Third Rail Design Lab Pin-Ups

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 41: Crash [TRDL Commission]
This is another superhero commission for one of my longtime clients, set in the same universe as Aero, Arcangel, and others you’ve seen. Crash is a buxom young, vibrant adventurer with giant mecha arms. The intent was to give her normal clothes, but an adventuring, utilitarian edge, along with some skin to reflect her youthful flirtatiousness. Cute but can smash things.
The process notes and step by step looks at the work below…
http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...s-no-41-crash/

[thirdraildesignlab]

Third Rail Thrills No. 61 - Sue Storm [The Future Foundation]
TRDL 2011 Series, No. 42

This was done for the TRDL R3 Jam on the R3 Forum and DeviantArt Group, the subject being: Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman.

Sue Storm is sort of like Janet Van Dyne... you could draw her 33 times and never duplicate the effort, given the number of her costume changes and styles over the years. But given the recent events in the pages of the Fantastic Four, I was excited to draw the new Future Foundation uniform. It's right up my alley, which is to say boring for most people, but I thought it was pretty futuristic and sophisticated. I used a pose reference from the Burlesque legend Dita Van Teese, which wasn't unpleasant, either.
You can read more about the process on this pic after the jump...
http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...re-foundation/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 43: Rand + Lucas [Power Man and Iron Fist TRDL Redesign]

This piece was done for a pir of jams on the R-R-Redesign Weekly group on dA. Power Man and Iron First were separate redesign challenges and I did them together. I've re-envisioned them as an ass-kicking pair of super-powered women, working their way through the US and taking down hate groups. I drew inspiration from Power Man's early fight-the-power thing, and you'll see several nods, in both color and design detail, to the original characters, but in a new way. Lucas wears two torn-down Klan flags off her waist as trophies, and Rand has her tattoo as a half-sleeve on the arm that delivers the chi strike.

More here:
http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...trdl-redesign/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 35 - Iron Man vs. Carnage


UPDATE: Voting is live now:
http://outcaststudios.com/forums/ind...nds-round-two/

Two foes meet spontaneously for the first time. Tony Stark , faced with an ambush by a vicious, blood-curdling alien symbiote, armors up and defends himself in battle with repulsor attacks, chestbeam bombardments and body blows, to no effect. Experiments with deconstructive interference sonic weaponry appear to weaken the beast, but soon the symbiote's nasty tentacle ooze began to wind it's way into the armor joints in increasingly finer grain threaded probes. Recognizing the danger,, Iron Man quickly wrestles the creature to the ground and tears it's head off in an unfortunately necessary final gambit. Unable to regenerate the loss of the brain of it's host, Carnage is rendered helpless as storage tanks nearby burst into flame, damaged int he melee, burning the creature into oblivion.

This piece was done for an epic Art Battle at Outcast Studios, a Battle Royale competition featuring 32 artists. Round 01, 16 pairings, with the winners moving on to the next round, and so on. The battles are judged on both concept and execution. My character for the series: Iron Man [Current Resilient Armor]. My Round 02 foe: Carnage, a Spider-Man villain.

As with the last round, the question will I'm sure come up: Iron Man using lethal force. I suppose you can gloss over that and say he, you know, just REALLY messed Carnage up, but let's be realistic. Carnage can regenerate, is immune to most forms of damage, is sadistically evil and violent, and will certainly kill Stark if given the chance. I looked at it this way: Stark will have seen that body blows and other forms of damage regenerate and don't stop the creature, AND will have detected that the thing will be learning and evolving it's attacks as it tries to penetrate his armor. So, ripping it's head off being a killing blow isn't an obvious thing, as many nearly-invulnerable polymorphs and undead creatures alike are slowed, but not outright killed, by beheading or major limb loss. In Carnage's case, the symbiote can't regenerate major trauma init's host. Stark would have no way of knowing there was a human inside of this creature. And anyway, that human is a serial killer. So, to hell with it. And him. Carnage is susceptible to sonic attacks, but less so than Venom, but it's very vulnerable to fire. However, none of the Iron man armors, at least in comics canon, have incendiary weapons. So, I went with brute force. i wanted to show the decapitation, but also that Carnage as symbiote was fully integrated into the wearer's physiology, beyond just being a skin. This meant foregoing much blood (other than some specks on the thighs/hips of the armor at the point of the attack) and stringing long strands of symbiote between the head and the shoulders. Ick.

This is Round 02. 16 artists have been eliminated, we're down to 8 pairings.

You can read more about the process on this pic after the jump...
http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...an-vs-carnage/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 47 – Hector Hammond [TRDL Redesign]

This piece was done for the Hector Hammond redesign challenge o the R-R-RedesignWeekly group on dA.

