Creating Chaos: Designing Dark and Dystopian Villains

Designing Villains: Exploring Futuristic Aesthetics in Sketches

Here are some villain’s head designs from my sketchbook. I’ve got an idea for some mid-level bad guys for my upcoming comic project. Sketching these initial heads is helping me flesh out those ideas.

The comic will take place in a Goth Cyberpunk setting. So I am trying to come up with characters that look futuristic and dark. These sketches lean toward cybernetics, space helmets, and gas masks.

Creating Cool New Characters for The REPLICANTS Project

I’ve been participating in a fun collaboration with some great comic artists in The REPLICANTS Project.

What we are doing is creating our own characters based on existing characters. Similar to how Marvel Comics Squadron Supreme was based on DC Comics Justice League, and how the Watchmen characters were based on the Charlton characters. We’ve mashed up half the 70s X-men and half the Justice League into a Heroes and Villains team.

The idea came from Dean Rivet who set up a blog on Posterous. The blog’s name is The REPLICANTS Project. We create the character inspired by that week’s chosen character. We design original costumes, character names, and back story. We then email the post to a Posterous email and PazoOoW it appears on the blog.

I’ll be posting the process I’m using to create my characters; from pencil drawing and inking to the final coloring in upcoming blog posts. Here’s a list of the characters that we are using as inspirations for The REPLICANTS Project.

Creating Cool New Characters for The REPLICANTS Project

The Heroes

Wonder Woman, Thunderbird, Sunfire, Storm, Nightcrawler, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman

The Villains

Wolverine, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Cyclops, Colossus, Banshee, Atom

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.