TRDL 2011 Series, No. 18: Artemis [Young Justice Cartoon]
Third Rail Thrills No. 53!

This was done for the TRDL R3 Jam on the R3 Forum and DeviantArt Group, the subject being: Young Justice [Cartoon version]; I chose to do the enigmatic Artemis.

I’ll admit up front that I haven’t seen the cartoon, nor have I read the comic. But I read up a bit on the character, and noted that she is NOT Arrowette, and seems to be a melange of familiar character details as they often do in cartoon/ film adaptations, though I can’t help but wonder if she will slip into DC comic continuity, I suppose alongside the Amazonian character of the same name. She’s a well designed character, I think. I did mine as a Third Rail Thrills! pin-up girl, and tried to capture all the things about the design I liked most: the curve of the bow, the tones of the green uniform against the very dark utility gear, and the long whip of hair, which I fashioned to form a crescent moon, which is the symbol for Artemis, the Greek (or some historians believe, ore-Greek) goddess herself. I originally intended her to be booted, but I was looking at a nice character reference pic from Jay, who directed some of the episodes of the show; he drew her without boots, and I was inspired to do the same.

I’m foregoing my usual process notes this time, because I went into a little more detail snapshotting the progression, so I’ve formulated that into an update on my older TRDL Method post in out Tips & Techniques Section. The link is here. Check it out!

Artists, come join us on R3 and submit to the jams! The R3 Illustration Jam offers new characters weekly, … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL 2011 Series, No. 13: Iron Man Series – Stealth Armor
2. TRDL 2011 Series No. 79 – Catwoman Redesign
3. TRDL 2011 Series No. 20 – Haywire

It’s been awhile since I posted an in-depth look at my personal process. My origina post on the topic was over three years ago, and a few things hanged for the better, though my drawing time itself is much more limited due to family responsibilities of children and steaks-in-the-freezer requirements. Anyway, this is not the RIGHT way to do this sort of work, just MY way. I recently was asked a number of questions about my inking style, which was generously referred to as ‘spartan’ (I think of it as streamlined, but compared to proper inkers, it’s not much more than tracing my equally simple pencils and making some judicious lineweight choices. Nonetheless…) so I thought I’d follow up that conversation with a full TRDL Method update. If you are interested in how I do this stuff, read on!

The piece being rendered below can be seen here!

The Tools:

I use Borden and Riley #234 Bristol in 9×12 pads for the paper these days, and I’m very happy with the tooth and the portability of the pad (though the size requires cutting down the stock if I want to print blueline onto it.) I use your old fashioned ‘natural’ finish #2 pencils for the pencil work; not blueline pencils, not mechanicals, not fancy art sticks. Just wood. I ink with pens, not nibs, though I greatly admire nib and brush ink methods. I prefer Microns. I’ve used refillable aluminum cartridge pens, as my partner Joao uses, but I go back to the comfort of the Micron. I used to use India Ink pens but the ink changes color over time. Anyway, I use a number of lineweights: 005, 01, 02, 03, 05 and 08, though I use them in pairs or threes, based on the scale of the … Read on for more awesome…

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1. The TRDL Method: Thom’s Tutorial [Archive]
2. Finit-e Survey!
3. TRDL 2011 Series No. 85 – Enchantress

This was done for the R3 Illustration Jam, the character being the 90′s good/bad/wtf grrl heroine, Magdalena. I’m not going to mince words: I strongly disliked a lot of the stuff that came out of ALL of the publishers in this era… the art drove the writing, the designs were cluttered, fan-driven and poor, the rendering techniques overwrought, and the basic art education seemed to be lost. It was the first time since childhood that I was driven from my local comic shop, and stayed away for quite awhile. (probably a year, but that’s like 13 years in comic publishing)… Magdalena is one of many characters with solo books from the period that I couldn’t parse. I mean, looking at it only casually you can tell it’s a Warrior Nun rip-off. Plus, the design is just insane. I use design loosely. I got a headache just looking at the reference material. I did my best, though…

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Tribute – Grim [Grimalkin]
2. TRDL 2011 Series, No. 18: Artemis [Young Justice]
3. TRDL Tribute: Navis

Third Rail Design Lab Carbon System

TRDL Carbon is a simple, open-source character descriptor system for role-playing game purposes. It has it’s origin in a popular, long-dead superhero RPG, which illustrated the simplicity and fluid ease of gaming when using a percentage-dice based system for fast, dynamic adventuring with a minimum of complicated game mechanics. The primary function of the Carbon system is to describe character attributes and abilities so that they may be easily converted to other game systems as desired by interested GMs. Obviously, the characters can be played within the Carbon Rules themselves as-is, or with the Marvel RPG on which this system was based. GMs should feel free to modify Carbon to their own desired specifications as house-rules, or to adapt TRDL characters for their own campaigns in the system of their choice.

