Jeremiah Goldson and I have worked together on a couple of different comics, Rogue Agent Zed and Monica Furious: SuperDestroyer. It's been a very rewarding partnership, so we both decided it might be fun to take a shot at a third project. It's our most ambitious title to date, a 90-page graphic novel titled, The Lunar Colony Auditions.
Here's Jeremiah's first sketches of the characters that populate the book. Enjoy!
When Marco signed up to work on Battle Team Omega, he asked whether he could re-design the look and costumes of all the main characters. I immediately gave him full approval without hesitation because I knew from looking at his portfolio that he had a prolific and stylish design sense. Let’s check out a few of the highlights:
Velocity Hawk:
Korrgar Rex:
Silverbolt:Danger Ace:
Devil of Destruction:
I am completely knocked out by the designs. I really love the Danger Ace costume, in particular. (Somehow, it looks both retro and modern at the same time.) And it's great that Marco also happens to be a talented colorist -- because it's nice to see them in color!
In addition to his excellent design sense, Marco is also the fastest artist I have worked with, and that is truly an invaluable skill. The book is speeding towards completion (note to self: remember to find a letterer to put words into comic), and I'll keep everyone posted on the news as it approaches publication. Stay tuned.
In our previous posts, Jeremiah was kind enough to lend us artwork from his earlier projects to give us all a taste for the scope and magnitude of his talent. But this post will be the first one to highlight multiple sketches that he's created for a Hypersmash-specific title (in this case, Rogue Agent Zed.) Let's go ahead and take a look at the character designs he's worked up so far.
These first two images are of our protagonist, Rogue Agent Zed. I really like these portraits. He appears confident, capable, and imposing. All in all, he cuts quite an impressive figure. I would say that he looks like this, oh, about half the time. The other half, he is drunk, or maybe completely incoherent due to some massive drug intake. (Please note: despite his well-documented ability to save the world from utter destruction on a regular basis, Rogue Agent Zed is not a good role-model for your children. End note.)
The lovely gal that Jeremiah has sketched to the far right is Agent Wyatt, who is the co-lead in the story. She is sane, reasonable, and very professional. For these reasons, and many more, we should all pity her for being assigned to work with Zed. Poor, poor Wyatt.
When Zed isn't wearing a jacket, we notice that he is a scrawny little thing distinctly lacking in the muscles and physique department. Which is okay. He doesn't succeed on the basis of his physical attributes. Instead, he relies on his intellectual gifts and his uncanny insights.
And the occasional violent use of very big guns. (A reminder: once again, not a role-model. Thank you.)
Every story needs a bad guy, and Jeremiah was kind enough to provide a sketch of one of our antagonists. I don't want to say too much about him, in the interests of preserving some of the story's suspense so I guess I'll withhold all vital information (specifically his name and occupation) while strongly encouraging you to pick up a copy of the first issue to see how he ties in to the story! (Man, I can be such a shill sometimes...)
Hope everyone enjoyed that brief glimpse into the world of Rogue Agent Zed. Jeremiah told me that he can't wait to dive into the project, and he's already made arrangements with his work schedule so that he can devote more time to the project. So hopefully it won't be too long before we start seeing pages for the book. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see how great those will turn out (prediction: very great...)
"The script reminds me of the X-Files, written by a mid-80's William Gibson, commissioned by Marvel Comics." --Jeremiah Goldson, giving a pretty fitting description of our collaborative project, Rogue Agent Zed.
Hi, everyone. Thanks for stopping by. Just wanted to take a couple of seconds to do some housekeeping. Let's hit some bullet points:
1) First off, I think I've successfully activated the Comments function for the blog. I know a couple of you folks let me know that you tried to leave comments unsuccessfully. Yeah. That's my bad. I am a blogging neophyte, and I'm "trying to build the plane while it's in the air," as I like to say. I apologize for any frustration you may have run into, and I'll do my best keep an eye on the matter. (As always, please do try to remember that I may not be all that clever, but I really do mean well...)
2) I want to thank my pal (and comic blogging uber-stud) Kevin Church for featuring Hypersmash Comics in one of his recent online posts. It's a nice shot in the arm, and it's always good to have a guy like Kevin in your corner. Make sure to visit BeacoupKevin.com on a frequent basis to get his refreshing take on the world of comic books. And Battlestar Galactica. And the Pet Shop Boys.
