Q&A - Inspiration (Patreon)

One of the things I wanted to discuss before moving on is character inspiration. Some characters had pretty direct inspirations, other came from more of a vague space. I think it's kind of interesting to see where these characters manifest out of. 

Let's start off with Gwen (Ken). Gwen probably has the most diverse set of reference points. 

Ken has a core of myself inside of him. I attend a lot of comic book conventions as a writer and artist. I'm trans. I've had the thoughts/fantasy of "what if I woke up as a woman while I on the road". I don't really look like Ken. His design was a bit more of thinking about a more masculine form that would be a good starting point. 

Gwen's cosplay side actually comes from me as well. When I started attending comic cons, I cosplayed, and cosplayed as a woman. I don't cosplay as much now, but I still do at my table from time to time. I really like costumes and dressing up. I used to freelance for a costume shop for over a decade. So it's a big part of me as well. 

Gwen's new life and look comes a bit more from a variety of sources. There are a bunch of cosplayers I follow. I tend to gravitate to the ones that build (at least some of) their own costumes and props. Her look originally came out of a vague space where this was the form that grew out of Ken's base form. But when working with Sturkwurk, I need to give a reference point. My best facial reference for Gwen has become Ana Taylor-Joy from the Queen's Gambit. For her body, I tended to look to Bebe Rexha who has the more exaggerated curves that matched the ones Gwen ended up with. 

Other characters are a bit simpler in their sources. 

Kayla personality-wise is based out of a slew of amazing and supportive friends who like to encourage the femme side of myself. Appearance-wise, I leaned into my fondness of 50's and Rockabetty styles. Very specifically, I based her off of Sara Bareilles from this music video. https://youtu.be/OUe3oVlxLSA

Print-Wall Steve, yeah.....this is based off someone or several someones I've met over the years. Some of them are super nice and very charismatic. I don't dislike any of them, but I have issues with making a living from selling artwork of other people's characters. It's a dangerous area I've flirted with as well. I basically worked on picking a look that didn't really match anyone I knew in that area. 

Stacy is a mix of friends I know that have gone off to have great fame and success and some of the top cosplayers that have seen having that cross over and building their life their cosplay. Yaya Han comes to mind at the pinnacle of that success. Appearance-wise, Stacy ended up being based off a movie you-tuber I like to watch/listen to. I wasn't really intentional. Her look kinda wormed into my head.