The De Novo Project: Aries

Sergeant Otis Aries was a top marksmen and marine before the Chandler Amendment. Originally from Virginia, not much is known of his family. Aries was picked by General Riche to end underground hospitals in North America after the New Armed Services was formed.

The De Novo Project: Vincent Babel

 

"Vincent Babel never questioned the fact he had been able to avoid illness throughout his life. His father died of pancreatic cancer on Vincent’s eighteenth birthday, leaving him a small fortune that he put toward college. Having only brief memories of his mother, who succumb to complications of diabetes when Vincent was an infant, Vincent decided to pursue medicine with the intent of helping others avoid the heartbreak he endured.
Babel began medical school when he was 21 years old. After graduating, he began his medical career at a top-notch metropolitan hospital. He was five years into his career when the Chandler Amendment was passed. Upon its inception, Babel’s dream was abruptly ended like so many others in his position. However he quietly educated himself from the literature accumulated at school, developing a working knowledge of medical treatment. He began practicing in small doses at some of the first underground hospitals on the east coast, constantly moving and building a reputation for avoiding breathers and working closely with sick patients.
During his early work, it was believed that Babel was a prophet– a human able to work in harsh conditions without getting sick himself. However, as the great migration began, a conspiracy formed that humanity was being eradicated by a higher power and only those like Babel would survive. Babel was able to hide but like the doctors in his position, he became an enemy of the state.
Although understanding his potential to be the Alpha Variable carrier, Babel is in a state of denial. Instead, Babel believes his life should be lived without the fear of illness and he is one of many who consider the Chandler Amendment to be the beginning of the end of human life."

The work continues...

Superman, You're Old as Hell

I swear this dude has a hundred different birth dates, but February 29th was recognized as Superman's official birthday during the Silver Age. So Happy Birthday, imaginary character who I have an uncomfortably strong attachment to!

"It Moves Inhuman-Slowly, Robotic like a Karakuri"

 Work is well underway on the next chapter of the De Novo saga, and one of the things we're going to do is reveal a little more about the world that Vincent Babel and the rest of the cast are trying to survive in. One of the obstacles Babel will face will be the massive, robotic police force that patrol the streets of The City.  Jake imagined them to be slow and lumbering, but still dangerous and intimidating. He cited Karakuri dolls as a reference, so i worked from that for my first shot at the concept.

The first thing I did was to work on the skeleton of the Robot.  I originally drew it shorter,  but when that didn't look right I lengthened his legs.  He's blocky, not too detailed, but just enough so you can kinda see how he works. 

I didn't really have a strong idea of how to go about dressing up the robot at first, but then I saw a picture of Peruvian Riot Police, and I was like HOLY SHIT that's awesome I totally want to steal that design. I didn't go that far, but it was a definite influence.  Eventually I stripped away a lot of the armor from the design, but I'm definitely going to use that Riot design for other characters.

Jake liked the early designs, but he wanted  them slimmed down while emphasizing their imperfect, robotic nature.   That meant more exposed gears and pipes.  The Karakuri are dangerous, but vulnerable. They're like a first generation design, kind of like the ED-209 from Robocop. 

Now that the design stage is over, I get to bring them to life in the next trailer for The De Novo Project.  Should be fun.

Starfire: Street Fighter

I recently discovered the site Superhero of the Month, which challenges artists to redesign a different character every month.  For February, the subject was Starfire:  Teen Titan, Alien Princess, kick ass warrior.  Her current look is...what's the word?  Terrible.  Although to be fair,her previous uniforms haven't been that much better.

I was originally going to give her a flowing, decorative dress; something elegant to really differentiate herself from her New 52 counterpart.  But then I thought: Ugh that's gonna take a lot of detail, and I didn't have much time left.  So I rethought things. And then I thought: what if she was just this kick ass punk rock fighter who just loves to fight bad guys?  And she mostly dressed like an MMA fighter?  Yeah that works.

So check out the SOTM site for a lot of other cool takes on Starfire, as well as the previous contests focusing on other characters like Gorilla Grodd, Harley Quinn, and Robin.