Kris Smith Sketches

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:47 am

I thought I'd share some of the sketches Kris has been doing for me, before he finalizes the art on the newest batch of commissions. These are all for characters that will be featured in my planned villain book for various systems.

Up first is a man in power armor. I haven't given the character a name yet, but I am sure something will hit me eventually. Suggestions on a name are welcome too

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:50 am

Next we have Anguila Negro (Black Eel), an aquatic villain from Mexico who works for one of the drug cartels.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:54 am

The next one is a concept for armor worn by two villains called Black & Blue. They are two sisters who have special powers, but also have armored suits they acquired for protection...

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:58 am

This is for Scarlet Spectre. Her guns are actually a manifestation of her powers, and not actual guns. I sent Kris the cover for an old Image comic for inspiration for the guns. I actually told him they should be about half the size in the sketch, so those will change in the finished piece.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 1:05 am

This last piece isn't a villain. It was a back burnered concept sketch for a modern version of the Golden Age Wonder Man (whose image is in my other thread of completed pieces Kris did for me). The great grandson of the original Wonder Man finds the magic ring of the yogi, makes a new costume, and takes on the mantle of Wonder Man in the modern day. Keeping some retro to the costume, I had Kris give him a cape in the vein of the Golden Age Green Lantern, thus giving his appearance more akin to character the original WM was ripping off, Superman.

This version would be more in line with Captain Marvel, in that he could fly instead of leaping great distances. Maybe one day I'll have him finish the image for me.

That's all for now. I'll post more as I get them. Kris has 4 more concepts to work on currently, which leaves 3 more I need to send him to round out the dozen villains in the book.

MrJupiter · Post by **MrJupiter** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 1:20 am

Very cool stuff. I really like the Scarlet Spectre image. Neat idea having the 'guns' being a power manifestation.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 7:52 am

thanks Mr. Jupiter. I like Spectre is the best of the bunch myself. Of course, some of the sketches aren't what the final poses will be (like Black & Blue, as each has a different pose).

I just thought it might be cool to share some of the initial concept sketches, so people can see some of the ideas that will go into the finished product

Samuraidad · Post by **Samuraidad** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:10 pm

Scarlet Spectre, with her phantasmal guns, is my favorite also. Though I do like the other sketches. Black Eel is cool looking (I'm a sucker for aquatic characters. But back to Spectre, She reminds me of Ghost from the 90's Dark Horse series (a character that I really enjoyed).

Would you mind sharing her finished image (when it's done) with her stats? I would love to find a way to use her in a future game session. Well, she and Eel both.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:55 pm

Samuraidad wrote:Scarlet Spectre, with her phantasmal guns, is my favorite also. Though I do like the other sketches. Black Eel is cool looking (I'm a sucker for aquatic characters. But back to Spectre, She reminds me of Ghost from the 90's Dark Horse series (a character that I really enjoyed).

I remember Ghost. For the costume, I took inspiration from both Crimson Cowl (an enemy of the Thunderbolts) and Moon Knight. Her powers were inspired by a friend's Feng Shui character. He had been a vigilante who was killed and came back as a ghost. However, he believed he was a still alive, so when he wanted to use his blast power, he had to act like he was drawing and firing a pistol. So a ghostly magnum would appear in his hand, and the blast was a phantom bullet. I figured the basic concept would make a good villain, and she's a legacy villain too, as she's the great grand daughter of The Avenging Ghost, a mobster who had the same powers, and pretended to be a hero in order to take over the mob families in his city.

Samuraidad wrote: Would you mind sharing her finished image (when it's done) with her stats? I would love to find a way to use her in a future game session. Well, she and Eel both.

Well, these are for my first release by my company, so I won't be releasing the stats. I might put up some images though once their done. I just figured posting the sketches would whet people's appetite for the book as it's being worked on

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 5:51 am

I like the art a lot! Good luck with your future prep work on publishing - it's an annoying collection of little things to do once the primary writing is done.

