So with SS appearance in the title I wanted to approach the design deliberately. I dont get paid from IDW to design the characters, its basically implied that if they appear on the page, then its up to me to figure it out as a part of my page rate. Im fine with that of course, its not a big deal. However with some characters I dont want to just be "figureing it out" on the page. I want there to be some deliberate thought put into what they look like.
I knew SS coming into the title would be cool and he would get this great splash page in #23 and he would be on the cover.
My thoughts on SS are that I love that he is a traditional Ninja. there isnt a soldier vs ninja debate like with SE. SS is simply a Bad A ninja. So I wanted to incorporate those elements into the design. I think thats what influenced his pants and cloth wrappings around his forearms and lower legs the most. Also the SideShow collectibles figure of SS is pretty amazing and I like the look of his pants there aswell.
For the body armor I wanted the illusion of the original cut of the gi on his shoulders, so I used similar lines. Also the belt strap across his chest is a throw back to the original.
When it came to his hood verses mask, I went with both. Seemed like a good solution. So here is my initial model sheet with the cover and splash page.
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It's not a joke...I really live in Springfield. Im just waiting to see a Hiss Tank drive out of the Car Wash.
www.robertatkinsart.com
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