An Ode to Benton (IE: CSA Aquaman thread)

[Tomato]

Well folks, I hope that was interesting and/or helpful.

:EDIT: Alright, finished.

So, I was bored, and decided to take a leaf out of Juancho's book and make the next design a micro.

Lol nope.


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[Cyber Burn]

Taking Benton's advice into effect.

[naitvalis]

many thanks for your positive feedbacks on this characters concepts Benton   .

[BentonGrey]

Well folks, I hope that was interesting and/or helpful.

:EDIT: Alright, finished.

So, I was bored, and decided to take a leaf out of Juancho's book and make the next design a micro.

Lol nope.

Well, that one was terrible, I was just ignoring it.

Ha, just kidding.  Yeah, that one has the same strengths as your first design, 'Mato.  He's easily recognizable, has the smooth, clean costume design of the other CSA members, and the same color-scheme as Arthur.  I also liked your history for him.  It's a good design, and once again, I think he fits the CSA very well.  However, he's lacking that je ne sais pas that really says "evil Aquaman."

CB, I think that looks better!

[John Jr.]

Great thread.
Like Benton, I always saw Artie like the noble, true king (he's King Arthur, after all), the guy that leads by example an tries to help his subjects. So, his counterpart should be an usurper, a guy who uses people to get his goals. So, please welcome Mordred, The Usurper.


Be the prince of the powerful Kingdom of Atlantis would be considered something great to most people, but not to Mordred. The second child of the legendary conqueror who unified the atlantean cities by war, he was always in his brother's shadow. Mordred trained, to become stronger and a fitful heir, but he never could be so strong or vicious like his older brother. Since he couldn't get the throne by the rightful way, he just tried to get it by force. Defeated Mordred was exiled and became just an outcast. Undaunted, he traveled the world searching for power. He became stronger and learned the dark ways of magic. He gave an eye and the lives of several followers to get more and more power...So he could return to Atlantis and finally get the throne.
In one of his travels, Mordred met the CSA and saw how powerful they were. He joined their ranks, scheming how they could be used to help him to get his goals.
Mordred demands to be called "The Aquamaster, Sovereign of th Seas", but he always will be Mordred, the Outcast.

BTW, I just loved Cyber's warrior like version, great concept.

[naitvalis]

welcome Mordred
nice one Jhon! i like the character and his background, its simple and effective.
if i can express a little suggest, i would love to see this Aquamaster with a body full of scars, this can give to him even more "evil look".

[John Jr.]

Thanks.
I gave him a lot of scars in the body and arms, but they're not very visible in the image. I wanted to show how our scheming outcast isn't afraid of a fight.

[Tomato]

Quickie update: LC and I finally managed to stop playing email tag long enough to get the latest batch of figures ordered and on its way, including J'edd J'arkus. It'll probably be 4-5 months before the batch finishes (normally I expect about a year, but it's only 3 this time around.), but I'm making my decision on Aquaganger when the figures are shipped, so... the countdown begins?

[juancho]

..... I just started working on mine yesterday, but I was disgusted by how it was turning out,  so I have to re-start.....

[Cyber Burn]

welcome Mordred
nice one Jhon! i like the character and his background, its simple and effective.
if i can express a little suggest, i would love to see this Aquamaster with a body full of scars, this can give to him even more "evil look".

I gotta agree about the battle scars, he looks to pleasant (?) to be evil. Also, maybe give him a more viable weapon? Otherwise, looks great.

[juancho]

Mato buddy, my pc crashed and I i think I lost everything. I have a few back ups here and there, but not sure what I'm going to be able to salvage. So do not count with an entry from me. Sorry
I have a laptop at home as well as my Android tablet but I do not have any of my resoruces there :S

[John Jr.]

welcome Mordred
nice one Jhon! i like the character and his background, its simple and effective.
if i can express a little suggest, i would love to see this Aquamaster with a body full of scars, this can give to him even more "evil look".

I gotta agree about the battle scars, he looks to pleasant (?) to be evil. Also, maybe give him a more viable weapon? Otherwise, looks great.

I didn't wanted Mordred to have an "evil look" , CB, because I like the way the CSA guys look like the JLA with different clothes (I think this was even used in a story years ago...), so Mordred looks a little as Arthur. I'll work in more visible battle scars though.
The mystic thing in his hand is only to show he doesn't have a trident like Artie, because he never got to be a king. Since Artie was called to be king (so it was "easy"), I imagined Mordred would never get the throne.

