Would you want to know more about these characters?

[hadesillustrations]

I have a very fleshed out cyberpunk genre universe with a series of interesting characters - at least I think so. Here's a few sketches - would you want to read more about these characters?

The guy is a martial artist with a nifty memory plastic boken/daikyu. He does Juijutsu, Kyudo, Kobojutsu and Kenjutsu, so, basically, he's dangerous. Yay.

The girl is a driver - akin to The Transporter (the Jason Statham character that should have ended with the first movie).

[hadesillustrations]

I should clarify some:

The guy, Hale, is an ass kicker who works as hired muscle. He can easily kill, but prefers not to, but he's done it before and he'll do it again. He's rather lighthearted, but doesn't talk much. His schtick is his stick. The boken becomes a bow (daikyu is a kyudo longbow).

Chase, the female, grew up with several brothers ad a dad who was a racecar driver - dirt track, maybe sprintcars, supermodifieds, etc. She took up the family craft and moved to the city, finding work at what she was best at. She did well in the underground racing scene and now she freelances as a driver for whatever client is paying well. She hires Hale as muscle and they've become good friends over the years. Chase shoots people and stamps the nameplate of the car she's driving into foreheads with impunity, followed by a sexy flip of her hair. She's really not that violent, but she's certainly more vocal about kicking ass than Hale.

So there's some brief character descriptions to go along with the quick sketches I did last night. Do these characters fit their descriptions? What should be changed?

[Wo-Nellie]

Chase shoots people and stamps the nameplate of the car she's driving into foreheads with impunity, followed by a sexy flip of her hair.

Hey, it's right up my alley. Love your work as you know and this type of story gets my motor revved.
I think the images fit the characters, though I'd probably have made him bigger and her slightly smaller, but then again it might just be the cliche in me talking.
Also I agree completely about Transporter 2. Jumping a car and getting that crane thing to knock off the strapped-on bomb. WTF? Good luck with that trick in real life.

[Wo-Nellie]

Oh yeah, before I forget, hadesillustrations. You may want to move his weapon over a little bit or raise it to avoid any possible tangents whatsoever with his crotch, we don't want people snickering that he's handling his "other" weapon if you know what I mean.
This tends to happen ALL the time when characters are handling phallic objects such as swords, rakes, baseball bats, yada yada yada.

[hadesillustrations]

Lets see a phallus do THAT!

Thanks for the input. I kept Hale thin and lithe in that I wanted him to be unassuming as an asskicker. He's what I've labeled "choppers" versus the big fellas called "hitters". I have lots of both character types, but a lot of choppers as that's how I'm built (I'm wiry) and I like to draw what I know. Chase is 5'8", 5'10" in boots. I want her to be sexy and kick ass - think Renee Russo in Lethal Weapon 3 beating the crap out of 5 guys. She can handle the normals, but Hale takes care of the "modifides", as he is one. Hale's not quite human.

I was really worried about his hakama (split skirt). I didn't draw them baggy enough in the first shot of him - looks more like gi bottoms.

[Spidey]

I really don't like the way you mashed up Hale's outfit. His gloves say straight up superhero, the shirt and back pack say casual punk and the bottoms say traditional Aikido wear. It looks really thrown together. I would suggest starting at one end (traditional/punk) and gradually work in elements from the other end until you get a more refined mix of the genres. I like the girl she seems to be coming along nicely, but her hat says western, country girl to me. It's a bi-product of western movie clichés I guess.

[hadesillustrations]

That's a very interesting analysis. You hit all the points I was trying to make with both character designs.

Hale IS rooted in traditional Japanese martial arts. His gloves are really an extension of this as well as they're akin to what's worn in Kyudo. I also wanted him very casual. He's easy-going - sort of unfazable. I want his lack of reaction to magnify events where he DOES react. If Hale reacts to something it serious.

Chase was raised in the country. The hat was meant to be a definitive throwback to her roots, as are the boots. I was even thinking about giving her a revolver, but I think she's too practical for that.

Weird that I didn't really think about these finer points very much until you mentioned them Spidey. I know you're picking them out as negatives, but I think you had the opposite effect - you just reinforced a few items.

Thank you for the input!

[Chiboy!]

I would change his pants. Nobody wears pants like that in public, unless this story takes place in Feudal Japan. Plus it seems kind of dirty and impractical, walking around, fighting on the streets with those.

[Spidey]

I wasn't trying to be negative it's just what stood out to me. Anyways, I'm interested in seeing where this is going.

[hadesillustrations]

Spidey, I never thought you were being negative. You really made me realise what I liked about Hale's kit.

Chiboy, yeah, they're not practical at all. I was thinking about some other form of clothing that would hide leg movements and that's when the trenchcoat goblin reared its ugly head and made me draw ANOTHER character with a trenchcoat. Sooooo, I passed on it and stuck with the hakama. I've see kids in the "Hot Topic" in the mall wearing pants nearly as baggy. *shrug* I'll mess around with it some more. (Note: I intended to have "view-thru" panels showing Hale's preparedness for a strike via his stance change, not visible to opponents because of the hakama).