My concept: Hector Hammond, who in mainstream Green Lantern books suffered a severe brain mutation and disfigurement, in my version the effects of the mutation continue to grow and grow such that he can no longer support the weight of his cranium. However, his psychotelekinetic abilities grew proportionately and he was ultimately able to defeat Hal Jordan. He crafted an exoskeleton to carry his body, now useless and atrophied, tucked under it, and fused Jordan’s confiscated ring into the front of the machine like a cruel masthead. Realizing his twisted fantasy, he wears Jordan’s tattered Green Lantern uniform as well. Note: Hammond, not being trained in the use of a ring, doesn’t understand that he could heal himself or correct his physical damage through ring manifestation, so he utilizes this battle carapace, somewhat oblivious of the irony.



http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...trdl-redesign/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series No. 49 – Iron Man [Bleeding Edge Armor]
OK, the armor I dreaded drawing the most. It’s the most complex, it’s the most arbitrary, and it’s the least well documented, as each artist who has attempted it has come to different conclusions about what goes where. I actually drew this some weeks ago, as a warm-up / design study prior to the Battle Royale I’m now underway in over at Outcast. Anyway, take a look and feel my pain, and hopefully, enjoy it!
The process notes and step by step looks at the work below…
http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...ng-edge-armor/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 50 – Baroness [G.I. Joe]

This piece was done for a pin-up challenge on Outcast’s ‘Lou’s Tavern’ series of competitions. I worked from a piece I originally created about 4 or 5 years ago, as an option for the 80′s Ladies Calendar series I was doing at the time. For the finished piece, I cleaned it up, uh, dressed her, and put together a propaganda poster for Memorial Day…

The original pencils involved some leather strips binding her wrists to the tops of her leather Baroness-style garter/boots… I don’t know… anyway, I decided making an ad for ‘Cobra Love Bindings’ seemed to make sense, and gave her the key, so. I just like her face!

Click through to read more about it and see process pics and the like, if you enjoy such behind-the-scenes business.
http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...50-baroness-4/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 51 – Fairchild [TRDL Redesign]
This piece was done for the Green Jam on the TRDL R3 Forum. I went with Caitlin Fairchild, the leader of Gen-13, mild mannered innocent teenager until a secret formula forced upon her by government stooges made her tall, strong, and invulnerable. Here, she’s participating in a Public Safety Announcement wearing a TRDL Redesigned uniform. How about that.

http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...-51-fairchild/

[thirdraildesignlab]

Here's my interpretation of Atomic Robo...



http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...2-atomic-robo/

[thirdraildesignlab]

Here's my interpretation of Atomic Robo...



http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...2-atomic-robo/

[thirdraildesignlab]

This was for the ongoing Battle Royale competition on Outcast... Round 03! Down to 8 from 32

http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...-vs-daredevil/

[thirdraildesignlab]

This was done for the Superman Redesign Jam on my TRDLR3 Forum, and associated dA group: a response to the DC Universe reboot happening.

I do redesigns one of two ways: a mainstream facelift that retains brand recognition, or a wholesale re-imagining of the character. This was done as the former, as if I was asked to do the facelift for WB and had to keep the brand identity intact, but deviate enough to make it fresh. Many of us on my forum had opinions on the redesigns released so far, many of them less complimentary than otherwise, and especially of Perez' cover for Superman with that new look. My approach was to see how I could make the iconic look interesting to me, fresh enough, but still retail trademark and copyright controls for the client. It's the hardest kind of redesign: iconic, a facelift, and frankly, I've never ever drawn Superman well. Additionally, I chose to draw Superman younger for a new generation of readers, rather than the older, elder SUperman I prefer.

My notes on the design are here, read on if interested:
http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...trdl-redesign/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 55 - Uncanny X-Men #173 Homage [TRDL Redesign]

This piece was done for the Comic Cover Homage Jam on the TRDL R3 Forum.

For me, though I had been drawing superheroes and all manner of beast and bot since about age 3, it was Uncanny X-Men #173 that really got me going. Wolvie and Rogue, tense partners and former foes, on the run to face SIlver Samurai in Japan, while the rest of the X-Men lie dying, poisoned in a nearby hospital. Paul Smith! I did not do his work justice, but I made this a TRDL Redesign: Wolverine's costume is leaner and tighter and more leathery/buckled with colors reflecting an arctic wolverine (dark brown/black fur with a halo of whiter fur on the belly and brow) and my Rogue is more confident and aggressive, with a bit of exposed flesh, and button-snap removable gloves. Oh, and while it's nowhere near as fun to see, I draw my Wolverine with claws IN, unless actually in combat. Just watch Hugh Jackman in those films with his wobbly, awkward claws out while running. He can extend them so fast, no need to have your agility and hand articulation hampered prematurely, I say.

http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...en-173-homage/

[thirdraildesignlab]

Also, I did a redesign of the Battle of the Planets / Gatchaman / G-Force uniform. This was done as a pretty wholesale redesign, though not as open as some where i just take the description and go from completely blank slate... this was imagined to be a refresh for a new audience, with a few nods to the past. In this scenario, the G-Force crew, which I described in my redesign parameters as 'bird-themed warriors with unusual weapons and personal vehicles', are a motorcycle crew. So I have used leathers and a motorcycle helmet incorporated into the design, and the weapons are particularly effective from the seat, such as a grappling hook and a blade cane. The colors of Jason here evoke the original character's maroon and blue design, and the logo on the breast evokes the Phoenix, the ship they used in the original, but in i't s fiery state of turbo whatever.

http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...rom-gatchaman/

[thirdraildesignlab]

TRDL 2011 Series, No. 57 - Iron Man vs. Wasp

Iron Man vs. Wasp, done for the Outcast Studios Battle Royale Round 04 semi-finals...

http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/bl...n-man-vs-wasp/