Secret Identities designs: Part 1

 Secret Identities, the brand new Image superhero series by Jay Faerber, Brian Joines and me debuts this Wednesday, 18th of February! Check the list of reviews if there's any doubt in your mind about how awesome it'll be! ;)

 Anyway, this is the pefect time for me to share with some of the earlier designs and talk about the process of creating the look of our main characters, the heroes of the Front Line.

 

GAIJIN is an alien creature whose ship crashed in Japan, and she was raised by a Japanese crime family.

She was right there in the very first sketch I did for the series. Her chameleon skin and Japanese upbringing dictated her look and the above pic was finished and enthousiastically approved in record time. The rest would not be that easy...

 

 

 

CROSSWIND is the team mole, on the surface a cheery, slightly naïve hero with wind powers, but in reality a scheming sociopath looking to bring the team down. 

Ok, he has a difficult one. I tried the naïve, idealistic angle first. I knew we wanted him to look a little retro (from the good old days. gee whiz!) and since he had wind powers I wanted him to have elements tha could flap around. The cowboy look (the pure heart of America and all that) [A] was dropped because of this guy. The hipster look [B], that came from the "retro" thing, I liked  but was not really fitting for the character. We settled on a quite traditional look [E] and pitched the book to Image.

Crosswind (along with Punchline, see Part 2) was one of the characters Image felt could be improved and we came to agree with them. We set our sights for a more modern look. Some of the results I really liked, the "C" logo looking like a tornado and such [J],[K],[L].

The thing really clicked when Jay suggested that instead of innate powers the character could use a high tec suit. Metal suit, a "C" element and flapping things on his arms and here we were.

 

 RUNDOWN is our speedster. He's a scientist in his civilian identity, and there's more to him, but it's best that you discover that in the book itself.

Another one that took some effort to nail down. And that's because because "speedster" for me meant fun and bright colors and Speed Racer. When I really got the character, that he is many things but "carefree" is not one of them, I started to move in the right direction. And then Brian suggested the green-black color scheme and that was it.

  

LUMINARY is the team leader. She's also America's super-powered, light-manipulating darling and the daughter of the President of the United States. The fact that her first super hero team is based in Canada doesn't win her a lot of fans in the White House. Also, while everyone around her seems happy to ignore it she's more troubled than she seems to be.

Another relatively easy one. A red-white-blue American superhero but not too in-your-face. We opted for the more superhero-y costume on the left rather than the Navy-inspired one.

That's it for now... expect a new post this Monday with Punchline, Helot, Recluse and Vesuvious!