The TRDL Carbon System is based on the use of a percentile die roll as the primary random number generator, with use of other common gaming die for other types of rolls, where needed. All attributes and abilities are described as a two digit number between 0 and 100, and can be thought of as a percentage of maximum possible. Within the normal constraints of the System, stats will not be less than 0 or greater than 100, though certain exceptions can be made at GM’s discretion for godhead characters. And if they aren’t Lovecraftian, I don’t want to hear about it. Each attribute and ability power ranking is provided as a set number, according to the following values, in increments of 5: 0, 5, 10, 15…100, 1000. These values will be familiar to those that played the Marvel system in the past. As the range of values possible in an attribute represent a percentage of max, a baseline of ‘normal human’ is … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Game Mechanics FAQ
2. Q: How does Armor work? How do Ballistic Weapons work?
3. Q: How Does Range Work?

Sidewinder is a member of Polaris, and the first known posthuman to have successfully conceived a child.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

:::

Sidewinder

Name: Amanda Yemen
Affiliation: Polaris

Attributes:

Melee: 45
Reflex: 30
Muscle: 20
Vigor: 50
Acumen: 25
Observation: 40
Will: 25

Life: 14
Influence: 90

Abilities:

Physiological Enhancement: Along with various biochemical enhancements that contribute to her Attributes above, Sidewinder’s posthuman treatments increased her reaction times considerably, which give her +3 to Initiative rolls and a +1CS to defensive Actions.

Sonic Generation: Sidewinder’s latent posthuman ability is actually a subsonic sound generation from mutations to her vocal chords. It is below the range of audible frequencies for the normal human ear, but can interfere with her opponents’ balance, focus and hand-eye coordination. The Ability has an Intensity of 40 and a Range of 5, and can be used at the beginning pf a round without counting as an Action. All opponents in range must make a Vigor Save or be negatively influenced by this effect, with -1CS to Physical Actions, and must make an Acumen Save or become disoriented, suffering a -2 penalty to the following 3 Initiative rolls. The subsonic attack lasts for 1d6 rounds before she must reapply it, but if any opponents are not affected by the attack, they remain unaffected for the duration of that combat.

Melee Weapon Proficiency: Sidewinder enjoys the benfits of +1CS to all offensive and defensive hand-to-hand combat Actions, as a result of her extensive training, with an additional +1CS to Active Dodge. Further, she employs a special melee weapon, similar to a mace and cord, which she has trained to use as a weapon [25 DP up to 2m reach] and as a parrying device [apply the 30 AP of the weapon as Armor on a successful Parry] … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Character Factory, No. 98: Gila
2. TRDL Character Factory, No. 29: Arclight
3. TRDL Character Factory, No. 23: MOAB

The Iteruan was the National Hero of Egypt, before a devastating accident made him a martyr for his people.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

:::

The Iteruan

Name: Prince Sefu
Affiliation: National Hero of Egypt

Attributes:

Melee: 40
Reflex: 40
Muscle: 30
Vigor: 35
Acumen: 35
Observation: 25
Will: 50

Life: 145
Influence: 110

Abilities:

Physiological Enhancement: As a recipient of one of the more conservative and primitive posthuman processes, The Iteruan enjoys a compliment of physical enhancements, including bone density, musculature and nerve re-lacing with synthetic fibers, and an overhaul of his nerve stack. Chemical treatments have altered his skin and changed his vision and inner ear structure considerably. In addition to the Attributes above, The Iteruan enjoys a resistance to physical, thermal and energy attacks with an effective Armor of 40. He can see in the dark and hear a greater range of frequencies.

Flight: Like most early posthumans, manipulation of the Earth’s gravitational field through the use of nano-lifter courses has allowed The Iteruan to fly with an Intensity and Range of 30.

Origin:

Though his family was exiled in Europe for decades prior to his adulthood, Prince Sefu, heir apparent to the abolished monarchy of Egypt, was the first of his family line to return to their homeland and participate in affairs of state with the government that followed the Egyptian Independence movement. Now a neo-mystic oligarchy modeled after Neo-Mystic China, Egypt embraced a delicate balanced relationship with the West, encouraging educational and high-technology research relationships with several European universities, while enjoying a relatively closed culture and limited military involvement in the affairs of it’s neighboring countries, which were embroiled in political tensions between the major and emerging powers of South-East Asia, and the United States and the European Union. In fact, while opposing most of … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Character Factory, No. 71: The Liberty Group
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3. TRDL Character Factory, No. 75: The Bad Seeds

So I’m reading about various techniques where one can scan in their rough sketches in Photoshop and convert their sketches to a non-photo blue. Then they print those non-photo blue sketches out on bristol board and ink on top of them.

