The Demon - Ra's Al Ghul

So Arrow is on the mid season break right now after the epic mid season finale. Please go watch it if you haven't because it was awesome! So here is my concept illustrations of the Demon himself once again working with the fantastic costume designer Maya Mani and her costume department. I did this illustration before they cast the actor Matt Nable. There were rumors that 'The Mummy returns" actor Oded Fehr was on the list and Niam Neeson from the Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight triology is interested, so I tried to gave my Ra's a hybrid of both actors' qualities. This was another one of those I can check it off my list illustration of an iconic comic book character that I wouldn't have thought I would be able to work on. I'm that close to the Batman world! I can't wait til the second half of the season starts again since we were left with the big SPOILER 'cliffhanger' and a much better view of the A.T.O.M exo-suit hologram. Much much more cool things to come so stay tune and have a great holiday!

The Demon, the Bird and the Atom

So its almost mid season finale of Arrow, and they have been revealing some pretty cool characters. First they gave us the first glimpse of Ra's Al Ghul at the end of episode 4 'The Magician'. Last week they released official photos of Laurel Lance as Black Canary. At the end of this week's episode, they've gave a nice sneak peak of the hologram render of Ray Palmer's A.T.O.M exosuit that I have the pleasure to illustrate. It is one of the coolest thing I've got to do and definitely I can cross that one off my list, can't wait to see the full suit on Palmer.

The Flash episode 2 - Multiplex

In the second episode of The Flash, Flash faces a villain whose power is the ability to multiply himself. Cisco Ramon made up the name Captain Clone for him half way through the episode and at the end he gave him a name that are more familiar to the comic book fans - Multiplex. He was the the first character I got to worked on for The Flash. Like the first season of Arrow, the villains are not quite villainy yet and stilll very grounded visually.

Roy is Arsenal and he kicked butt.

So the long way was over, here is the concept for Arsenal. Season 3 of Arrow premiered on Wednesday this week and it was full of awesomeness and surprises. Roy finally made his debut as Arsenal in his full fancy outfit. When I say fancy, I mean fancy even Stephen Amell (Arrow) himself has joked about now he has the second coolest in one of his comic con appearances. I'm super happy how this one turns out in person and on screen, costume designer Maya Mani and her team did such an amazing job on it and definitely set a new high bar for the show. Go team Arrow!

Brandon Routh confirms that he has seen The Atom design. He said it! Not me!

Former Superman, now playing Ray Palmer in season 3 of Arrow, actor Brandon Routh has spoken during an interview that he has seen the design for the Atom suit, which I guess I can at least now say that yes I worked on it. He said it! The Atom! Full article here.

Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer.

Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer.

Arrow season 3

It seems like (and I know so) that lots of exciting stuff are happening in the third season of Arrow this year. During the Arrow panel in SDCC this year, they showed a trailer for Arrow season 3 which featured 2 really big characters, Ray Palmer and Ra's Al Ghul. Yes Ra's Al Ghul as in the one who was in the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy which obviously would be a new cast but Liam Neeson has expressed that he would reprise the role for Arrow TV series in a heartbeat! I started working on the illustration for the character awhile ago before I know that they are going to tease him in this trailer, it was another big big secret that I had to keep from all my comic book friends. Ray Palmer is another interesting one, they have cast Brandon Routh who played Superman in Superman Returns in 2006. During one of the panels, one of the show's producer explained that he originally asked DC if they can use Blue Beetle, and DC said they have other plans for him, and then the producer asked again, 'How about The Atom?' and DC said yes.
I think (and again know so) that The Atom is going to be pretty damn cool, probably one of the coolest things I got to work on this year. So besides those 2, they have also announced that the 8th episode will be a 2 hours cross over episode with the Flash which I have also started working on. They are building a pretty rich DC universe on TV, announcing a new character almost every few weeks, Katanna, Komodo, Cupid....
I'll talk about the designs more when I can eventually show and talk about them! All I can say is thank you CW and the producers for making these shows so I can geek out at work. I've attached the link to the season 3 trailer below!
Arrow season 3 extended trailer with Ra's Al Ghul

Roy gets a big boy mask! Graduates to Arsenal!