It's funny: my book too has a character who was inspired by Ghost. We were considering changing her costume design and then said, "Nah, nobody's gonna remember that comic anyway." Oops.

Samuraidad · Post by **Samuraidad** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:34 am

Urbwar, cool beans, I'll buy a copy of your book when it comes out.

Drkrash, you'd be surprised who remembers Ghost. Obviously we did. She's worthy of being imitated.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:47 am

urbwar wrote: I remember Ghost. For the costume, I took inspiration from both Crimson Cowl (an enemy of the Thunderbolts) and Moon Knight. Her powers were inspired by a friend's Feng Shui character. He had been a vigilante who was killed and came back as a ghost. However, he believed he was a still alive, so when he wanted to use his blast power, he had to act like he was drawing and firing a pistol. So a ghostly magnum would appear in his hand, and the blast was a phantom bullet. I figured the basic concept would make a good villain, and she's a legacy villain too, as she's the great grand daughter of The Avenging Ghost, a mobster who had the same powers, and pretended to be a hero in order to take over the mob families in his city.

Heh. Funny how certain ideas become memes. I had a very similar character inspired by HK movies for a gritty supers game. A renegade cop, a la Hard Boiled, was gunned down, but his thirst for justice was so strong his ghost lingered on, attached to the two pistols he'd carried in life. His "sidekick" was a live cop who'd ended up with the firearms. In battle, the ghost would summon phantasmal replicas of his guns and shoot spectral bullets at his enemies. Sort of "Ghost and Ms. Muir" meets "Lethal Weapon".

Your effort has been successful. I'm in for a copy when the book comes out.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:42 am

drkrash wrote:I like the art a lot! Good luck with your future prep work on publishing - it's an annoying collection of little things to do once the primary writing is done.

Glad you like drkrash! I'm taking my time with this project, since I want to release it for multiple game systems. I've done most of the stats in 2 systems so far, then plan on doing the rest as inspiration strikes me. I've got the basics of their backgrounds worked out, but need to put them down on paper. Figured the art would give me that final nudge to do so

drkrash wrote: It's funny: my book too has a character who was inspired by Ghost. We were considering changing her costume design and then said, "Nah, nobody's gonna remember that comic anyway." Oops.

heh! I didn't really read those comics, but I did read about her online. And iirc, wasn't there a character in the Wild Cards novels who was also called Ghost? I have vague memories of reading about the comics Ghost and thinking she was lifted from Wild Cards.....

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:44 am

Samuraidad wrote:Urbwar, cool beans, I'll buy a copy of your book when it comes out.

Cool beans. I have plans for 2 releases so far, with tentative plans for 2 more. One of those is going to feature that villain of yours, Post Haste, so if/when it does, I owe you a comp copy

I think this one should prove to be interesting. I think I've put together a nice mixture of characters. Dunno if they're all as good as the ones AslanC put out, but I think there will be something for everyone in it

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:50 am

Nestor wrote: Heh. Funny how certain ideas become memes. I had a very similar character inspired by HK movies for a gritty supers game. A renegade cop, a la Hard Boiled, was gunned down, but his thirst for justice was so strong his ghost lingered on, attached to the two pistols he'd carried in life. His "sidekick" was a live cop who'd ended up with the firearms. In battle, the ghost would summon phantasmal replicas of his guns and shoot spectral bullets at his enemies. Sort of "Ghost and Ms. Muir" meets "Lethal Weapon".

I do remember someone else had a Feng Shui game where a player was a cop, and his partner was a ghost who haunted him cause the player had gotten him killed. It's funny how such good ideas flow through different genres.

Nestor wrote: Your effort has been successful. I'm in for a copy when the book comes out.

That's cool. I can't wait to get some more sketches to post now. I have a 3 member villain team and a solo villain that Kris needs to do. After that, I'll have to see which villains I want to include (I have a lot of old ones I want to bring back that I hope people will still find interesting)