Sasaki Redux

Well here you have it, Sasaki has literally become a ‘cyberpunk’. Continuing the direction I’ve been exploring in recent posts, this time around I’ve toned down the slobish aspects and tried to create something more distinct and vibrant, incorporating some of the cyberfashion I looked at last time for a stronger design.

The influence should be pretty evident from areas such as the cowl, straps and leggings, being taken from my previous research images or ones like them. I received a sizable criticism recently about making my characters overly functional in appearance, so here I tried to inject a little more fun into her look, reflecting what is largely a fun character. While being an agoraphobic oddball, Sasaki was also intended as an antidote to the largely serious, angsty cast; a slightly comical addition included to offset the inevitable misery and balance things out.

To summarise the problems with the old concepts: there’s a difference between a character who’s lazy and a lazy design.

The original concept was simultaneously bland and overly complicated, lacking a sense of coordination to the look. The VR helmet on the one hand had far too much going on, appearing bulky and impractical, especially by sci-fi standards. Areas such as the jumper and legs meanwhile lacked much in the way of distinctive features, resulting in an impression that’s both frustrating and forgettable to the casual reader. I’d intended her to look a bit of a mess, but the result is an artistic rather than intentional one.

The biggest change I’ve made is reducing the helmet to an implanted set of cyborg eyes. I’ve kept the spider-like arrangement but in retrospect it seemed strange I didn’t fit them into my cyborg scenario on a character who already has ‘modifications’ and never removes it throughout the script. The four cables running into the back of the hands have also notably been reduced to one, simpler but far more striking as a result.

I purposefully included colour in this design too as it struck me as an important aspect of the ‘cyber’ look. It falls into the orange/blue scheme that I’ve been using for much of the comic, though I’ve gone for a brighter look than usual to emphasise an exaggerated personality; there are still sharp blues representing the mechanical element encroaching on humanity but the orange sweater dominates Sasaki’s design, emphasising warmth and energy of the character. The dyed hair again draws upon the fashion influences and generally punk vibe,  but on an aesthetic level seemed a good way to make her more distinct.

As is becoming increasingly common, I drew over the basic sketch digitally for linework and colour. I process which I’m finding beneficial in some ways and problematic in others. The advantages are the ability to easily scrub out and redraw mistakes until I’m completely happy, while the final result is a lot sharper and easier to colour than my hand drawn efforts. The downside is that it can take a long time to complete art this way as the zoom tool often causes me to obsess over miniscule, barely visible details I’d never worry about in a pencil and pen drawing. Plus, spending all that time in front of a monitor can be a recipe for a killer headache. I’m enjoying the experimentation but I don’t think I’ve nailed down the definitive method just yet.

At any rate, overall I’m much, much happier with Sasaki’s new concept and while I’m not sure it will mesh perfectly with my existing pseudo 1940′s style, it’s better than sticking to a constrictive and frankly boring uniformity. I regret not being able to create a thorough multi angled study as with the original design, but with the tradeoff in time being colour and higher quality drawing I can hardly complain – as an experiment it feels like it’s been a success and what’s important now is getting back to the comic itself and applying the influence on a wider scale.

Do My Cables Look Big in This?: Cyberfashion

When I met with the college’s lead fashion tutor last week for advice on character design and clothing, you may recall there was a degree of disagreement. Nevertheless, while I might have been at odds with some suggestions on reflection I found that many of the criticisms rang true. As is often the case with the project I’ve been completely sucked into certain areas while I’ve neglected others – fashion being one of them.

Conveniently and somewhat kindly, Lucy Markham – a fellow MA student – offered to meet up and provide another fashion perspective on my project. Doing so yesterday she threw a number of interesting research ideas my way, but most pertinently she highlighted an obvious area I’ve completely overlooked; besides being a genre, cyberpunk is also a subculture fashion.

To date I’ve been drawing most of my clothing concepts from the early 1940′s in order to connect with genre roots in film noir and detective fiction of the era, which was certainly a better move than falling back on SF clichés. Still, what’s becoming strongly apparent as I progress is the need for variety and range in the character’s appearances; not everyone can wear a suit, tie, trench coat or gown. In order to create a genuinely immersive environment I need to draw upon a broader set of influences.

Having been lead to a number of specialist websites in ‘cyber’ clothing (thanks Lucy!) I’ve spent the last day or so exploring what the internet has to offer, being the most immediate and up to date source for this kind of niche. Indeed, there’s a bigger market for this kind of stuff than I knew, but before I go into the examples which I found useful its important to explain a couple of issues regarding the ones I didn’t.

First of all: cybergoths.

No offence to them or anything. In fiction gothic can work marvelously with more traditional cyberpunk stylings – the work of Tsutomu Nihei being one of the best examples I can think of – still I struggle to find relevance for it in my own project. I’ve tried to remain careful of tone and consistency in Branch’s design and frankly the romanticized nature of gothic influences seems a poor fit for the kind of cynical used future I have in mind. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of inadvertent gothic touches – one scene near the end of the script comes to mind – but I doubt it will ever become a major influence.

