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The (Mostly) Complete History of Legend of the Gauntlet |
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Posted Mar 26, 2014 - 11:30:49
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So on Monday
I posted the newest revisions I've made to my "Legend of the Gauntlet" comic idea. I included a basic breakdown of the premise, and lamented that I didn't have time to actually work on it (due to my working on two other comics currently).
But I've been kicking this thing around for a while, and while the 2002 and 2011 revisions have appeared on this blog, I figured I'd share some of the inbetween materials that bridge that gap.
To start with, let's remind you what the 2002 artwork that started me off looked like:
This looks terrible.
You'll notice some significant differences between this design and what I posted Monday -- most notably how her mask goes higher than the goggles (which kind of doesn't make sense), and that she is only wearing one gauntlet instead of two. There are other differences as well, like how her sidearm's holster is completely different, and the design of the gauntlet itself is totally different.
I think I had every intention of following this up, but my life was complicated back in 2002. Lots of ideas got left by the wayside back then.
That, of course, didn't stop me from working on the concept from time to time. Digging through my old sketch books, I found the following - which I think date back to 2003:
In these versions, the mask was still a bit ridiculous, but I added a trenchcoat to mimic the movement of a cape. I added boots, and kept messing with the design of the (still single) gauntlet. I think I hadn't decided on the nature of the gauntlet yet -- beyond it being "alien" and providing a protective force field. Apparently it was going to have some sort of blade? I don't remember exactly what I was intending.
I apparently decided to not give her a torso in that sketch as well... which is a tad bit awkward.
In 2006 I was working on the manual for my Action Movie based table top RPG
Super Awesome Action Heroes. I had been contemplated doing a print version, so I threw together an image intended for the cover:
The costume remained similar to what I did before (and she has a torso again). Her boots from the previous version were switched to sneakers, the glove shorted, and the gauntlet itself was heavily revised.
And apparently it had a grappling hook in it now? Yeah. That didn't stay.
Anyhow, I put the character back on a shelf. Heck, for the most part, I stopped drawing altogether for a while. There was a pretty big gap in there where I just put my pencils and pens away and didn't draw a damn thing. Even after I started my webcomic
UnCONventional in December of 2009 I was still largely just drawing stick figures.
So in 2011, getting artistically antsy, I started doodling again. The Legend of the Gauntlet was as good a subject as any to practice with, so I trucked her out and did a massive revamp. First off, I fixed the mask so it made sense (coming up just over the nose now), changed the holster on her hip a bit and gave her a backpack. I also gave the character two gauntlets instead of just the one, as I think this is when I came up with the gravity superpowers. I ditched the trenchcoat... mostly because who wears trenchcoats like that any more? The chevron on her chest got lengthened up to her shoulders, and I switched her into (now more realistic) heavy boots.
I went for a cartoony look, but also did a
slightly more realistic drawing a few days later.
I chose not to pursue an ongoing series, as I decided to launch my
other comic at about the same time --
The Chronicles of Crosarth. I had two competing ideas in my brain, and only the time to do one of them.
So there it sat on a shelf until
I brushed it off again this weekend. The only major changes between the 2014 design and the 2011 design is the chevron going back to it's original size on the sweatshirt, as well as my giving the character a shorter, more muscular build.
And maybe one day she'll finally get her story.
- Traegorn
