COLLIDE-O-SCOPE part 2: "FUSELLA 'SPITFIRE' HOTSPUR"!!

FUSELLA “SPITFIRE” HOTSPUR -- Rhythm/ Lead Guitar/ Vocals
Fusella is as her nickname implies, and she’ll probably sock you in the jaw if you call her “Fusella”! She is hot-tempered, quick to speak or act first and think later. Foul-mouthed, and brash, SPITFIRE is slow to give thanks, admit mistakes and offer congratulations, yet she likes to feel useful, so will often offer her assistance where needed, but only if she is asked first.
SPITFIRE’s body is decorated with “living tattoos” based on the Chinese zodiac, but they are no longer visible unless she “activates” them. She can an animate and detach these tattoos from her skin to become tangible, three-dimensional helper beasts, each with different useful strengths and characteristics. Once the tattoo-beast’s task is done, she can reabsorb it back into her skin. SPITFIRE can animate more than one tattoo-beast at a time, but each one takes a bit of her life-force with it, weakening her a bit until it is reabsorbed.
All of the tattoos were created by the same man at the same tattoo parlor -- an ancient Chinese man who spoke in confusing proverbs and riddles. The power to animate the tattoos was not available until the final tattoo was completely healed. Upon removing the bandage covering this last tattoo, all of the beasts briefly sprang forth from her skin at once, sending SPITFIRE into a near coma. Once she was released from the hospital, SPITFIRE went back to find the strange Chinese fellow, seeking answers to what he had done to her, but the shop and the old man were gone, leaving only an empty building that looked like it hadn’t been occupied in years. Since then, SPITFIRE has never released more than three beasts at a time, fearing for her life if she does.
Spitfire often becomes conflicted with identity issues due to the wide range of abilities her zodiac animals grant her. As she is able to temporarily assume their attributes upon reabsorbing them, she has trouble defining where they end and where she begins.

IT'S A SURPRISE... SHHHH!!

Okay, don't tell her, but this is a sketch of a poster I'm going to be illustrating for my favorite little girl, my daughter Parker. Her birthday is coming up on the 24th of March (she'll be six), and I thought I'd do something artistic for her. She loves artwork, she loves rock and roll, and she loves playing Guitar Hero on Playstation (I'll have to post a video on here of her playing soon), so I thought she'd love a poster featuring herself as a Guitar Princess. Let's try and keep it a secret though, shall we? I'd like her to be surprised. I'm also planning on giving her a large colored poster featuring the planned artwork to be used as the cover of the children's book inspired by and based on her. More on that later.

"AND ON BASS GUITAR... SCHRUBB!!"

Rough sketch for my character SCHRUBB. Schrubb is the bass player for the super-group that is the focus of the animated series/ comic book/ action figure line concept I'm smack dab in the middle of creating. I've come up with plenty of rough concepts for things like this before, but this is the first one I'm actually carrying through to the stage where it will actually be ready for proposal to an actual company (check you local listings in about a year or so). I'll give a more in-depth description of the concept once I hammer out a few more details. I don't want to really finalize any of the designs or the overall concept until I've visualized all of the major characters and worked out their connections, backgrounds, plot elements, etc. It involves music, science, the supernatural, and a hefty dose of far-out mayhem and bizarre characters.

The core of Schrubb is simply he's an early 70's refugee bass player who doesn't talk, and whose face (indeed his entire head) is concealed by his shrub-like head of hair (hence the name -- clever, eh?). His glasses (which are already in the process of being redesigned to better emphasize their arcane nature) allow him to see well beyond the range of normal human sight. Sometimes this will mean a very broadened spectrum of sight, sometimes this will extend to the temporal, sometimes it may even enable him to see into your mind!! I'm still working on the details, but I'll post more when I've got it.

Brody Dalle

The assignment was a simple charicature/ portrait piece. Why did I choose Brody Dalle? Being the rock fiend that I was, I really wanted to do another guitar-centric piece (after my other self-portrait piece, yet to be posted here). Sure, there are plenty of interesting characters to choose from in the realm of rock, but why go for some craggy, world-weary male guitarist when I could focus on the beautiful Brody Dalle: guitarist/ vocalist for the Distillers. I think I was actually listening to the Distillers at the time, which sealed the deal, and the not-unpleasant search for reference pics began.

As you can see with the original sketch, I intended to have a larger head and shoulders portrait next to the figure shot, but it just didn't seem to fit. The "living dragon tattoo" idea may seem a bit cliche, but I became so enamored of this lovely, detailed twisting dragon tattoo on her arm that I figured if I was going to put the time and effort into all those scales and fins, I was going to make it count! Plus, I couldn't settle on a visual shorthand for the tattoo detail, and it wouldn't work to include such detail in a tatto that would have been rather small and not the focus of the piece. The solution: grow that tattoo out and go to town on it! I like the underlying drawing, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the color final. I think I managed to keep the dragon tattoo from overpowering Brody herself, but the background seems a bit rushed and uninspired. Deadlines forced my hand, but I may go back and fiddle with it some more later.

Pen & ink with photoshop.