[Tomato]

Mato buddy, my pc crashed and I i think I lost everything. I have a few back ups here and there, but not sure what I'm going to be able to salvage. So do not count with an entry from me. Sorry
I have a laptop at home as well as my Android tablet but I do not have any of my resoruces there :S

dude, you have like, half a year. chillax.

[John Jr.]

As requested, battle scarred Mordred:


What's about the eye?
Arthur lost a hand in the "let's make Artie's life miserable!" era, some time later he traded his fashionable hook by a mystic water hand. Once again, he was chosen to receive a great power.
Mordred never was chosen, he just took over whatever he wanted. He gave his eye (and the lives of some subjects) to get a mystical artifact that gave him control over marine life. He didn't born with the power, he got it by treason. He doesn't talk to or commands the marine life, he just  control them like puppets. He usually uses them as cannon fodder.
He's no Aquaman...

[John Jr.]

Mato buddy, my pc crashed and I i think I lost everything. I have a few back ups here and there, but not sure what I'm going to be able to salvage. So do not count with an entry from me. Sorry
I have a laptop at home as well as my Android tablet but I do not have any of my resoruces there :S

I'm sorry to hear it, Juancho. I'm still trying to recover my last pc crash. I wish you the best luck with the recovery!

[Cyber Burn]

As requested, battle scarred Mordred:


What's about the eye?
Arthur lost a hand in the "let's make Artie's life miserable!" era, some time later he traded his fashionable hook by a mystic water hand. Once again, he was chosen to receive a great power.
Mordred never was chosen, he just took over what he wanted. He gave his eye (and the lives of some subjects) to get a mystical artifact that gave him control over marine life. He doesn't born with the power, he got him by treason. He doesn't talk to or commands the marine life, he just  control them like puppets. He usually uses them as cannon fodder.
He's no Aquaman...

Battle scars work for him. I like your version better than mine    , maybe a combonation of the two would work?

[John Jr.]

Battle scars work for him. I like your version better than mine    , maybe a combonation of the two would work?

That's funny, because your version is still my favorite
A combo could work, because we both used a militaristic- barbarian take on our "CSA Aquaman".

[Tomato]

Battle scars work for him. I like your version better than mine    , maybe a combonation of the two would work?

That's funny, because your version is still my favorite

Heh, wanna know something even funnier? I hate both versions 




lol, just jking guys.

I gotta say though, while I like some of the thought process here John, I agree with some of the others in here... there's just something missing on this design to really make it stand out as a true antiverse Aquaman. I think the main problem for me is that I look at the first image and I can totally see it being an alternate Aquaman design taken from one of his old books. It just needs a few more intimidating design elements to push it over the edge into "Evil"

[John Jr.]

Battle scars work for him. I like your version better than mine    , maybe a combonation of the two would work?

That's funny, because your version is still my favorite

Heh, wanna know something even funnier? I hate both versions 




lol, just jking guys.

I gotta say though, while I like some of the thought process here John, I agree with some of the others in here... there's just something missing on this design to really make it stand out as a true antiverse Aquaman. I think the main problem for me is that I look at the first image and I can totally see it being an alternate Aquaman design taken from one of his old books. It just needs a few more intimidating design elements to push it over the edge into "Evil"

I know! I know! I'll give him a hook and...Wait a minute!
I still think guys like Ultraman and Superwoman don't like intimidating or evil, they look like Superman and Wonder Woman with different costumes. But could be fun to try another design, what you suggest? I agree with one of your earlier posts against giving "Aquaganger" a monstrous/weird appearance. I tried to give Mordred a barbarian warrior look against Arthur's noble king one. Maybe more armor pieces or a weapon? I just wanted to avoid armor since he's a swimmer, but I can try it.
Costume design is far from my strong point anyway...

[BentonGrey]

Hey, great designs guys!  I love the name Mordred and the King Arthur element.  JJ is right, and this is what I've been talking about.  What fits in with the CSA setting isn't necessarily what "feels" right to us.  These clean designs don't really look evil, although the scars help.  Then again, Ultraman doesn't really look evil.  Super-Woman does, but that's about it.  Anyway, JJ sorta' hinted at this, but these designs reminded me that the perfect design for an evil Aquaman has already been created!  If you want a true Aquaganger, look no further than.......


