Zulu's art

[zuludelta]

I've always thought that the designs for Marvel's Ultimate Punisher, Ultimate Daredevil, and Ultimate Elektra were at best, bland, and at worst, real lazy. Ultimate Punisher and Daredevil are especially horrible, since their costumes don't set them apart at all from their regular Marvel (a.k.a. 616 continuity) counterparts. 

I couldn't stand watching my Raptors get demolished by the Nets so I just decided to do a quick revamp of the Ultimate Punisher design (look slightly inspired by actor Danny Tréjo):



I was gonna draw the thing on paper but I wanted to stretch my mouse-drawing muscles... it's been awhile since I booted up Photoshop (almost a year, I think).

Even cooked up a quick backstory:

"Lieutenant Francisco Castillo is a SHIELD undercover agent sent to investigate a suspected connection between stolen SHIELD next-generation weapons tech and West Coast-based gang, the Tarantulas. Castillo infiltrates the Tarantula organization and even takes part in the group's ritualistic tattooing traditions, getting a large stylized skull imprinted on his torso. He eventually gains access to the gang's inner circle and collects enough evidence to link the gang with corrupt SHIELD weapons developers. Facing the possibility of jail-time, the rogue SHIELD developers blow Castillo's cover. The Tarantulas attack the unsuspecting Castillo in his modest Santa Ana home before he can deliver the evidence to his superiors. Castillo's wife and two children are killed in the attack, but the agent, despite his grievous injuries, survives. Vowing revenge, Castillo dubs himself "El Verdugo" and sets out against the Tarantulas and the the rogue SHIELD weapons developers."

I might try and do Daredevil and Elektra later if I'm not too busy.

[zuludelta]

Here's my version of Ultimate Daredevil... this look was slightly inspired by the character Prince Zuko (in his Blue Spirit guise) from the Nickeloden show Avatar. I was trying to make an oni-type Noh theatrical mask for the facemask.

concept thumbnail sketch:


I then blew up the thumbnail and drew and coloured over it in Photoshop, changing the pose and some of the other elements along the way:


Haven't come up with a coherent backstory to go with the visualsave that I'm thinking that the character should be Japanese (Matt Murdock = Mamoru Matsuo?) and his story is set in modern-day Japan... but he's obviously something along the lines of a modern-day ninja... maybe a former acrobat blinded in a Yakuza-related incident?

[Tortuga]

Tortilocks: Oh my! What style you have, Zulu!

Seriously, great looks and designs.  I dub them: niftiriffic!

[Reepicheep]

Wow, those are pretty good looking. I love the style you have there.

[lugaru]

First Im glad that we agree that the ultimate universe is a great place to try something entirely different than the mainstream marvel.

Second those are great, althought it's Ironic that I went to school in Mexico with a Francisco Castillo, hahahha, so it's a good latino name.

About Daredevil I love the fact that he has a dayjob... that he's a blind lawyer. Some of the best daredevil stories take place in the court room (same with she hulk). If you where to make him something other than a lawyer I would still recomend something in politics or at least a high level buisness man.

"Despite Mamoru Matsuo's handicap he still ranks highly in one of Japans main publicity firms... despite not knowing color his co-workers are amazed by his sensibility for arousing all the other senses of consumers and driving trends. They also hate the fact that he has a real way with the ladies, always with somebody gorgeous under his arm and dumping them before things get too serious, as though he has secrets he dosent want them to know..."

[UnkoMan]

These are pretty sweet. They would have been great additions to the Ultimate universe. Not to mention that's a great looking style. All the details done with shadow... is nice. Is very nice.

Daredevil though... I have to admit I like his mask better in the sketch. Especially the horns and hair. But he's still a cool design. Back when I was doing FF universe characters I had thought of skinning a guy quite similar (but a different colour scheme, and something crazy like a flag on the back) for one of those contest entries.

It's a good look though, what can I say?