Additionally, while it’s uncommon I noticed a few instances of steampunk and cyberpunk being mixed up or similarly combined. Again, a heavily romanticized genre which elaborates on historical possibilities rather than future ones. Again, largely irrelevant to my own work.

My second set of disregarded sources present a larger problem with cyberfashion: genre awareness.

As illustrated by the lady above cyberfashion often plays on cyberpunk themes and iconography, integrating circuitry, parts of machinery and a typically industrial vibe. In reality I find this to be pretty cool, but in a fictional context it becomes more problematic.

The issue is motive. As a real life fashion people adopt the look in order to be idiosyncratic and possibly to reflect adoration of the cyberpunk genre, whereas within cyberpunk fiction a character’s dress will typically reflect the world they live in lacking the self-awareness the former has. To put it another way: in Branch, would characters bother with superfluous circuit patterning and nods to fictional cyborgs when they are already cyborgs themselves? In the end the result would be a broken fourth wall and a loss of immersion.

Excluding these subcategories what I’m left with is a more muted collection of what might be called industrial punk. Suddenly integrating such a thing with 1940′s influences might normally seem like an impulsive move, but looking over my backlog I realized that hints of it may inadvertently already be present. Perhaps it’s from the 80′s/early 90′s SF influence Lynn criticised but touches of punk do permeate the more restrained noir era clothing. Heck, the security guard who appears on pages 9 to 11 was at least partially inspired by a cyborg henchman from Tetsuo II:

Other things like Curt’s decidedly punkish hairstyle arose incidentally from random design ideas and character quirks, still, all the more reason to directly acknowledge the references and research them properly. So without further ado let’s look at some of the research examples that did work for me and talk about why they work:

The trousers pictured above – the first two taken from Bizzare.nl, the last from crisiswear.com – appealed to me thanks to restraint in design compared with most others (e.g. no ridiculous chains, no manskirt, no tribal script down the side etc). Yes there’s still a fair amount of goth exaggeration to the boots, but otherwise things are nice and simple. They have a hard-wearing look probably taken from worker’s gear and while the straps and rivets are fairly redundant they have aesthetic appeal without being over the top. The tool holster on the last image is also a neat addition, further emphasising a sense of functionality with a sort of engineering/technical edge.

Again taken from crisiswear and again striking for its simplicity, I like this cowl because it’s not too over the top. It’s undeniably decorative rather than functional but projects a sense of functionality through inclusion of facets from working clothes; again straps and rivets (beginning to see a pattern here?). It looks like it was made for a practical purpose, even if it’s not.

This aviator’s jacket from cryoflesh.com isn’t too different in most respects from its everday counterpart, however the ‘V’ which wraps over makes a bold visual statement without obliterating the garments basis. I also can’t help thinking this may have been influenced by the folding design of Japanese kimonos which brings me to my last example and closing thoughts.

I selected the above ‘spiral out’  here from NerveDamage because it shows a very different side to cyberfashion. Unlike the previous three examples this outfit eschews muted blacks and dark blues and adopts eye searing neon. It’s flamboyant rather than functional, being purely aesthetic. More than anything though these colours, the general design and hairstyle all remind me of the wilder designs for characters in Japanese manga and anime.

Following this line of thought I’ve decided to redesign my character Sasaki with more of a cyberfashion slant. This is partially to provide a sort of prototype to try applying these influences to, while unlike much of my cast she hasn’t been shown in the comic yet giving me freedom to tinker. However, the main reason is that in retrospect she strikes me as a missed opportunity; as a play on Japan’s otaku it seems a shame not to capitalise on the parallels between cyberfashion’s manga/anime influenced designs and the characters ethnicity/basis. Putting aside dysfunctional characteristics she’s also one of the cast’s only truly upbeat personalities whereas the current design conversely seems drab and uninspired. Much of my character design has been relatively formal and muted but if there’s appropriate subject for something a little wilder, it’s Sasaki.

I can’t say how successful this new design direction will be, but hopefully by experimenting on a small-scale first I can get a sense of how well it  meshes with my existing universe and be able to apply it with greater confidence to the wider setting.

Font Overhaul Finished

This really should have been finished last week but as usual I was far too optimistic about my schedule.  Anyhow, I’ve applied the new font to all my old pages while taking greater consideration of the medium’s rules in this area; it’s certainly subtler this way and presents more variation thanks to the increased emphasis on bold/italic type:

I’ve updated everything on The Duck and ComicFury accordingly and have temporarily replaced the pages under my ‘Read it!’ page. Still, what I really need to be doing is getting onto ComicPress and setting up a more accessible archive there. It remains to be seen how well that will go as I’ve never used the site before but I’ll definitely give it a try before the end of the week.

Page 15

I’m a little short on time here so I’m afraid this will have to be more succinct than usual.