Many have speculated who would Roy Harper ultimately become in the Arrow-verse. Speedy? Red Arrow? Arsenal? In the finale of season 2, Roy finally put on a mask but with his normal red hoodie street clothes to help team Arrow to fight the Deathstroke army but still without a hero alias yet. The mask is essentially a red version of the Arrow mask, seems abit simple? Well during the San Diego Comic Con, they have finally revealed who he will become in season 3 and the first photo of him as - wait for it - ARSENAL! I've kept my mouth shut for awhile since I started doing his concept back in the middle of season 2. The Arsenal suit was pretty cool to work on but since they have only showed 1 image of it, I will wait until the show airs before I show the full concept and talk about the details further. For now here is a little sneak peek head shot of the full illustration.

Deathstroke's little helper - Ravager

Sorry for the super super late update! My full time work, freelance work and personally life has been so crazy. I'll try to catch up on my updates chronologically so hopefully it make some sort of sense.
Ravager! Played by the cult fan favorite Summer Glau. She appeared in the season finale of season 2. This illustration was really fun to do as usual. I had to again do some further research on who she is, what she is like, how she looks to get a better core idea of what elements I must have in order for her to still read as Ravager in the Arrow-verse. The easy part was that Deathstroke has already been established, so she is essentially an extension of him but sleeker and sexier. We decided to have her abit more stealth and subtle than Deathstroke so shes only in black and abit or orange and without the blue. The make is the trickiest part for this character because they actually want to show part of her face unlike Deathstroke, so it naturally goes into a more superhero realm than the realistic side. Summer Glau's face also has a really strong structure, therefore framing her face without making her look too masculine was abit challenging.
Go Deathstroke army!!

Heir To The Demon - Nyssa Al' Ghul

Nyssa, the less famous daughter of Ras Al' Ghul showed up in the latest episode of Arrow, titled 'Heir to the Demon. I was pretty excited about working on her. One, shes the daughter of Ras, whose named have been popping up here and there through out the season, and hes a major Batman villain. Two, she have never been realize in any medium besides the comic. I actually had to look up her history and who she is. I'm very familiar with Talia, but not Nyssa so it actually made it easier because I don't have an image already stuck in my head of what she looks like. I was working closely with costume designer Maya Mani of course, especially this one we wanted to use alot more texture and different elements that give her abit more eastern flavor. I think she looks awesome on screen, shes badass but also very elegant and sexy, its a good break from the more sleek, clean and realistic combat type modern villains. Shes one of my new favorite characters on the show that I worked on because she has that fantastical element while still feels realistic.

Deathstroke is back!

I've been waiting very impatiently for this one, cause its a pretty important one for me. The new badder and improve Deathstroke returns in the latest episode of Arrow "Blindspot". I was very excited when i find out that I get to do a new version of him, but also comes the burden that Arkham Origin just came out and their Deathstroke is BAD-ASS!!! What to do?? I looked up every single version of him that has been done before to find the core design language of what makes him Deathstroke. Also I want to make sure i'm doing something that is different even if it is in small subtle details. Almost everything has been done........ so the only strong direction is to stick to the style of the show and ground him. The Arkham version is super cool but has a lot of more fantastic elements that I can stay away from, his armors are almost abit medieval inspired. I was also excited when Costume Designer Maya Mani told me that they are finally open to more hard body armor and even some colors other than the black and greys! We've talked about that it should not be a completely new suit the he built, but more like an upgraded version of Slade, so I took alot of the Island Slade elements and incorporated into the new Deathstroke. I know it will be compare to the Arkham one, but I think we found a good balance that it is cool enough but realistic enough so I'm not so worried by the end of it. Enjoy!