The Inspiration of Sin.

Anyone who reads this blog carefully and doesn't just scan from picture to picture will know I write and doodle a bit-fact of the matter really is since I bought a computer at the turn of the century(sounds strange writing that-the grand plan was to collect reference for the major epic(but it kind of spiraled out of control and became this blog lol) I had plans to illustrate-13 or so years later I'm on page 4 lol -well not strictly true but story I'm working on is the definite article).
 So tonight thought I'd shed light on some of the inspirations behind the characters that will make up my "Cyberpunk Garage"all girl gang "The Deadly Sins. The Gang Leader -Louisa Sheen-(pictured in the center) in this incarnation will be be based loosely upon Nadezhda from Russian Punk agitators Pussy Riot-I'd rather that she was someone real and current rather than a movie star or a model-someone with real strength ,will and intelligence she's an inspirational figure who I felt shared many of Louisa's qualities -the story is of epic scale the task ahead for my characters is monumental -much like how I see the role of Pussy Riot and any woman trying to get ahead in a  male controlled environment - a dynamo for a better fairer future... her hair will be be darker though and she'll have brown eyes as that's how I originally envisioned her-plus Nadezhda got a  ace face... the main picture above was before I decided that she'd be a  inspiration but at time of painting and hearing all this insane stuff on the news (I was wondering if I was living in the 21st century)the idea came to me.

Louisa's Outfit has to be of that of a Rocker-as she was once a member of a futuristic gang of bikers known as the Rucka's -as my story has a retro slant even though it's set in the future(I'm aiming for a Quadrophenia meets Star Wars vibe with this comic)I prefer the look of the old English style Ton Up Boy Rocker as opposed to the US Hells Angel- the story is set in London to start off with and some traditions never die- much of the reference for her outfit is provided by J-Grace/Himmel. I thought there pictures especially of Ms Tohka in motorcycle gear very much typified how I thought Louisa would dress for work.I recently decided though to stick lots of badges on lapels and patches too -if your unfortunate enough to even touch jacket it would burn your hands- the same applies to a few other members of the gang-which makes them very deadly indeed especially at close quarters.The back patch is a holographic artwork which changes pattern all the time much like how Rorschach mask works-except a bit more psychedelic than that.(and it saves me painting the same old pattern all the time too)

Tohka again this outfit serves as outfit for another member of the gang Sierra Lima (second from right of centre)the ex-cop - Sierra herself is based upon someone I know(you'll find that a few of the Sins are based on a few of my muses and friends)- it will be fun trying to recreate these colours and textures -I find them dramatic -it should be a challenge.

When I painted Rio Royale(Third from right center) I just knew Jacket should be red-just like the one Chrissie Hynde wore on cover of first Pretenders record-Rio's the girl in the Special Forces beret  again based on a real person-she's a big Clash fan so thought it be cool to have her wearing a similar hat to Paul Simonon  in the Rock the Casbah video as her and sister love him-She's got pink hair here but it'll be blonde in comic-as when I painted it originally she was going to dye hair pink but firstly peroxided it-and it looked great-so instead stuck with it blonde -so she'll more than likely have a different hair colour each episode.

 On the far right  in the very Tohka inspired racesuit is Emilia Woods with blonde bunches and bubblegum-again based on a real friend-She's a Russian Spy so she needed a good durable fight-suit- catsuits look too flimsy and super heroine like- I don't do superhero's too many of them in my opinion(same goes with all that zombie crap) -I'd rather come up with something bit different .

When I saw this photo from the 60's I just knew one of the gang had to have a beehive -it looked so cool in this picture -and it had to be auburn -when I got to creating "Rita Tusk "she would have to have a interesting face too-I decided on something like Beatrice Dalle for her character- I like the way she could snarl whilst still retaining her beauty.

JJ Royale-Rio's Clone sister(wearing the fedora) had to have an original Schott Perfecto- Brando style -just for it's Iconography status -I noticed what a wonderful design it was when painting her it differs greatly than what you see today -I love the stars on the shoulders -not sure I painted them right here -I'll get better at it as I get more involved in the story- JJ  and  a few of the others make debut appearence on page 4-hope it won't take too long to produce that page.

The jacket that Drew's sporting here looks old enough to be an original from the 1950's but Brando's is in a class of it's own-I just hope I can re-create that look for JJ's outfit not sure how I'll go about logo on the back though- may mix up Sins logo with BRMC symbol somehow.

To the far left is my Japanese Yakuza character "Mrs Pink"-I felt that I just had to have a Japanese character seeing as much of  my ideas  for the gangs look came from J-Grace/Himmel -she's certainly inspired by Pinky Violence Queens  Meiko Kaji and Yumi Takigawa -but also by J-Grace model Nao as  well.

So there you have it my 7" Illuminati  Commando's" (I don't want to give too much of story away just yet -but that's their  job description) and the inspiration behind them-I don't want to sound too self obsessed but I've been slaving away at this story and will be for some time and wanted to give it a little plug I'll move my comic link up as it doesn't deserve to be buried beneath all those links-whilst this blog may be more important to you visitors my actual story is my true priority...oh the devil like schoolboy in the center is Masher-kind of a mix of Angus Young myself and a demon -the token male mascot.