mrbayless

[mrbayless]

Stoked for the upcoming mobile game DC Worlds Collide. I absolutely adore the look and feel and always enjoy seeing these characters I love so much.

That said, speaking of the look and feel, I couldn’t ignore how similar my artstyle was to this game so, I had to try my hand at a few character designs.

I started with an eye catch then worked on model sheet turnarounds for all 4 of my proposed characters. It was fun working through the games list of characters and the entire DC roster to narrow down to 4 characters that I thought offered variety but also showed that I can work within their style. As an added bonus, I designed some alternate skins as well. The intention, again, to show that I can adapt to their look and anatomy and everything.

It was a joy to work on and one can certainly dream. Either way, it’s good practice for my proper portfolio I’m working on.

[mrbayless]

I present for you another Character Design piece: The Gutter

Much like The Last Mission which I posted a few months ago, the premise is to take one of my story ideas that I have just sitting around and see it through as a design. Concept sketches, lineup, props, lineup, full illustration. This one was fun to work on because I don’t typically work in grungy sci-fi so it meant working through all the pieces and making sure I commit to the details.

You may notice, I took a break between The Final Decision and The Design to stop and work more on my anatomy and musculature which I think super paid off!

Not only are these projects a good way to see my stockpile of ideas through but, they’ve also been a good warm up to the proper Character Design portfolio I’ve begun assembling.

[mrbayless]

Wanted follow up the Batfamily with some extras.

First being The Wayne Family. Someone here asked to see what my Alfred looked like and I adored the idea of doing a family group.

Second, I was absolutely obsessed with my trio of Gotham Incorporated. So I drew up posters/covers for how I’d want to handle their story.

Who wants to see more? What other Gothamites would you like to see? I’m working on my Justice League still which I think you’ll all love.

[mrbayless]

Recent fun project of redesigning the Batfamily.

Some of these are just a different take on a costume, some are wholly different personas.

I like having projects like this to work on after work when I need something that’s just pure entertainment and no commitment or stress.

I’ve since been tasked by my friends and Discord to tackle the Justice League next with the caveat that it match the world of this Batman which is proving to be fun.

Gotham City Timeline

1972: Bruce Wayne is born to Thomas and Martha.

1986: Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered.

1993: Bruce Wayne takes up the mantle of Batman.

1999: Bruce adopts 14 y/o Dick Grayson and eventually trains him to be Robin.

2001: Barbara Gordon joins as Batgirl and the team is complete.

2006: Dick and Barbara notice Bruce growing angrier and more violent over time and strike out on their own.

2008: Bruce attempts to reconnect to Gotham and recruits the young troublemaker Jason Todd as his new Robin.

2010: Jason is murdered at the hands of The Joker and Batman succumbs to his rage, murdering The Joker.

2012: Tim Drake uncovers the identity of Batman and attempts to join as the new Robin.

2014: Gotham is falling into chaos now that Batman is nothing but a brutal monster. Kate Kane who has returned home takes up the mantle of The Demon in an effort to bring back the monster of legend.

2015: Tim tried his best to be a new Robin to Batman but quickly leaves, joining up with low-lifes turned do-gooders Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.

2016: Batman confronts the growing street gang known as The Robins and meets Duke Thomas. Knowing what his potential, Bruce pushes him to take up a new mantle, a more bright and hopeful hero for Gotham.

2018: Rumors swirl of a nameless vigilante wandering the streets of Gotham. Locals call him Red Hood.

2024: Though worn out and beaten down, Bruce is finding a reason to care again after meeting his secret son Damien Wayne al Ghul. He wants Gotham to be better for his son, he wants himself to be better for his son. Thankfully, Damien’s violence seems to be keeping his own in check.

[mrbayless]

So I decided to try something recently and, instead of obsessively stockpiling every single idea I have, I’m going to see them through in *some* kind of manner. Not every character can be a story can be a novel, right? So I gave myself a format as this will serve a second purpose; making myself do the work.

The idea is that when I have these ideas, I’ll make myself try out options, do the work, actually sketch and concept, and put it all together into a finished piece at the end.

[mrbayless]

I’m not super knowledgeable of the endless depth that is Warhammer 40k lore but, I do know that Space Marine 2 is out now and this craggy man looked very fun to draw.

Long live Lieutenant Titus.

Quite frankly, I’m really happy with what I did hear. I had a real fun time drawing his war torn face and armor.

[mrbayless]

MIDRA, LORD OF THE FRENZIED FLAME

I’m not skilled enough to play most FromSoft games but I do enjoy the look and feel of them. I wanted to take a stab at a few of the bosses from Elden Ring specifically. Loved this dude’s design of the swirling head of fiery madness. Keep an eye out for the others as well.

[mrbayless]

I am very excited for Star Wars Outlaws! Kay Vess and Nix are a fantastic duo and I can’t wait to get into trouble in the Star Wars galaxy.