[zuludelta]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Neat idea concerning Daredvil lugaru, although if it were up to me,I'd take away Ultimate Daredevil from the whole lawyer-by-day, masked-crimefighter-by-night thing. The dichotomy works within the 616 Marvel universe (because of the greater allowance for suspension of disbelief) but in what's supposed to be a more realistic Ultimate setting, I just can't see how a person trained in law could, in good conscience, condone something as extreme as outright vigilantism.

Anyways, here's my take on Ultimate Elektra:


I decided to give her a couple of semiautomatic pistols instead of the usual sai... traditionally, ninja have always used any and all advantages in combat to win, so I think it's actually in keeping with the spirit of the character that she would use handguns over medieval Japanese weapons. I used the same reasoning to go for the close-cropped hair. I did keep the red colour scheme, though, but updated it from a barely there gi to an equally tight-fitting jumpsuit. 

[zuludelta]

Here's my take on Ultimate Johnny "Ghost Rider" Blaze:



EDIT: pic updated

IIRC, there's an editorial mandate in the Ultimate bullpen that discourages the introduction of mystic/magical characters (although how Ultimate Dr. Strange got in Ultimate Spider-Man, I have no idea), so I figured I'd update Johnny Blaze as a mutant skater (with psychic abilities that gives him an equivalent to the "Penance Stare" power)... seeing as how motorcycles aren't exactly the symbols of rebellion that they used to be (they've become something of a mid-life crisis placebo if you ask me). I tried to keep as many of the costume elements in there (but adapted to the skater aesthetic, of course)... the chain, the studded leather wristbands. What do you guys think?

[zuludelta]

Here's my version of Ultimate Shang-Chi, The Master of Kung-Fu:



EDIT: pic updated

The look is an homage to Bruce Lee (specifically, his look from The Game Of Death), but using the predominant colours from Shang-Chi's original costume.

A couple of notes on the image, for those of you who are interested in these things:

- Shang-Chi is posed in a variation of the Bow Stance (also known as the "Climb the Mountain" stance), commonly associated with the Northern Praying Mantis school of kung-fu and with the Northern Shaolin ("external" or "hard") martial arts in general.

- The symbol behind him is a graphical representation of kung-fu: the T'ai Chi Tou (the large black and white circle) represents the yin and yang, the two fundamental and opposing forces of the universe that must be kept in balance at all times. The five orange circles behind the yin-and-yang symbol are symbolic of both the Shaolin temple and more importantly, the wu hsing or the original five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) 

[juancho]

zulu i am lovign this redesings, quite simple more streamlined cotumes, and this style you are developing is quite interesting

[Intensity]

Shang-Chi and Elektra are astounding!!!  I would pick up those titles in a heartbeat if they were drawn like that.  They actually look like the X-Men Legends characters.  I love the gun fx for Elektra, as well as the description of Shang-Chi's bo staff stance and background... very detailed.

Jubes hasn't been ultimatized yet... lol.

[Peerless1]

Well well well--

As I've come to expect from you Zulu, these are nothing but the best.

Especially like GR, DD, and Shag Chi.  Never did skate board myself, but I really like the concept.  The pentacle on his t-shirt is a nice send up to the demonic influences of the character idea.  Great backstories so far.  What if DD was an Olympiad attacked and blinded to prevent Japan (or at least himself) from taking the gold medal?  This would tie in with your acrobat concept, and also be in the realm of "more realistic" than radioactive waste falling off a truck in 616.  Just a thought. 

I agree that I would buy the comics with this art style.  It is  a unique, almost animated style, yet not over-simplified.  Kudos from "the Old Guy."

Thinking back, I still really get a kick out of the fact that your avatar was done on BYD's EvolSam mesh.  It took the teen design and made it available for more adult characters.   :thumbup:

Thanks for sharing.

P1

One other note:  I really like your use of color for shading rather than the typical "black ink."  Who among us has black lines separating us
from the outside world anyway?

[zuludelta]

Thanks again for the comments!

