Noir Illustrations: Det. "Lancelot" Worthington

I've been working on my various "Crime Noir" projects for the past few weeks. These include tough-as-nails characters with stark lighting and a high-contrast appearance. Obviously, Frank Miller's Sin City is an influence, but I'm trying to add my own stamp on this look. So far, I think it's working. I'm definitely getting a handle on the look and creation of this type of illustration.

A character sketch and background info for someone
appearing in one of my upcoming projects.

As before, this illustration was created using Poser 11's Comic Book Preview from two renders that were composited in Manga Studio 5. I'll explain this process in detail in some future post.

Also, if you're having trouble reading the text, here it is:

J.C. "Julius Caesar" Worthington's head almost exploded when his son stood there and boldly proclaimed that he was "throwing away wealth, privilage and an Ivy League education that could have sent him to the White House," just to be take a job that any "flatfoot, half-sober Irishman could do!" At least that's how J.C. put it as he cut Lance off from both family and fortune. But after a few years walking a beat -- and rising through the ranks with a combination of book smarts and learned-on-the-job street smarts, he worked his way up to Detective. That's when grandma laughed and "cut him back in," giving him a trust fund that would keep him in expensive suits and convertables for the rest of his days. "He's the first one of this brood who's not afraid to get some dirt under his nails and actually work for a living!"

Known on the force for sharp clothes and a clean conscience, his fellow cops gave him a lot of nicknames over the years: from "The White Knight" to "Little Boy Blue Blood." But the one that stuck was the most apt: "Lancelot."

Powers Beyond Cover Logo & Type

I'll wrap up my work on Powers Beyond with a look at the cover. I DID NOT DO THE ART for this cover. However, I did do the following:

• Logo design
• Color adjustments of the base image it to enhance/hide certain elements around the text
• Typeset text on back cover (which was hard to find a color that would show up well on such a varied background)

This is worth opening at full size, folks!

You can buy Powers Beyond at Lulu as a print book, or as a PDF. This actually looks like a lot of fun to play (I haven't yet had the opportunity to sit down with James at the game table for this one, but I shall). It's a superheroes game set in a semi-apocalyptic future. There's a detailed world for this game, so you can run many different types of adventures. In other words... it's EPIC!