Continuing with my Whitman Origin Project I introduce you to the next 3 in the series!
MAN-AT-ARMS: With MAA I think I did overall the best drawing, it strongly represents the comic design but I felt the question
what if you take the Orange armor color out & make him more tradition "Knight colors." this proved to be a challenge, as the high mouth guard by the artist's design he could have ended up looking a lot like Extendar (the other Knight in MOTU), but with some careful warm & cool contrasting colors & mini-comic meets Classics & mild Star Wars influence, I think I managed to make a strong piece & a fresh take on the Heroic Master Of Weapons!
TEELA: With Teela, she has a very loose styling in the comic & her
costuming changes 3 times in a few short pages, from a Skeletor-Disguise, to her more normal ceremonial-style dress, to the Snake Armor,
so I wanted to come up with a way to merge all 3 of those costumes for
her "standard look"... so I came up with this "Snake Hood" type of
Cleric costuming where both her cloth & armor look like a
Red Spitting Cobra,
(that I believe her original toy armor is based on). The comic over
all has a more "Holy" feel to it than a MOTU story normally does (with
the Shephard's Son etc.) so I thought this was befitting. It's more of a
"Sacred Snake Order of Maidens" type of vibe I think, lol, but I like
it too... =-)
She was the 3rd drawing in the series, but the one who's look I started
developing in thumbnails first, as both her (& Anom) were not as
distinct by the artist's pencil drawings.
ANOM: I think this is the 1st fan-art done of this particularly obscure character! With that being said it was a challenge because I had nothing but loose pencil drawings to use as reference to him . I pictured him early on with darker skin & green/blue hair, but more in a "Kraven the Hunter" type colors... As his color process moved on, he developed colors more like a Circus Ringmaster, & the whip is influenced by Blade's in the 1987 MOTU movie. For his gloves, I knew I did not want to make them either silver or gold, as that is to close to the pre-established Fisto/Jitsu characters, & this guy is kind of like them meets Beast-Man. Meaning I needed to stray as far away from that as I could, so that he could stand on his own. After some back & forth on him between myself & my brother Brian, he may be the most impressive final product of the bunch!
If these ideas prove to be a popular concept, I will continue & do some more
character cards based on the Whitman Origin, & include Shalda, Tez,
Moon Spinner, the Shepard's Son, & the Demons. I will also consider "expanding the universe" to include more characters...
Special thanks to my brother Brian for all of the feedback & advice, & to my brother Randy for his enthusiasm!
