbins, Dan Bereton and Joe Jusko. The latter two are influences on my work and it's a real honor to have their critiques.

If you clicked here by way of the Contest please post a comment. Give your own a harsh as hell crit, shower me with praise, or just say HI. And click back soon for updates on my work.