Hupernikon new character design sketch 3 - "Elie"

Here comes the main hero! Well, a 'version' of him anyway...he's called "Elie" at this point.

 "Elie" is believed to be the younger brother to Mart and Miri. We'll find out that it's a classic case of mistaken identity. "Elie" has sort of a 'poor sod' look about him, with puppy-eyes, bucked teeth and ambivalent manners, that's because he don't remember who he really is and where he came from. Ah, amnesia, one of the oldest cliche in the book :). Has his back and arms heavily bandaged, hiding severe scarring underneath.

Hupernikon new character design sketch 2 - Miri

Here's another new supporting character, Mart's little sister Miri. 

Miri is Mart's polar opposite, the lovely, nurturing sister figure of the younger orphans in the settlement. Probably the first crush of every boy in the settlement, including the main character Gheon :).

Hupernikon new character design sketch - Mart

Now that the older designs are done with, here's a new character design for Hupernikon: Mart. 

She is a supporting character in the story. A foul mouthed, rough as guts tomboy who was appointed co-mayor and sort of a militia leader of a settlement run by orphans. Also included is her mechanized battle armour aptly named the 'Mart-Mech' :P. The 'Mart-Mech' is my attempt to create a realistic mecha design akin to the Power Lifter in Aliens, or many of the human-sized mobile armors in anime.

Hupernikon early sketches 2

Another Hupernikon early concept. This is my attempt in designing a steampunk style giant robot that could transform into a locomotive. I'm aiming for a more complex transformation but that kind of design definitely takes time to develop.

The concept and aesthetics of this robot was inspired by Australian legendary outlaw Ned Kelly. Wiki that to find out. Basically Ned was a bushranger outlaw fighting against the Victorian police all dressed up in homemade plate armour. 
 

I named this robot I.O. short for 'Iron Outlaw'. So far the Ned Kelly look is somewhat buried under the clutter of steampunk bells and whistles detailing, so I guess the next step is to minimize them. Probably need to make the head design as close to NK's helm too.

Hupernikon early sketches

'Hupernikon' is a comic/animation storyline that I have thought of for quite a number of years. It's a sci-fi / fantasy mix with strong anime and graphic novel influences. I believe the genre of the story is closer to that of Action/Adventure with Giant Robots added in and I followed a somewhat traditional RPG / Robot Anime tropes and conventions to construct the characters and settings of the story. 

 
Here are early designs of the main characters, done a couple years back. As of the moment I'm redesigning these characters to reflect my latest development of the story. I have been sketching these designs in a rather anime-influenced style, but that may (or may not) change in the future as I continue to develop my own individual drawing style.

First!

Welcome to the very first entry of the VervBlog! I will be using this space to record my creative development in illustration and animation. For starters, check out my animation showreel:

This showreel was done back in 2009 and it showcases mostly my uni projects and some of my personal works. Mainly designed and animated in Flash with a touch of AfterEffects.  

Coming up are uploads of older sketches on my personal webcomic project 'Hupernikon'.