Character Design: Alice Cho

For my last two characters, unfortunately, all that exists of them is a model sheet.  Because I'm on a pretty tight deadline, and these characters appear for a relatively short time in the project, all they get is a model sheet.  Sucks to be a minor character, and hopefully, if I have time, or when they recycle back into the main plot, I'll give them full how-tos, but until then, there you go.
Here's the last character in the Crimson Fly intro story: Alice Cho.

Some facts about Alice:

• She's a college student. Specifically a junior.  History major. 
• Her middle name is Beatrice. Yes, her initials are ABC. It helps me remember better.
• She has a younger sister.
• Just like Detective Dick, she had a different design; in her case, a long coat and dress.  But a change in personality ruined that fit, and thus she's in a jacket and jeans now.

Alice has the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Repeatedly.  That's where the Crimson Fly comes in. Unfortunately, he usually just makes things worse. She began life as a bystander in a previous iteration of the Crimson Fly (see above) and in that incarnation would have been a reoccurring character who keeps running into the Crimson (then "Red") Fly, and eventually gets sick of it.  This current iteration is a lot stronger than the previous version, being more of a person rather than a plot device.  Well, in the strip proper.  As stated above, she's a minor, but important, character in this intro. Keep reading to see more of her and where her journey takes her!

The story in the preview can be read here in its entirety:
http://skipperwing.deviantart.com/gallery/38606483

Character Design: Detective Dick

For these next two characters, unfortunately, all that exists of them is a model sheet.  Because I'm on a pretty tight deadline, and these characters appear for a relatively short time in the project, all they get is a model sheet.  Sucks to be a minor character, and hopefully, if I have time, or when they recycle back into the main plot, I'll give them full how-tos, but until then, there you go.

So lets start with our first minor character, Detective Richard Dick, Officer Jones's partner.

Some facts about Detective Dick:

• He smokes. A lot. For everything.
• He has a sweet trenchcoat. Partly to look cool and partly to avoid looking like a scary police cop
• If Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis did the fusion dance (and now you can't get it out of your head!) he's what the result would be.
• Bonus: Initially he had a tie and coat set-up, but it changed to the regular police uniform later.
• Yes, he's a dick, named Dick, who's last name is dick. Ironically, he's not a dick, though.

When I design characters I try to have them play foils to each other, and Detective Dick is no exception. He's a foil to Officer Jones, in that he's had the gift of experience and knows how and when to break the rules for the greater good. The smokes and trenchcoat are part of that: Yeah, they're not regulation, but Jones knows how to get around that (smokes), and that they endear him to people who'd normally be suspicious of cops (the trenchcoat).  In other words, he's what Jones would be if he took the stick out of his butt (and had a "pill" head instead lego blocks for a face).  He's also technically one for the Fly as well (similar ideas about "protocol," but Dick works within the law, but the Fly exists outside it), but they never interact in this piece, so we're sticking to Dick and Jones.

SPOILER WARNING: How to draw Hobo Joe, the rat

Disclaimer: This post, and the following post, deal with the main antagonist of this piece.  As such, this deals with spoilers.  Nothing plot related, but you can't really talk about the bad guy without mentioning the sort of details certain people would rather avoid. So if you don't like spoilers in any way, shape or form, AVOID THIS POST. THERE ARE NO STORY SPOILERS, BUT IF YOU DON'T WANT TALK ABOUT THE BAD GUY, AVOID THIS POST.

Alright. Let's talk about drawing Hobo Joe. 

Hobo Joe is a bit of a challenge when compared to drawing other Crimson Fly characters Not so much his body and legs, but his head; as it isn't based on any generic shapes, its kinda hard to simplify. That's not to say that it can't be done (I did it somehow)

With other characters, its easy to simply take that basic shape and start pretty much wherever you want on that characters's head. Not so with Hobo Joe.  With him, its better to start with the eyes and follow the specific order listed on the right.  There's a better way, and I'm going to do some tests with some guine-I mean, friends to see if I can refine this a little better.

His body is a lot less complicated.  His upper body is a mix between Jones and the Fly.  Blocky like Jones, but not so blocky that his joints "break" when he flexes. In that regard he's closer to the Fly. 

For his hands and feet, Well, they're a lot more delicate than they look. Sure, Joe will slice you to threads, but that's it. His claws are more for slashing than for smashing.  Also, his legs are very similar, in principle, to the Fly. In fact they're closer to dog legs than to an actual rat.

Well, that's it about Joe. Hope you didn't feel too spoiled by the new revelations.  Next week, we'll be examining the side characters! See you then!

SPOILER WARNING! Character Design: "Hobo Joe" the rat

Disclaimer: This post, and the following post, deal with the main antagonist of this piece.  As such, this deals with spoilers.  Nothing plot related, but you can't really talk about the bad guy without mentioning the sort of details certain people would rather avoid. So if you don't like spoilers in any way, shape or form, AVOID THIS POST. THERE ARE NO STORY SPOILERS, BUT IF YOU DON'T WANT TALK ABOUT THE BAD GUY, AVOID THIS POST.

And now for our antagonist! Meet "Hobo Joe" the rat! (It kind of goes without saying but: SPOILERS!)

Some notes about Hobo Joe:

• Hobo Joe is never referred to as such within the comic.
• Hobo Joe wears a hoodie. His meta-reason for owning it, is that I like hoodies. In-story? You'll have to read the comic later to find out!
• Hobo Joe is surprisingly picky about his food for something that lives in a sewer.