3) Jeremiah's cool quote that led off this post is taken from something he wrote recently. He had a couple of interesting insights on our project and -- in an exciting development -- he snuck in the first ever design sketch of Rogue Agent Zed. As he's urinating. Which, uh, I like to think off as a metaphorical representation of the story's irreverent spirit. Or something.
Anyway, here's our first look at our hero:
Yup. That's our Zed.
4) Also, Scott Arnold sent along a sketch for a character from the comic he's not assigned to draw. Because, I would argue, he's easily confused. So let's all humor Scott and check out his nifty drawing of Velocity Hawk, the fastest member of Battle Team Omega, which is scheduled to be published in 2008 (written by Roel Torres, drawn by Jason Hoagland And Not Scott Arnold.): You know, it's pretty easy to forgive Scott for his (numerous) faults because he draws such pretty, pretty pictures. Dammit. Man, that's a rockin' sketch. I seriously get to work with some tremendous talent.
5) Jason is also keeping busy, and we've gotten together frequently over the last couple of weeks. We watched the Celtics play on opening night, and as we were keeping track of the game, I showed him some reference designs he requested (including an architectural sketch of our fictional high school, and my concept for a small-town flea market.) In return, he showed me a lot of his recent artwork, but -- because he bought a laptop and he isn't sure that his scanner is compatible with the new computer... I don't have any recent scans of Jason's work. You just have to trust me when I say that I've seen firsthand evidence that he's working hard and making progress. And I'll see what I can do about getting our hands on a functional scanner to capture his stuff.
6) Some of you might have missed the recent series of interviews I did with the three current artists of Hypersmash Studios -- Scott, Jason, and Jeremiah. I decided to embed those discussions at different points of the blog, in order to break up the predominantly visual posts with some text-heavy ones. The drawback was, if you read through the blog at one point, you might not have had a chance to come across them. So, to amend that, you can click right here to read some infomative responses from Scott, Jason, and Jeremiah. Personally, I enjoyed learning more about each of them and it was also very cool to have someone else's voice represented on this blog for a change!
7) I would just like to mention that I don't plan on being prolific in terms of updating this blog. I would rather wait for moments of genuine progress that I can share with everyone (as opposed to posting just to make noise and turning myself into a general nuisance. Like usual.) Expect updates when I get my hands on some new artistic content -- design sketches, character pin-ups, thumbnail layouts, or finished pages. Oh, and I will also post once we get some solid information on how to order copies of the actual comic books. Definitely. See, those will be exciting moments that will hopefully help generate some positive momentum for the projects -- and that is really the only purpose of this site. I suspect that if you good folks check out the blog maybe once a month or so, that should work out just fine. Cool? Cool.
7) And finally, if I ever write anything as groovy as these final 10 minutes from the classic movie "RNRNM", I will dominate the known universe for extended stretches at a time. Check out the YouTube clip and see what I mean. (Warning: just when you think it can't possibly get more awesome -- it gets more awesome! Enjoy! And yes, you can thank me later.) --RT
I thought that today's post would be a great time to look at Scott Arnold's excellent designs for the cast of the Hypersmash comic, Lightning Girl Loves Rocket Boy! Allow me to introduce this lovable bunch:
This is Marcus Joseph Marshall, also known as the teenage crime-fighting hero, Rocket Boy!
In real life, I'm a little old-fashioned so, at first, I wasn't all that crazy about his sideburns. But then I gave it some thought, and decided that I'm basically out of touch with the youth culture of today, so it's fine if he has a hairstyle that I don't really understand.
(Click on each image to enlarge.)
Here's a model sheet for Marcus, in and out of costume. He's got a fin on his head and a jetpack strapped to his back. That, my friends, is pure, classic Superhero Design 101!
(And please note: in case you are wondering what to get me for my birthday, I have just added "Rocket Jetpack" to my Amazon wishlist. Hint, hint. Thank you in advance!)
Here we have a look at some preliminary colors for Rocket Boy. Both Scott and I have taken a couple of shots at picking out his costume colors. We haven't really settled on anything yet. Stay tuned.
