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Description

After posting the leader of Gold Team, I had to follow up with the leader of Blue Team -- CYCLOPS! Although from here on out, the redesigns will probably be somewhat random.

(Edited 12/5/23 - omitted X-patches on straps & belt; changed boot tread color; changed background color to match future redesigns; edited design notes)

The main point of this series isn't to reinvent the wheel, but to distill each character down to a design that I believe captures their core essence by combining all or as many of their iconic looks as possible, diversifying the silhouettes and overall designs by incorporating aspects unique and inherent to them as a character, and adding cohesion by incorporating some sort of X motif beyond the usual X-buckle, chest logo, or shoulder patch we so often see. While you can design any number of outfits that "work" from random individual designs to fully uniformed teams, I felt that for the X-Men in particular reflecting each person's uniqueness and inherent beauty just makes sense.

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Since Scott's basic look hasn't changed too much since 1963, this is hardly a radical redesign compared to Storm but that's because of how many very different outfits and aesthetics she's had compared to ol' Scott.

ICONIC COLORS: The classic blue and gold/yellow color scheme is far and away his most prevalent.

CLASSIC OUTFIT: Since Cyke is the original X-Man, a longtime leader, and classically straitlaced and by-the-books, I wanted something truly classic... something that seemed like an outfit /designed/ to evoke superhero vibes. To paraphrase Whedon, it's designed to astonish the people! The classic outfit has essentially served as the base template for every major Cyke outfit since, from X-Factor to Astonishing and beyond with only a couple outliers.

CLASSIC TRUNKS: That also means, #TheTrunksAreBack -- he had the trunks from 1967-1986, then again throughout the 90s. It's a staple design aesthetic of classic comics which seems especially fitting for Scott (though I am unabashedly Team Trunks regardless). The trapezoid buckle and black belt is based specifically on the design seen on the cover to X-Men #39 even though it was basically never used afterward.

CLASSIC VISOR: The chunkier visor is by far his most prevalent. Whether you're picturing 90s Jim Lee Cyke, classic Claremont-era, or even most of his modern & contemporary iterations, a visor like this is probably what you picture to some extent. However, Scott will always have his *original* thinner Kirby visor as a backup, stored in his belt.

X-BANDOLIER: However, Jim Lee's 90s redesign is just so ICONIC for at least an entire generation, that I had to incorporate the bandolier. I tweaked the original Y-bandolier into an X-bandolier which has the added benefit of also being vaguely reminiscent of the large torso X from his X-Factor days. It drops down to a *single* pouch as opposed to an entire belt of pouches since he doesn't really need that many.

STRAPPED BOOTS & GLOVES: I ultimately opted to use the 90s Jim Lee-esque boots and gloves which I felt were a bit more interesting than the classic flared gloves and pirate boots. They're still essentially the classic silhouette anyway and fit with the bandolier and black trimming better.

MODERN TRIMMING: However, one design motif that's been incorporated into pretty much EVERY modern design since his Astonishing suit, is a pattern of lines running from his shoulders, down his torso, and halfway down his thighs. The exact design, thickness, and placement of the lines differs from suit to suit, but I decided to incorporate that motif into my redesign as a simple black trim.

BODY TYPE: Slim -- He is, after all, Slim Summers. I patterned his body type specifically off of Renaissance-era bodies in art like the statue of David which I felt contrasted significantly better with beefier folks like Wolverine compared.

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Visit www.artstation.com/artwork/qQN… to view several more variants.

Description

After posting the leader of Gold Team, I had to follow up with the leader of Blue Team -- CYCLOPS! Although from here on out, the redesigns will probably be somewhat random.

(Edited 12/5/23 - omitted X-patches on straps & belt; changed boot tread color; changed background color to match future redesigns; edited design notes)

The main point of this series isn't to reinvent the wheel, but to distill each character down to a design that I believe captures their core essence by combining all or as many of their iconic looks as possible, diversifying the silhouettes and overall designs by incorporating aspects unique and inherent to them as a character, and adding cohesion by incorporating some sort of X motif beyond the usual X-buckle, chest logo, or shoulder patch we so often see. While you can design any number of outfits that "work" from random individual designs to fully uniformed teams, I felt that for the X-Men in particular reflecting each person's uniqueness and inherent beauty just makes sense.

---

Since Scott's basic look hasn't changed too much since 1963, this is hardly a radical redesign compared to Storm but that's because of how many very different outfits and aesthetics she's had compared to ol' Scott.

ICONIC COLORS: The classic blue and gold/yellow color scheme is far and away his most prevalent.

CLASSIC OUTFIT: Since Cyke is the original X-Man, a longtime leader, and classically straitlaced and by-the-books, I wanted something truly classic... something that seemed like an outfit /designed/ to evoke superhero vibes. To paraphrase Whedon, it's designed to astonish the people! The classic outfit has essentially served as the base template for every major Cyke outfit since, from X-Factor to Astonishing and beyond with only a couple outliers.

CLASSIC TRUNKS: That also means, #TheTrunksAreBack -- he had the trunks from 1967-1986, then again throughout the 90s. It's a staple design aesthetic of classic comics which seems especially fitting for Scott (though I am unabashedly Team Trunks regardless). The trapezoid buckle and black belt is based specifically on the design seen on the cover to X-Men #39 even though it was basically never used afterward.

CLASSIC VISOR: The chunkier visor is by far his most prevalent. Whether you're picturing 90s Jim Lee Cyke, classic Claremont-era, or even most of his modern & contemporary iterations, a visor like this is probably what you picture to some extent. However, Scott will always have his *original* thinner Kirby visor as a backup, stored in his belt.

X-BANDOLIER: However, Jim Lee's 90s redesign is just so ICONIC for at least an entire generation, that I had to incorporate the bandolier. I tweaked the original Y-bandolier into an X-bandolier which has the added benefit of also being vaguely reminiscent of the large torso X from his X-Factor days. It drops down to a *single* pouch as opposed to an entire belt of pouches since he doesn't really need that many.

STRAPPED BOOTS & GLOVES: I ultimately opted to use the 90s Jim Lee-esque boots and gloves which I felt were a bit more interesting than the classic flared gloves and pirate boots. They're still essentially the classic silhouette anyway and fit with the bandolier and black trimming better.

MODERN TRIMMING: However, one design motif that's been incorporated into pretty much EVERY modern design since his Astonishing suit, is a pattern of lines running from his shoulders, down his torso, and halfway down his thighs. The exact design, thickness, and placement of the lines differs from suit to suit, but I decided to incorporate that motif into my redesign as a simple black trim.

BODY TYPE: Slim -- He is, after all, Slim Summers. I patterned his body type specifically off of Renaissance-era bodies in art like the statue of David which I felt contrasted significantly better with beefier folks like Wolverine compared.

---

Visit www.artstation.com/artwork/qQN… to view several more variants.