THE EVOLUTION OF LINA

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Today's entry in the "Evolution" series takes a look at Lina, the first character created for Monsterplex! Look at how she started!


David Schlotterback (Monsterplex Artist): Lina was the very first character I took a swat at in order to address the main issue of this very fine comic that was given to me. That issue being: What is the style of art going to be, anyway? Well, I had no idea and needed to play and play and play until something came forward worth looking at. This first attempt is waaay off the mark, but fun to look at, in my opinion. Not a beautiful specimen, but I tackled the first obstacle, which was her ethnicity. The character is supposed to be of Middle-Eastern descent. I’d never drawn this ethnicity before, so, needless to say, I feel I conquered that aspect of her character, but not the beauty. Definitely not the beauty. Back to the drawing board I went.


David: Yet another attempt to find the style. Getting closer, now, I can just feel it. I liked this one and still do. However, Brock saw Lina as a sexy woman and I agree that this is not sexy. Pretty and powerful, but not sexy. To get sexy I figured I need more hair, bigger breasts and no pants. Sexy doesn’t wear pants.

Brock (Monsterplex Writer): Getting David to draw a beautiful woman was like pulling teeth. My sense was that it wasn't something he was accustomed to and I admit I was freaking out a little at this point. That's when I sharpened my pencil and came up with this head sketch. Dave got a better idea of what I intended for Lina from this, but it wasn't exactly his style. The challenge was for Dave to try to adapt the look and feel I was going for here to his own way of doing things.

So, Dave went back to drawing board once again.


David: Another attempt at Lina using a different style. Keep in mind, the style chosen for her would dictate the style of the rest of the cast and comic in general. I thought this was too Josie and the Pussycats for my taste. I got the beauty to shine through though.

Brock: He did, but I thought she looked too much like a little girl in this one.



David: Another approach to her head in the new style. Wanted to see if I could get it to work. In the immortal words of Charles Bronson, “No dice!”.

Brock: The features were just a little too babyish still. But we were getting closer.


Brock: Finally, David nailed it. I mean, just nailed it. I knew if we could work this hard to get one character just right, he could do great work on all of them. And Dave did. I think one of the strengths of MONSTERPLEX is the strong character design, and Dave's commitment to getting it just right is why.

More later!