Hook-handed Aquaman!
http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/b/b8/Aquaman_Vol_5_17.jpg
Look, he's even fighting a disturbingly muscular Wonder Woman!
http://www.comicbookbin.com/artman2/uploads/8/aquaman16.jpg

Haha, if this ugliness hadn't already been in the real comics, it would work pretty well as an alternate design...though in terms of the design in general, y'all have all blown this sucker away.

[Tomato]

Even so, the designs the characters use are distinctly their own... You don't expect Superman to run around in a full bodysuit with gloves or Batman to run around with tassels on his back. There's not enough unique to this look for me to be able to distinguish it.

Honestly, my suggestion would be to find ways to emphasize his background as a sorcerer, as opposed to making him a warrior like Cyber and Syn have. It sets your design apart from what's been done so far, but remains true to the character you've created.

Edit: As to hooked Aquaman... You should know I seriously considered using a variant of it for Aquaganger... but then I decided it didn't even look enough like Aquaman for that.

[Panther_Gunn]

Honestly, my suggestion would be to find ways to emphasize his background as a sorcerer, as opposed to making him a warrior like Cyber and Syn have. It sets your design apart from what's been done so far, but remains true to the character you've created.

I've been contemplating something similar to this, and what JJ has done, but haven't had the time to devote to fleshing it out.  I was looking at going further back, possibly somehow linking him to Arion or perhaps his brother Garn.  Maybe giving him a complexion like that of Garn, with the scars, mystic tattoos and missing eye (perhaps replaced with an artifact, ala Moorcock's Corum), maybe having something in his history about him sacrificing his son to get more of this power (not that there's much that adds to the visual design, but I know it covers one of BG's pet peeves).  Feel free to incorporate, as illustration is not a skill I possess, unless ya want stick figures.

[John Jr.]

Benton,
I'm very glad you liked Mordred, buddy. We have similar opinions on the subject of the look of an "Aquaganger", not surprising, since we have similar tastes.
Tomato,
While I'm kinda of satisfied with Mordred's look, I'm kinda of intrigued with your suggestions. I thought about two "alternate versions", one with a sorcerer look (and like Panther I thought about mystical symbols as tattoos, since it would be weird have a cloaked/hooded guy swimming in the deep), and other with a more "barbarian" look (I'm looking for a face concealing helmet, like Perez used with Ares in the 80's Wonder Woman).
Panther,
I agree with the tattoos idea and the Garn/Arion angle is a great idea.
This topic is becoming more interesting with each post...

[BentonGrey]

Haha, this is some good stuff here in the last few posts.  'Mato, yeah, I know exactly what you mean about the 90's design.

PG, that sounds pretty cool, and I LOVE the bit about him sacrificing his son for more power.  That's something truly opposite of Arthur.  Seeing as this is what SHOULD have happened in the comics:
http://youtu.be/B8m6WxvZHmo
A twist like PG describes would really capture the opposite of the heroic spirit of Aquaman.

JJ, I like the idea of a helmet to go with it, and yeah, some tattoos would be neat.  What if we play up the barbarian/Roman(or Greek) thing, maybe do something slightly Pictish?  Perhaps that would be going too far afield, but maybe not.

[Tomato]

It's weird... I didn't mind it back during Morrison's JLA run (to be fair, I was what, 10 when I first read the graphic novels?), but looking back I'm just like "wtf is that noise?" Aquaman's look, for all the complaining about orange and green, is iconic and unique. At least the design in JL/JLU strikes a balance between the old look and the silliness of the comic look.

[BentonGrey]

Well, generally the art was better during Morrison's run, and even that design doesn't look as bad when it isn't covered in 90's stink.

[Deaths Jester]

All I can say is it looks like John Jr's been practicing on his Poser work...looking great, man!!!

[John Jr.]

Thanks, DJ! Yeah, I'm have been  practicing  a lot, and following your advice about camera and lighting.
I had no time to finish the "Alternate Mordred", I hope to be able to finish him in the next days.

[martialstorm]

Looks great John, great work on Poser. Good to see the progression you made on the character.

[John Jr.]

Looks great John, great work on Poser. Good to see the progression you made on the character.

Thanks!
I followed Benton's suggestion and made "Mordred the Barbarian". Next is Mordred the Wizard...
I didn't wanted a realist helmet that could looked like something by "A" or "B" people, so I got this one, the author (I have to find the Read Me and his name) was inspired by Frank Frazetta.