Hobo Joe is a monster of chaos and anarchy when compared to Officer Jones and the Crimson Fly.  His name comes from an earlier time in concept where the main antagonist was going to be a hobo with crazy fire powers. A friend told me that was stupid. I told them that they were stupid.  Then I thought about it and realized I was being stupid. And so I changed him.  Initially he was a lizard, but then I realized that Spider-man had already done that. Then he was a crocodile, but then I remembered that TMNT had already done that. So now he's a giant mutant rat (Which technically, turtles has already done, but Joe is not a ninja)

Next time: Learn how to draw Hobo Joe!

How to draw Officer Jones!

So, for better or for worse, I'm going to try and "solo" as much of the illustration and animation as I can. However, realistically speaking, I'm probably going to need help at some point. So that I don't have to spend too much time teaching people how to draw my characters, I've created a series handy-dandy "How-to"s to help people learn how to draw the characters. They aren't perfect (as I don't have the time to make them so) but they serve as a good start as to how I draw the characters.  So here's our main character, Officer Jones!

Whereas the Crimson Fly is a bic-head pen (circle on a cone), Officer Jones is comprised entirely of blocks. Seriously. You could probably build him out of legos. (That makes for an awesome idea: free sketch/ink/drawing thing-y for whoever builds Officer Jones out of legos!)

Jones is a very rigid character.  One of things I was worried about when drawing his head was that I wouldn't be able to get a big range of emotion with his face as strict as it is. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's a reserved character, but he does emote. As for his eyes, they're shadowed because, while he's a main character, the cops, as a whole are minor. I don't want you get attached, and hence, you can't see his eyes.

Jones's body is nowhere near as complicated as the fly, and coming up with a how-to to describe his body was a little tough.  He's got enough flexibility to move, but not so much that he's as agile as someone like the Fly.  If pushed to far, his joints bend all the way, rather than simply curving like the Fly's joints.

Jones is a police officer, and I realized that its a good idea to have a sheet detailing what his uniform entails. Its pretty much a jumpsuit over an under-armor mesh.  Its pretty much a cross between a janitor and a real life police officer. His outfit is an artifact from a time when the world-building dictated that everyone/mostly everyone had superpowers (as a way for the Fly to maintain a regular life outside his secret identity), and the police were upgraded accordingly (hence Jone's multipurpose tool and utility belt).  I still liked the design, and thus it carried over.

So, now you know, and knowing is half the battle! Next: Our antagonist!

Character Design: Officer Jones

And now for our main character, Officer Jones.  Yes, Jones is the main character.  No, he is not the Crimson Fly.

So, who is Jones? 

-Jones is a beat cop in the city.

-He is literally made of blocks.

-He has a multipurpose tool for different situations. Sometimes its a gun, most of the time its a taser, and on rare occasions, its grapple pistol you see above.

In a lot of ways, Jones exists as a foil to the Fly, or rather, for the purposes of this piece, the Fly exists as a foil for Jones. Both have similar ideas about justice; its just, one's a police officer working within the law, and the other is a vigilante working outside of it.  I tried to reflect it in their designs; the Fly's comprised mostly of curves, whereas Jones is comprised mostly of blocks and hard edges.  This is a reflection of his personality: He's glued to procedure and the law, and unwilling to think outside of it.  Hopefully, this won't get him killed. 

Next time: you'll learn how to draw him!

How to draw the Crimson Fly!

So, for better or for worse, I'm going to try and "solo" as much of the illustration and animation as I can. However, realistically speaking, I'm probably going to need help at some point. So that I don't have to spend too much time teaching people how to draw my characters, I've created a series handy-dandy "How-to"s to help people learn how to draw the characters. They aren't perfect (as I don't have the time to make them so) but they serve as a good start as to how I draw the characters. First up, the Crimson Fly!

 The Fly's basically a sphere mounted on top of a cone. It's not quite that simple, but that's the easiest way to break him down and start.

As stated earlier, He wears a mask and goggles to hide his identity. I also gave him massive eyebrows because I like being able to see characters emote, and I didn't want to mess with his goggles too much. So I enlarged his eyebrows.

As for his legs, I kinda hated the idea that someone could be super strong but not really look much different from everyone else.  So I went with something even more implausible, like quadrupedal legs.  They let him jump 3x his current height.  Why are his legs like that? You'll have to read to find out.

With the arms and torso, they're less autonomous anatomy, and more just connectors for the arms and waist to the head.  That said, its important to identify how clothing folds for lighting purposes; Its exaggerated in the how-to's, but your get the general idea.

And that's how you draw the Crimson Fly! Simple enough, right?

Character Design: The Crimson Fly

So. Here we are. The title character. The guy you came here to see. The Crimson Fly.

So, some notes on the character:
-Yes, his legs are weird. Think rabbit or quadrupedal legs.
-He's wearing a mask with goggles overlayed on top. No, He's not missing his ears, nor are the orange bits his eyes.
-His eyebrows are massive. Better for emoting.
-He does have wings (It'st that's why he's called the crimson FLY). When not in use, they're tucked inside the hole in the back of his hoodie.

The Crimson Fly is not actually the main character of this particular piece. There are a lot of mysteries about him (why are his legs like that? What's under the mask? etc.) that I don't want to reveal yet.  And without that background knowledge, it makes meaningful character development hard. Progress only means something if you have a starting point to judge it from.  So, no, the Fly isn't the main character.  Think of him as more like a guide for the main character's progress.  His (The Fly's) story will come later in the main comic.

So what's next? I'll show you how to draw him!