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Description
This is a sketch of my redesign of Darklon from G.I. Joe. Why?? Maybe I just like a challenge....or I'm procrastinating other stuff. It'd be fun to tinker some more and keep going with the redesign, but I think I've done enough. I'm not completely happy with the profile, but it shows enough intent for preliminary.

Purpose: keep enough of his original design to stay true-ish to the character; use color and design choices that link him into the Iron Grenedier's lineup a little better than the original.

For more of my thoughts, keep reading:

I was reading some Larry Hama's G.I. Joe classics (I may be dating myself, but his GI Joe run was my main introduction to comics), and was ran into this character that just never made much sense to me--neither visually nor narratively. He comes across as a "poor man's Destro." I understood at the time that the characters and toys were getting goofier (actually, a lot of it was just bad color choice for the toys--which the comics colorists often minimized), but I find him visually ghastly and narratively redundant. So, I get why he was in the comics (they made a toy, so he had to be there), and I applauded the way Hama killed him off as a punchline (what I thought he deserved).

Sooooo...as I read into the newer IDW Hama run, and Hama brings him back, I could only think, "WHY??" This time, there's a choice.

Which led me to think, "What could I do with this character?"
He's supposed to be a military genius driven by greed who's Destro's cousin.
Story: I thought it would make more sense for him to be one of Destro's generals than a competitor.
Design: In such a case it would make more sense for him to look like he belonged with the crowd, so I adjusted his helmet to be a little more like the I.G. soldiers, and ran with the costume. I wanted to keep the a-symmetry and as much of the original as made sense. His colors were garish, so I tried to pull in his green scales to more of a gray-green, and his bright terra cotta pants are now more khaki--balance his color scheme (originally black w/ bright orange and green) with the I.G. (red, black, gold; some gray; some drivers used tan).

At this point, it could be fun to play with the colors and styles more, but I'm done. It was fun, and I haven't drawn much in a while, and it got me to draw, so that's a good thing.

Description
This is a sketch of my redesign of Darklon from G.I. Joe. Why?? Maybe I just like a challenge....or I'm procrastinating other stuff. It'd be fun to tinker some more and keep going with the redesign, but I think I've done enough. I'm not completely happy with the profile, but it shows enough intent for preliminary.

Purpose: keep enough of his original design to stay true-ish to the character; use color and design choices that link him into the Iron Grenedier's lineup a little better than the original.

For more of my thoughts, keep reading:

I was reading some Larry Hama's G.I. Joe classics (I may be dating myself, but his GI Joe run was my main introduction to comics), and was ran into this character that just never made much sense to me--neither visually nor narratively. He comes across as a "poor man's Destro." I understood at the time that the characters and toys were getting goofier (actually, a lot of it was just bad color choice for the toys--which the comics colorists often minimized), but I find him visually ghastly and narratively redundant. So, I get why he was in the comics (they made a toy, so he had to be there), and I applauded the way Hama killed him off as a punchline (what I thought he deserved).

Sooooo...as I read into the newer IDW Hama run, and Hama brings him back, I could only think, "WHY??" This time, there's a choice.

Which led me to think, "What could I do with this character?"
He's supposed to be a military genius driven by greed who's Destro's cousin.
Story: I thought it would make more sense for him to be one of Destro's generals than a competitor.
Design: In such a case it would make more sense for him to look like he belonged with the crowd, so I adjusted his helmet to be a little more like the I.G. soldiers, and ran with the costume. I wanted to keep the a-symmetry and as much of the original as made sense. His colors were garish, so I tried to pull in his green scales to more of a gray-green, and his bright terra cotta pants are now more khaki--balance his color scheme (originally black w/ bright orange and green) with the I.G. (red, black, gold; some gray; some drivers used tan).

At this point, it could be fun to play with the colors and styles more, but I'm done. It was fun, and I haven't drawn much in a while, and it got me to draw, so that's a good thing.