Decided to go back and totally re-do my Ultimate Punisher image, seeing as how the first one was something I did on impulse and didn't really think through:



I decided to use more realistic proportions this time around, but still keeping with the stylized colours and shading. No preliminary sketch this time around, I had a vague picture in my mind for what I wanted him to look like... sort of  cross between a G.I. Joe action figure and my initial idea for Ultimate Punisher (as seen in the first image of him that I made), although the lack of a preliminary sketch meant that I spent more time moving elements around before I was satisfied.

As for your specific comments:

Jubes hasn't been ultimatized yet... lol.

- I might try and do Jubilee at some point in the future, but I can't really imagine what an "Ultimate Jubilee" would look like (maybe a hip-hop look? her plasmoids kind of remind me of graffiti)

It is a[n]... almost animated style

- I'm trying to strike a balance between an animated look reminiscent of Gendy Tartakovsky's stuff and the contemporary comic book artists whose work I currently enjoy (Stuart Immonen, Skottie Young) so thanks for noticing  :)

Not sure who I'm drawing next, but my older brother suggested I do USAgent or Luke Cage.

[Intensity]

Isn't Gendy Tartakovsky the guy who does Dexter's Lab???  If so, he is a genius!  I love that show and the artwork-  your pictures are amazing, Zulu.  Right out of a Legends/Marvel videogame... I wish these versions of the characters were actually available in a game- its such a tease lol.  :)

Ultimate Jubilee... hmm.  I think she would be more goth/nonconformist/grunge/or punk rather than hip-hop.  She did love 80's music like Blondie, which is more pop grunge.  Her plasmoids have actually been shown in grafitti form before too.

[konbiz]

Great work so far, i love your style, and how clean and crisp they are. Perhaps an Ultimate Young Avengers is on the cards?

[UnkoMan]

I've got to say... this updated Punisher is miles better. Which is astounding. And Shang-Chi looks fantastic. This stuff looks, to me, almost like cell-shaded 3D models. Incredibly well done cell-shaded 3D models.

Shang-Chi's background and Ghost Rider's pentacle are rough, though. I assume they were pieces you just pasted into place?

[zuludelta]

Shang-Chi's background and Ghost Rider's pentacle are rough, though. I assume they were pieces you just pasted into place?

Not quite... in both cases, they were taken from a different .PSD file (for a different project) in a lower resolution. The layers they were on were already rasterized (instead of being pure vector-based shapes), so when I re-sized the image, well, you get fuzzy outlines and such. On the Ghost Rider image, it isn't as bad, the fuzziness sort of suggests wear and tear like you see on old rock t-shirts that have been to the coin laundry a couple of times too many. The fuzziness does detract significantly from the Shang-Chi picture though, and I probably will re-do the background at a later point in time.

EDIT: Took advantage of a lull at work, updated Shang-Chi and Johnny Blaze pics, now up

[UnkoMan]

Ahhh, that looks great. Nice and clean.

And, actually, if you want it to look faded I came across a fairly neat way the other day. It's for making things look like old school comics, but the fading technique can be applied to this, too.

Here's the relevant part: http://www.jonnycrossbones.com/ljcbtut/05.htm

It can end up looking really good depending on the texture you use for the mask. PS: The comic at that site is also amazingly awesome.

[Peerless1]

 :popcorn2

I am beside myself...just enjoying this show. (Nice update on Punisher.)

*Hey! No throwing popcorn!*

[zuludelta]

Thanks for the comments, and thanks for the link unko (I'll never get used to calling somebody that!), another bookmark to add to my already burgeoning "Favorites" list.

Anyways, here's my take on Ultimate Johnny Walker, otherwise known as USAgent:



Just like Ultimate Captain America, my version of USAgent is also a member of SHIELD (hence the Ultimate SHIELD insignia on his ballistic/riot shield). I originally wanted to do Ultimate USAgent as a secret agent type, wearing an understated black ribbed sweater, shoulder holster, maybe sunglasses... but halfway through the drawing he just started looking more and more like Ultimate Nick Fury, so I decided to throw out the original design and re-did him to look more like a SWAT operative, complete with a transparent polycarbonate ballistic shield, body armour, and a Fabrique National 5.7 mm P-90 submachine gun (the boxy looking weapon that they used in the original Stargate TV show).

