Ashe:Detective

One thing that I love doing, and I hope will get compiled into the TPB (my how we plan ahead) are design work stuff. There are so many millions of designs bouncing in my head that I hate to just use the first creative thought that pops into my head. I am infatuated with the film approach to design where we essential sit down and plan what we want our designs to say, how it should impact the viewers, what we want the characters to visually evoke. Historically I have gotten into most of my past deadline problems because I've been off planning and designing. Which is why it usually takes months for me to finish the first issue of anything. At this point in my career it is more satisfyling than actually drawing a solid piece of art.

Anyways, here are two examples of some of the design gone into Ashe. This character we wanted a drab sort of feel, compact, and practical hence the monochromatic color scheme. Mike had wanted a large trenchcoat, I compromised by giving him the lines of a coat but made it tight fitted. I wanted to show the practicallity of this character. Being a werewolf he transforms into huge beast form and back into small humanoid form. So he wears clothes that are made of a stretcheable material that will move with his changing form.

These pieces were done in Photoshop on a computer called a Tablet PC which allows you to draw on it's monitor like a tablet. It is the closest thing to actually drawing on a computer. I have recently gone back to a Wacom tablet. But when and if the Tablet PC's get faster processors will gladly return to the freedom of a Tablet computer.