[mrbayless]

So immensely excited to see Monkey Man by Dev Patel. He’s an incredible actor and the movie looks like pure adrenaline wrapped in a poignant message about the divide of people.

I tried to do this piece all in one layer. No undo. Just pushing myself through it, fixing mistakes along the way.

[mrbayless]

I’m a big fan of all things George Miller so it’s no surprised I’m stoked for Furiosa!

Can’t wait to see Anya Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth throw down in the desert wasteland!

[mrbayless]

Yellowjacket Trigger

黄色 - 上着 - 引き金

This is a project I’ve had in my mind for a year now. I initially wrote the concept for all this in my notes app and sketched out all the bits and pieces over the next several months when I had downtime.

I researched a lot of anime and figures to find the right look and style and it was super fun building out this whole world and concept. That core concept being “a team of cute girls who hunt down robot beasts”

Within that world we have UMOD (Universal Mechanoid Observation Division), a branch of the military standing against the robotic beasts and soldiers called Mechanoids that terrorize the planet. The Yellowjackets are an elite team of UMOD soldiers who hunt down Mechanoids.

With that, let me introduce the team:

First up, Izzy! The newest member of the team, she is brash and confident. I wanted someone who was the “loose cannon cop” type. The rockstar. She’s joining an established team so it always helps to have someone that shakes things up. Someone with unconventional methods but gets the job done.

Up next is Catherine, the most skilled member. She’s super serious, because it’s always fun to have that clash of serious with confident. The Murtaugh and Riggs dynamic. She considers herself the leader purely because she’s the longest surviving hunter.

Introducing Anita, one of my favorites. Every team needs to have the cautious and hesitant one who isn’t always keen for combat. Much like Donatello, she is the brains of the bunch, helping with inventions and tech, and the upkeep of Panzer. She’ll fight to protect her team… just at a distance.

This is Olivia, the ditzy dumb sniper. Every good group of characters has to have the classic airhead, this one just happens to be deadly at 800 meters. What she lacks in intelligence she makes up for in deadly accuracy. With most of these designs I had to give into a bit of the style and play with anatomy.

Then we have Dee, an absolute unit of a soldier. She’s the muscle, the heavy, the strong silent type. I was very keen to offset the body types of this team with some muscle. I imagine her being the typically quiet one but when you give her a behemoth machine gun she goes off like a kid with a new toy.

Lastly is Panzer, my favorite element of this whole project! The Mechanoids that the team hunts down are robotic soldiers and animals and Panzer here was one they found and repurposed for their side. As deadly as he is precious and loyal, he stands by the girls day or night. I went a little overboard with his design, adding in seams and panels because A from my research, that’s how you solidify a mecha design, and B I imagine he has quite a bit of firepower tucked away within is body. He is, the goodest of boys.

I have so much more of this concept laid out with Mechanoid designs, various important figures, and a rival group of hunters.

If you guys enjoy this let me know!

[mrbayless]

A VERY HAPPY THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY to the character that started it all!

I’m not kidding. Scud is turbo important to me.

When I was super young and started learning the mechanic of putting pencil to paper to give the things in my mind a physical form, Scud was the first time I saw a character and thought “He’s so cool! I want my OWN cool character!” and from that day forward I plagiarized everything I loved and called it an original idea.

[mrbayless]

Back when the RotB trailers started dropping I got hooked on the idea of a Liam Neeson style action flick starring Optimus Prime. Just the idea of him fighting to survive in the last days as Cybertron begins to fall.

[mrbayless]

I had the absolute pleasure of drawing up this epic commission for Superkaelyn and Soopurkul and Snowbee. They gave me full carte blanche with their designs and poses and colors so… I went hog wild. I wanted to do something as fun and colorful and energetic as they themselves are!

[mrbayless]

I fully truly love Death Stranding. There’s something about what Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions s were able to accomplish with this game that has a tight death grip on me. I can truly spend hours just walking through the beautiful landscape making routine deliveries.

I’m excited for the upcoming film with A24, and I hope it successfully translates Kojima’s vision.

I’m so genuinely proud of this piece. I wanted to do something different with it and I did. I wanted to take my time with it and I did. I love what I do but I also love the look of rough art, oil painters especially. They have this way of forcing a cacophony of color into a beautiful shape, and in these new days of fake AI creations, we could all use more human flaws.

[mrbayless]

Together we peer into the new year.

I hope your 2024 is filled with joy and happiness.

I’m very excited about this new piece. I tried some new techniques and I used my new StickyBones figure for pose/lighting reference. I plan to push myself even more as an artist this year. I want to keep learning and growing.

[mrbayless]

MOVIE MANIACS!

Leatherface. Michael Myers. Jason Voorhees. Freddy Krueger.

So thrilled with how these pieces turned out.

If you’d like a print of one of these lovely psychopaths for yourself, check out my print shop at

https://society6.com/MrBayless/designs