Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), Quintessential OUT-LAW-MAN

No need for introduction for this one. His life, name and exploits were used and referenced in countless movies, comic books, books, etc...

I will  eventually write something about the so called "Lawmen" of the Wild west era, probably when I have a bunch more of them drawn.
But Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp had to be the first one.

Tall (6'3''), dark dressed (mid-1860s puritan rage in fashion probably), he started as a pimp and a hustler (even made fake money), then Shotgun on a stage coach for the Wells Fargo, which really took guts at that time (since you made the only obviously worthy target of each robbery attempt), then ganged up with the fastest, sometimes meanest draws  in the west, into various outfits employed for security, extortion (one of the key concept for understanding 19th century american economics), etc...

Even a stint in Deadwood that did not last and THEN, Wichita, and THEN Tombstone and the O.K. Corral gunfight that made him famous.  

He is always represented as the untouchable "straight-as-an-arrow"grim cop with the unbelievable luck in one hand and the strength of righteousness in the other.

Truth is he was lucky to always be on the good side of the law when guns were drawn to be remembered.
He tried to downgrade the good image people built upon his and his fellow lawful vigilantes and felt quite remorseful of not being able to help portray a more nuanced wild west (he was more than a consultant  on the first "western" ever made, "the great train Robbery"  in 1903).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp

Calamity Jane (1852-1903), Wanderer Extraordinary

What historians call a "Frontierswoman", she's best portrayed in the late HBO's Deadwood TV series, played by actress Robin Weigert.

Most of the other uses of Jane's references are very exaggerated and excentric whichever media is concerned. 
Hollywood's previous musical pseudo adaptation of her life and exploits (1953) or her tough/boyish depiction in the "Lucky Luke" franco-belgian western spoof comic books are too far from, we can only guess the complexity and nuances of her character in such a context as was hers, the 1860s american wild frontier, where most other girls were to be wives or whores, and the standards of mediamaking of those days might not have allowed her not to be a funny character. 

Emigrating West in 1865, she goes from hustling men for to learning to hunt and scout with them. She becomes a fine shot and starts scouting for the US Army. 
Upon saving her captain's life, she gets nicknamed "Calamity Jane". 

She was friends (in love) with Wild Bill Hicock, helped people escape bouts with natives, became a rancher, twice, had a daughter, worked on and on for a big well doing local Madame, worked a stint for Buffalo Bill's touring circus of the West, while drinking heavily all along which led to her death in a hut by a railway where she was eventually found. 

Tragic character, essential figure of  the Wild West era, who deserves her part in this little gallery.

There are others but ladies first so I tried to represent her during her transition between that dark eyed pretty kid and the stocky firm stone face woman she eventually became.    


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamity_Jane

Hattori Hanzo (1542-1596), Head of the Iga suppa

One of the most famous so called "Ninja", we should say "Shinobi", Hanzo can be found in movies, comic books and video games all over.

I thought it interesting to try to get away from these extravagant gothic designs with a version closer to Goseki Kojima's in "The Path of the Assassin" (a must read by the duo who created Lone Wolf and Cub, rendering the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu as a teenager helped by his faithful retainer, Hanzo the best of Iga).
However, the manga stops as Ieyasu attains a position of major warlord ready for the next political struggle, so that Hanzo is rather young looking the whole story.

He supposedly died in blaze of fire as his boats were lured in against Fuma Kotaro's and trapped in the middle of the river where they had been fighting.

Although, there has been at least 3 more Hanzos in the Hattori Clan that wore that name, we are here talking about the most famous one of them all. At his death, his men became officially some kind of pretorian elite guard  for the Japanese governement and the shogun whose family thereafter ruled for 300 years.

I shall join others sketches and pieces that I did on him as well, such as his 14 feet spear (yari) which he used in battle or his final stand against Fuma.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattori_Hanzo

SteamPunk Super Hero

In participation for ArtOutbreak Character design Showdown N­o 2.
http://www.artoutbreak.com/

The concept, a SteamPunk SuperHero.
The motive, the sup you always wanted to read about.

So this guy eventually came up in a 19th century european Megalopolis context where Steam tech and its corollary the coal extraction business is the cornerstone of an industrial revolution inspired society.

Here the abdomen, our natural organic furnace, is replaced by a mechanical one running on Coal.
People would have no need for lunch breaks or even breaks at all in this competitive cybersteam environment. Which would lead to singular possibilities of storytelling: A death by hunger would not take weeks but the time to flip the switch, or something evoking the few puffs from a car's engine preceding its definite stop until further refueling. And yes, in this case, you wouldn't be able to just flip the engine on again as a brain needs more than mere energy, etc...

I liked to draw this character also as it made me rethink other generic steampunk characters who usually get a furnace on their backs or in their chest (with the respiratory system!!!) as in most Steampunk Fiction.

Colours by Marisa Smit. 

Typo Vanilla Whale by http://typodermicfonts.com/

Tribute to GTA: Toni C.

Some linework with basic ink, values and color quick render. 

Rockstar videogames have amazing Character design (writtten and visual materials and methods) that I find very inspiring. 

A hero/protagonist that has to behave so badly must lose some bolts on the path of his career. Here the developpers had visually translated Toni's crazy shticks, like wearing Bruce Lee Game of death costume (not represented here) for a swordfight based mission, the wiseguy costume out of Goodfellas or even the Lawyer one. Here is a quick selection amongst the outfits available that I found original or simply uncanny or witty.  

One of my favourite version of GTA III is LCS with its taxis (and hilarious overall soundtrack), the story, the type of missions, the improved gameplay which were great storytelling feats. 

Toni Cipriani, its outfits and  GTA are Rockstar copyrights reserved.

Medieval Heroes bunch linework

This is a comprehensive hero group, meaning one that reflects actual groups of players of Med Fan genre game in terms of composition, skills, equipment and races.

Paperback Cover on Gunslingers

Research for Heroes of Westerns Anthology Book or Magazine cover (2011).

It could be... Billy the Kid.

Childhood Hero n°3: Il Grande Blek

I first met "Blek Le Roc" on my dad's advice in those little comic books that LUG Editions (in France) used to publish with titles like Mustang, Tex Willer, Zembla, etc... 

Those B&W stories were mostly all european made but emphasized American Heroes at their best.

Amongst them all, Blek, designed for the italian studio Esse Gesse in 1954, was this Bretonnian American freedom fighter resisting the twisted Red Lobsters, read British Royalists, with punches and funny lines.

Thinking back on it, and with more historical sense into me, it seemed more appropriate to...

Break a few of his teeth. Nobody can punch for so long without taking one hisself!!

To situate the character a bit more precisely, his adventures take place between those of Nattie Bumpo (Last of the Mohicans) and Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson in The Patriot), 1750-1775.

Ghost Rider Tribute

A quick sketch and colours for a personal tribute. Interesting character, definitely american (Good/Evil, Faith/Sin, Business deals with Demons and so forth), certainly not deserving the recent cinematographic treatment that it got. 

Follow the character in the Ultimates line from Marvel for one of the character's best recent take. 

Ghost Rider is Marvel Copyrights.   

B.C Soccer League Players

A few sample of soccer players for the promotion art of http://www.7v7bc.com/