I tried to write a brief backstory to go with the image but it just kept getting more and more ridiculous... I was going to play up the idea that a hard-charging, gung-ho, shoot-first-ask-questions later, super-alpha male type of individual is pretty much an anachronism these days, except in the military, where that type of thing is encouraged (for better or for worse). But then I started focusing on the idea that he could also be a "man-out-of-time" like Captain America, revived after 20 years in suspended animation (maybe a side-effect of the Super-Soldier serum?). Except in USAgent's case, instead of being stuck with a slightly naïve worldview from the 1940s, his mentality is firmly rooted in the Cold War-era 1980s: he still calls women "chicks", owns a "Don't Mess With Texas" t-shirt, wears a mullet, listens to Whitesnake, etc. Anyway, the backstory started to conflict with the tone of the image (I expressly wanted him to look ambiguous... like he could also be a villain in that stormtrooper-y uniform), so I just chucked it aside.     

[Silverlion]

Very nice love your coloring style.

[crimsonquill]

Anyways, here's my take on Ultimate Johnny Walker, otherwise known as USAgent:

I tried to write a brief backstory to go with the image but it just kept getting more and more ridiculous...      

Great work on your Ultimate takes on these characters... am I the only person here would love to see these characters in a mesh/skinned form?  :unsure:

Anyway, I have a slight take on USAgent's background you might be able to spin off from:

"Johnny Walker grew up with his family living in the worst trailer park imaginable that was riddled with drugs, crime, and violence that left him inside hiding from the things that kids enjoyed the most. He spent hours watching TV and movies on cable when he was not reading or studying for school - those things we take for granted just because he wanted to block out the nightmare he was trapped within. His grades were incredible as a result of his need for perfection in his own little world. As soon as he graduated from high school he enrolled in the Army and spent years away on numberous military operations and never happier to be pushing himself beyond the limits just to keep from thinking about his family back home. Then during a military operation he was badly wounded during an explosion that left him in a deep coma for many years. He discovered to his shock that his world had changed during his time away and had been discharged from the Army with honors and a purple heart for his actions. He found that his bed was surrounded by flowers and cards from his parents who had located him during his sleep and wanted him to forgive them for what happened. After months of physical theropy he decided to return home and make life better for them to make up for leaving his old life behind. He joined the local police force and shot thru the rank and file due to his obsession for being perfect. It wasn't long before he was a member of the SWAT team and making his parents proud of him. He visited home as often as he could to help clean up the trailer park and chase off the bad elements - especially this group of rednecks that called themselves the Watchdogs. John was horrified to discover that one day as he was driving up to the park that his parents were brutally murdered and staked out on crosses on the front lawn. This was the breaking point for John and his mind snapped completely.. he wanted justice for all the wrongs he had seen but nobody was willing to do the job properly. After his parents funeral he took all of the money he had and vanished into the underground. A one man war erupted as weeks passed and members of the Watchdogs were killed one by one by mysterious circumstances and then he was captured by SHIELD Agents when he tried to shoot up one of the local bars filled with rednecks. SHIELD found that while he was a bit unstable he was a perfect soldier and someone was needed for dealing with domestic terrorism. After months with SHIELD's best shrinks and Psi-Ops people he was "fixed up" and given his new uniform as the first SuperCop of SHIELD."

How is that for an Ultimate origin?

- CrimsonQuill

[Spam]

I could see a P90 on USAgent. :)

Really awesome work, Zulu. Enjoyed 'em all so far.  ^_^

FORIAMSPAM!

[zuludelta]

Thanks for the comments everybody!

Looks like you did a bang-up job with the backstory CQ... I like the mention of the Watchdogs... nice touch.

Anyways, I updated the USAgent pic a teeny bit... added a little star-and-wings pin on his helmet so he's more identifiable as UISagent and not just a generic SWAT entry-team member.

