HatU - Lourdes (and bonus steampunk stuff)

Alright, 'nother main character of the series, this time, one of the major females of the cast. Meet Lourdes Poids (pronounced "pwah"), resident voodoo witch of the Underground.

Born in Haiti, she was raised by her mother and aunts when she moved to the Lousiana Bayou as a young girl. However, an unfortunate occurence involving a strange black mist caused her to flee from the swamps and wind up on the streets of San Francisco. Being found by Hayden and a few of the children of the Underground at the time, she was brought into their society, where they bonded, remaining close friends ever since.

As an adult, she owns a corner shop called "The Mojo Alcove" and proves to be a very valuable ally to the hero - aiding him with her knowledge of potion making and alchemy as well as general voodoo. (Though it should be known that necromancy is her weak point - making undead armies isn't her specialty, though she has a few tricks up her sleeves for spiritual communication and exorcisms) It isn't wise to make her angry, unless you want to be turned into a hideous beast or rendered to a pile of ash.

She has quite the flame for our hero, but only problem is he's too stupid to ever notice. Even then, she still remains fiercely protective of him, and is pretty much one of the only women able to put him in his place should he act reckless... which is quite often.

I know you guys may be thinking - no, she wasn't inspired by Princess and the Frog. Surprisingly enough, one of her main inspirations was Mz. Ruby from the Sly Cooper games. |D And of course, my love for some aspects of the voodoo culture.

And yeah, gotta do a more recent full body pic of her soon. Out of all the females I have (for this story, at least), she's possibly my favourite both character and design wise. <3



Lastly, I said that I was gonna post a bonus piece here. I love Abney Park's music, and listening to their song "The Clockyard inspired me to try my hand at a more steampunk version of Hayden. I've had the design in my head for a while, so it's about time I got it down on paper.

This version of him can't transform into his beastly alter-ego, but instead, he wears metal claws over his fingers and his overcoat is tattered to the point where when it flaps about in the winds, it looks like the wispy trails of a phantom's body. (The goggles are also black with blue-tinted lenses, lawls.) You could say this was loosely inspired off of an old comic tournament I was in known as "Rogue Skies" - where the main theme was air pirates. Some of the people joining did steampunk versions of pre-existing characters, so I figured I'd be all nostalgic and give it a shot.

Maybe I should try steampunk'd variants of the other members of the cast? Huh.. it's a thought.

Also I got myself some mini pieces of Bristol today, so I've been trying my hand at some custom made "artist cards". I may scan them at some point, because it's been a loooong time since I've last done something in a fully traditional medium since like.. 2005. :I

HatU - Hayden (pt. 1)

WELL, I think I should get to finally gaining a habit to updating this thing daily. Seeing as I've been trying to draw more, I think it's time to touch this thing after TEN DAYS since the last post. :|

Anyway.. as stated in the little flavor text of this blog, the project I'm working on is a universe known as "Hayden and the Underground", which in essence, are a collection of short stories about a superhero and his friends/colleagues/allies/etc. either going on crazy-ass adventures or just doing their best to eke out an everyday living in a futuristic San Francisco. Most times, if not all.. it's usually a mix of both.

Because hell, if you live in a time where superheroes, aliens and god-knows-what else coexist in the same place, everyday is most likely going to have a highlight. |D

Getting down to the post, this is the titular character of this little universe - Hayden Rosencranz.

Hayden is what he likes to call a "freelance superhero", basically going around to where he senses trouble and restoring order when other heroes are off all willy-nilly elsewhere. Y'know, dealing with not only cries of help around your domain and world, but distress calls from different planets and even alternate dimensions.

Sound like the ordinary superhero fare? Aaah, but there is a catch.

He's not one to take his job as seriously as others of his profession would - he's cocky, crass, a ball-buster, and quite rude among the ladyfolk. Often, his jobs would result in him sometimes getting beaten, screamed at, or even chased out of a province. One would be led to believe going around and restoring order is a reward in itself, but for Hayden? It's a way to make his money to get by, whether or not the end result is desirable.

And what powers make him so "special"? It's not what he is on the outside, but really... what lies beneath.

I'll go more into his initial development, origins and whatnot in later posts. For now, enjoy a couple sketches, for there's more to come later~.