This is Jodie, also known as the power-packed dynamo, Lightning Girl! She's your typical college sophomore. She runs track, practices yoga, and has brilliant instincts as a tutor. Oh, and she flies around and shoots lightning bolts out of either hand. Like I said, typical college sophomore.
In a tribute to surefire comic book logic, Jodie hides her secret identity by letting her hair down and putting on a pair of transparent goggles when she's in superhero mode. Foolproof, right? (Take that, Clark Kent!)
Here's the first sketch Scott ever sent me of Lightning Girl's costume. I liked it, but I thought she needed a chest insignia to help make the costume more dynamic visually. And I also pointed out that those big, mitten-type gloves seemed a little impractical if she wanted to do something esoteric like -- oh, I dunno -- write down some notes, or use a keyboard while surfing the net, or something.
This is Owen, Rocket Boy's best friend. When the comic gets published, we'll make sure to experiment with some grayscaling options to properly indicate Owen's skin tone.
And what kind of a superhero comic book would we have without a good villain? This is the mad scientist known as Dr. Straitjacket! Jason came up with the cool name. And it was Scott's idea to indicate that our doc would probably perform some type of radical home surgery on his own brain. (I think both ideas are awesome.)
And, of course -- Madbots! Everyone's mad about Madbots! Indestructible combat machines, they pose a challenge for any hero that has the misfortune of running into their path.
Madbots!
And there you have it! I hope you get the same jolt of excitement that I do when looking at Scott's work. I can't wait until we can finally publish copies of this book and get it into the hands of you, the faithful reader. This has truly been a labor of love, and I think that it's a story people out there will really enjoy.
Lightning Girl Loves Rocket Boy one-shot (52 pages) by Roel Torres and Scott Arnold is scheduled for release from Hypersmash Studios in 2008.
Today's featured character is the Valyrie Warrior, The Myth! She's a member of the premiere supergroup in the Hypersmash Universe, Battle Team Omega. Click on each image to enlarge to get a better appreciation of Jason's detailed art.
Jason and I are still trying to lock down some of the fundamental aspects of her character. In many ways, she's still a work in progress.
Jason has made an effort to incorporate authentic Norse armor into her costume, to help distinguish her from other characters wearing your standard superhero gear.
I like the way Jason spots blacks on the image to the right, using dramatic lighting to give the character a very solid feel. The strong use of shadows makes this pic look different from the rest of his work.
This modern-day Valkyrie is a character with a strong sense of mystery to her, and she has many layers still waiting to be revealed. (Even to me and Jason. And we're the guys who created her...)
Hope you enjoyed this brief glimpse into Jason's different design ideas for The Myth. I'm just as curious as you are as to what she eventually looks like!
I wanted to take a moment to examine the visual evolution of an original Hypersmash Universe character -- in this case, the speedster known as Velocity Hawk. Sitting in my office at Harvard, I have a stack of designs with literally hundreds of variations of the hero, with some interpretations looking wildly divergent from the others. This is Jason Hoagland's approach to creating a character: he strives for perfection. And it's a fascinating process to witness firsthand. (Click image to enlarge.)
This is intended to show the chronological development of the character's look. But you'll have to forgive me if the order isn't completely accurate, because it can be pretty hard to keep track of all the changes.
Jason and I are both fans of the iconic Japanese hero, Ultraman. At this stage of development, the costume borrowed heavily from that influence.
The original art for the costumes above are done in color with markers, trying out different color combinations for each one.
Some logo ideas.
Because he's a speedster, it's important to take Velocity Hawk's footwear into consideration.
Can't forget the gloves, the back, and the side of the costume. That's a very nice model turnaround sheet, isn't it? And this is what the character looks like today. more or less.
Man, Velocity Hawk has a killer booty. Huh. Who knew?
And that wraps things up for now. In a couple of posts, we'll have a more abbreviated look at Jason designing a different character -- our Valkyrie Warrior, The Myth! Hope you enjoyed this exclusive first look.
And coming up next? A look at some of Scott Arnold's rockin' sequential work. Definitely check back for that because Scott does some amazing work on those pages (which isn't surprising in the least, since he's one talented dude!)