I'm putting the Ultimate Marvel revamps on hold for the moment, since I signed up for Pyroclasm's most recent artist challenge. I'm doing an amalgam of the Samurai (from the 1970s Superfriends) and Marvel's Madrox the Multiple Man. 

Anyway, I'm calling the concept I'm doing The Seven Virtues:

A composite being who can split into the seven distinct entities, each representing one of the seven virtues of Bushidō: meiyo (honour/character), gi (integrity/righteousness), yū (courage), jin (benevolence), rei (respect), makoto (truthfulness), and tsūgi (loyalty).

Here's the blocking, showing the placing of my first finished entity:



And here's a close-up shot:



At the rate I'm going, I'll probably be done with the Artist's Challenge in 2 or 3 weeks, after which I'll go back to doing Ultimate-style stuff, although I'll probably sneak in an Ultimate or two to break the monotony of working on The Seven Virtues. 

[Reepicheep]

wow.

That last one is unbelievable. It looks aboslutely fantastic!

Are you planning on detailing the blocky people, or are you gonna leave it as it is, 'cos the way it is is a very nice, artistic effect. You should keep it, even if you do advance on it as well.

[zuludelta]

am I the only person here would love to see these characters in a mesh/skinned form?  :unsure:

Actually, a couple of these probably had their roots in some skin or hex editing idea I had at one time or another. Ultimate USAgent is from a motif I always find myself going back to... the whole red goggles and stormtrooper look (I used the same basic elements for my old What If?-concept "SHIELD 2099" skins), whereas Ultimate Punisher was inspired by some of the ideas being thrown back-and-forth between my older brother and I as he works on a Punisher-themed mod for GTA: San Andreas. I'm probably done with skinning and hex editing meshes (for FF at least) for the time being, but if somebody out there wants to use these images as the basis for their skin/hex/'skope, I'm all for it. 

very nice, artistic effect. You should keep it, even if you do advance on it as well.

I'll be filling in the people in the background... but i tend to archive all the different stages of my work, so that preview pic is going to get saved. And thanks for taking the time to look!

[zuludelta]

Just an update of my Artists Challenge project:



Click here for a larger picture.

[bearded]

i just want you to know; my wife is taking a computer graphics college class, and she was having trouble.
i showed her your art, and she sort of said, '...oh.'  and now she's doing things differently.  she might actually pass the class now! 

[Mowgli]

I love the concept as well as the sketch and finished piece for the Daredevil pic. The Kabuki mask works well with his eastern training, etc. Very cool.

Great retro "Bruce" look for Shange Chi. Let's face it, that's who he is abyway. I likey, a lot.

The Virtues pic is turning out great and I can't wait to see it finished. With a dark background, that would be a great desktop wallpaper... hint hint.  ;)

The US Agent looks a little too SWAT officer for my tatse. But that a personal choice and the drawings is still great.

Overall, I really like the stylized coloring and how it works with your style. It makes me want to see the characters in motion. Great stuff Z, keep it coming!  :thumbup:

[zuludelta]

i just want you to know; my wife is taking a computer graphics college class, and she was having trouble.
i showed her your art, and she sort of said, '...oh.'  and now she's doing things differently.  she might actually pass the class now! 

Wow, I'm very flattered bearded, tell her good luck with her class!

Overall, I really like the stylized coloring and how it works with your style. It makes me want to see the characters in motion.

Thanks for the comments Mowgli... I have to admit that I'm very much influenced by Tartakovsky's work on "Samurai Jack" hence my use of flat panes of colour with only occasional instances of rendered textures and lighting.

I'm in a bit of a creative rut with the rest of the Seven Virtues... I'm building the characters around traditional samurai weapons (I already have two swordsmen and a kyudo archer) and I'll be working on a naginata-wielding female samurai next... I'm thinking of using a kusari-gama and a jutte, and maybe an odachi... the thing is, those weapons don't really have an associated look with them (unlike the tachi... which can easily be paired with the samurai armour or with a kimono, or the yami, which is associated with the blue-white/black-white uniform of the kyudoka).