The linework/ink for this page was applied digitally working over my pencil sketch as a basis, which was in turn based upon a photo I took of myself for reference (naturally with gender adjusted accordingly). I typically favour hand drawing my pages with only colour, text and arrangement being done in photo-paint afterwards but in this case I’m actually glad I deviated; I ended up redrawing Scratch’s pose repeatedly before getting it to a satisfactory standard. I’m not sure the perspective is implemented as effectively as it could have been, but the pose at least seems striking and believable.

Though I don’t tend to trust my own opinion it at least feels like one of the better pages I’ve made. Having a single larger panel allowed me to be a little more indulgent than usual, focusing on getting one image right rather than rushing through several – I doubt I’ll be doing many pages like this but it shows that with more time and care I can do better…

Fashion vs Comics

Praise and affirmation, I’m sure most would agree are typically good things. They encourage us to persevere, remind us our efforts are worthwhile and give you that lovely little warm feeling inside. When someone’s worked hard on something, a pat on the back is only fair. A firm challenge or criticism however I would argue is important in its own right, we’re all only human and we all make mistakes or bad calls. When teetering on the edge of the ‘I can do no wrong!’ chasm, sometimes its really for the better that someone steps in, pulls the subject’s head out of their rear and tells them “wrong“.

Having met with the college’s fashion leader Lynn Benson today for advice on my characters’ dress and the general style of clothing in Branch I found myself at odds with many of her criticisms, but none of them were senseless or unfounded. I know a fair bit about comics but I’m just about as unfashionable as they come. So it is that while there was a great deal of disagreement in this meeting, I feel it was valuable in the sense that it provided a perspective I wouldn’t have considered and in disagreeing it made me give more thought to why certain design decisions should be defended in the first place.

Possibly the most severe criticism she gave was that besides the influence of film noir and early 1940′s fashion, I appeared to be inadvertently drawing upon clothing and hairstyles of 1980′s aswell. Considering many of my SF influences I can’t really deny this, but is it an inherently a bad thing?

The 1980′s gave us Blade Runner, The Terminator, Tetsuo the Iron Man, Aliens, Robocop and Akira in films. Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Ghost in the Shell, Arkham Asylum and Sandman in comics. Most pertinently of all though it’s the birth decade of cyberpunk in the form of Gibson’s Neuromancer.

Maybe the era’s style isn’t trendy by modern measure – and there will never be an excuse for all those mullets – but it’s where you’ll find the roots of my inspiration. Lynn’s side of the argument was that I wasn’t being relevant and failing the push things into ‘the 21st century’, but then again Branch is set in unspecified era in a fairly obviously constructed style. I can’t guess what the future will look like and I won’t pretend to; sci-fi creations will always be interpretations with their strengths and weaknesses arising from how they resonate with the story and themes. Trying to forcibly hitch onto what’s hot when they’re made just ensures that a decade down the line they appear outdated and silly.

There were other issues raised over practicality aswell which struck me as quite comic specific. She mentioned that Scratch’s hairstyle was unrealistic for an unfrivolous character, being unlikely to hold in position without serious work. Were I making something in film there’d be no denying this point but in my defence I offer the following example:

Let’s consider the character of Wolverine; he’s a grumpy, unsentimental and often bloodthirsty anti-hero. Not someone you’d expect to spend hours in front of the mirror each morning messing with his bonce. But do you seriously know anyone whose hair naturally grows out like that? 

I’m not trying to say comics can freely defy credibility as they like (although they often do) but there is a great deal more flexibility in their aesthetics than many other mediums, flexibility it’s only natural to take advantage of when you play to its strengths. Scratch’s hairstyle might not be especially realistic but then again the style itself is someway off from realism anyway. Would it really make the comic any better if I gave her a crew cut, sweat marks and pimples? Do I need to give every character crooked teeth and nostril hair in order to make the story immersive?

Lest I seem like too great a hypocrite I’ll say here and now that there are certainly problems in my designs, particularly my background cast and general sense of consistency. At the same time it seems like me and Lynn are on very different wavelengths. She’s not wrong by any means, but her approach to the matter of SF fashion and style is almost directly opposed to my own. I’m more concerned with how the look of a character reflects their personality and habits, whereas her interests were focused upon reflecting larger trends and aspects of a society. As I heard Ted Polhemus put it a while ago during a talk, fashion is “dictated” whereas style is something created more personally by individuals and small groups. Considering that my cast is largely quite an alienated and dysfunctional bunch, it seems contrary to their character and indeed, the spirit of the entire comic to pursue such a rigid notion of fashion and what’s ‘in’.

Anyhow to end on a positive note and avoid sounding like too much of arrogant sod I will say there were some useful points made which I do intend to pursue when time allows. Among them Lynn suggested several key recommendations including less obvious examples of 1940′s suits and specific designers, while also encouraging me to try magazines for ideas on haircuts and look around charity shops for inspiration regarding ‘make do’ clothing. I may not be able to go back and redraw my central cast at this point, but with a crowded station around them there are plenty of others chances to experiment.

Disagreement then but not demotivational. A healthy challenge helps enforce a healthy creative process and I’m all for that.