A Behind the Scenes Look at Designing Spirit-Girl and A Video about Screen Tones; what they are how to use them.
First, thank you to the paid subscribers. Your support helps!
I’m going to discuss a bit about the process of designing Spirit-Girl and a bit lower you will find a video about screentones and how I used them.
Last year I took a course for comics writing that suggested casting one’s characters with real life actors. This provides a reference for the artist to use as inspiration. I thought this was a good idea so I decided to cast Chloe Grace Moretz as Spirit-Girl. Specifically it was these two images that expressed the energy I wanted to go for: life-loving, good-hearted joyfulness.
So I drew her a few times but next came the challenge of translating this to artwork and making it my own. So I studied artists who draw women in a way I feel is representative of the energy I want for Spirit-Girl.
Bruce Timm was an obvious choice. (you can click on the individual images for a full view).
I was used to drawing women 7.5 heads tall and it took a while to get the trick of drawing my character 5.5 - 6 heads tall. Ultimately I settled on approximately 6-6.5 heads because Bruce Timm’s Supergirl is younger than Spirit-Girl.
I also referenced Amanda Connor’s Power Girl mainly for the facial expressions. But that won’t become apparent until I start drawing the actual comic.
I also was inspired by Mahmud Asrar’s work on Supergirl covers in the earl 2010s. I think he draws flight and cape movement especially well.
Finally, I took some inspiration from Betty and Veronica comics as they are expertly cartooned.
Here are the pencils for the Spirit-Girl artwork that appears in the recent character sheet and the inks then drawn onto tracing paper with screentones added. This is what I took to photoshop to do some adjustments and add the final colors.
Of course, the costume design is important. Superheroes are visually identified by their costumes. It was important to give Spirit-Girl some features that would create a distinctive silhouette. So I gave her a headband and long billowing hair. Both are strong design features and both are believable for a young woman to wear. Spirit-Girl’s headband and big hair are like Batman’s pointy ears. It’s a sort of trademark.
I also gave her a fur lined hood she can lift up over her head in colder weather. This gives me a way to add visual variety when I draw the comic and also indicates the practical, applied wealth of her family. In cold Northland winters, one needs fur to stay warm.
Her cape is an extension of the hood and can be closed up in front to protect against wind chills. Her outfit is based on winter Olympic athletes. It is form fitting but functional. I didn’t want to just lazily place a maple leaf on her chest. That seemed too on-the-nose. But I noticed her ribcage and hips together hinted at a leaf shape. So I emphasized it. Her boot tips also hint at maple leaf design. Finally, she wears mittens. To me there is something amusing and likable about a powerful superhero wearing mittens. And it speaks to her character that she is not trying to look intimidating. She is practical but cute.
The logo is inspired by 1980s Supergirl comics.
Below is the scan of the original pencils for the logo. It was a lot of measuring and ruler work to get this done. Most letters took 30-60 minutes to complete! It took time but was a good learning experience.
I liked the Supergirl logo but I felt it needed more speed so I italicized the font. That in addition to a sharp triangular composition tilted upward gives a feeling of fast movement. I made sure to bend the upper bar of the “S” towards the tip of the “l” to further emphasize the sharp triangle shape and give a feeling of direction. This project reminded me of my old days as a graphic designer nerding out on typography.
Thanks to paid subscriber income I was able to afford to get screen tones which I had long wanted to experiment with. I will continue using these tones at least in special pieces like character sheets and comic covers for my comics. Here is a video about what screen tones are and how they are used. Music is by Northumbria.