But what I keep missing is what is the color specs of setting up that non-photo blue color? I suppose I could just scan the artwork at a lower opacity of greys and then work on a light table but I’d like to test out the non-photo blue thing and see how that works.

But I’m concerning that the non-photo blue I might create in Photoshop will be too dark once I re-scan the inked lines. I know I will need a specific blue for this to work but I’m not sure what the specs might be for creating a non-photo blue.

Has anyone done this? If so, what should I set my Photoshop non-photo blue to be?

Thanks!

-Chris

Follow this topic in the R3 Forum
here!… Read on for more awesome…

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Hey R3 gang,

This is mainly for those of you that have blogs and what not. As a web designer, when it comes to promoting a web site I just finished designing, we leave that up to the PR department which promotes are clients’ web sites in print and direct mail.

As many of you know, since November 12th, I’ve launched my "Capes ‘N’ Babes" web comic strip and I’m currently trying to figure out ways to publicize it or get the word out. So far, I have Project Wonderful ads, business cards and postcards. I will also be at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC June 20-22nd.

Thom, how did you go about getting the word out when you were first starting R3? Darren, how did you get word out about your various blogs> Just curious if people could give some things that might have helped them. It just seems to me that since November, I should have more then 50 unique visits to the strip.

In the meantime, you can enjoy the following piece of art:

-Chris

EDIT: I moved this to the Tips and Techniques section so it can be an ongoing topic. Onward! -WR

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No related posts.

This is a piece done as part of an art trade with R3 Army member Akua, who designed this character years back.

According to Akua, about 4 years ago:

"Camella was born in Japan to an American father and a Japanese mother. She lived in Japan for most of her life. Her father and mother died in a car crash when she was 2. She does not remember them, she doesn’t even know what they look like. Her grandfather took care of her until she was 18 when she moved out into the world. Her grandfather stressed discipline and knowledge. She can speak 4 languages; Japanese, English, Italian, and Polish.
When Camella was 8, she stumbled across a demon that was hiding in her grandfathers shrine. He attacked Camella. Her grandfather saw this and begun to run to help her, but something amazing happened – the demon entered Camella without harming her. Camella’s grandfather realized that Camella was the one who was chosen to help stop the demons and monsters that plaques the world. After this, her grandfather made Camella study demons, gods, goddesses, and fighting techniques. She also began to have dreams about her life…specifically rather abstract dreams that showed her where she was in her life. She still, to this day, does not completely understand the dreams.

She has moved to the city because she feels as if there are a large amount of demons hanging around, and an amazingly strong demon that lives in the city. She works as a Japanese teacher at Whitman High School. She lives alone in a loft with her pet an ay ay lemur"

This was one of my favorite drawings in Akua’s gallery, and I was delighted to draw a TRDL version of her. I didn’t change much. Mostly, I added … Read on for more awesome…

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This is Providence, the Canadian National Hero.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte
Inspired by: Bob Sparhawk

:::

Ground0 / Providence

Name: Drake McHale
Affiliation: National Hero: Canada

Attributes:

Melee: 20
Reflex: 20
Muscle: 40
Vigor: 55
Acumen: 20
Observation: 30
Will: 15

Life: 135
Influence: 65

Abilities:

Plasma generation/Detonation: Ground0 is constantly generating moderate amounts of plasma radiation from his muscle tissue, which is released into the atmosphere as visible light and substantial heat. If contained, the plasma build-up takes on greater destructive capability, causing an intense blinding flash and explosive charge upon release. When using his containment suit, this capability is substantially magnified, allowing him to detonate massive amounts of plasma energy upon impact. The destructive force from this detonation is further intensified when the containment suit is subjected to high speed.

Unrestricted, Ground0’s plasma radiation causes only discomfort to those immediately around him, but not physical damage. However, when allowed to accumulate through the use of his containment suit, the radiation can be released causing energy damage [up to 30 DP] in a 5m radius from his target. If applied at speed, through self-propelled or other means, the damage caused by his attack may increase by +1CS for every level of speed above 5. In practical terms, this means that at terminal velocity, or at full flight speed [20 IV], Ground0’s destructive capability becomes 50 points of damage. However, it is possible that Ground0 can attain greater speeds, either by being propelled by another force or through similar means, increasing his theoretical impact damage. After each plasma release, he must recharge for 1-10 rounds before using his ability again, regardless of what percentage of his full destructive capability is employed. It should be noted that while Ground0 can choose to release less than the full amount of his … Read on for more awesome…

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1. TRDL Character Factory, No. 71: The Liberty Group
2. TRDL Character Factory, No. 04: 21st Sentry
3. TRDL Character Factory, No 84: The Iteruan

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