Local Hero - A first sampling in Character Design

We've all seen them in print and online over the years: pieces of how a character evolves from first sketch to the finished pages.

Ian and I talked it over, and for today's edition, we'll cover Gator Jones, one of the keys of the first Local Hero arc. Gator's one of those guys who always seem to get the short end of the genetic stick in the genre as we know it. If the nickname wasn't a giveaway on that score, well...

Now this first drawing was the earliest design sketch I could find or remember for Gator, dating back to late 2002.

No, I'm not kidding about that. All good things take their appointed time, after all.

Anyway: I took the "Gator" nickname quite literally, of course, and this had to be remedied somewhat...

And of course, further refinements followed:

Now we move onto some rough layouts for his first appearance on-panel...


And I think I'll refrain from showing the finished page. For now, at least.


One thing that kept bugging me from the first redesign onward is the fact that we've seen guys with Gator's particular luck of the genetic draw before in other fictons, in comic books and out. I've wanted to evolve him into someone distinct from anyone else we're already familiar with. I hope I succeed in that. It'll be for you to judge, though...