That stopped me cold. I thought about the days when I filled notebooks with poems, short stories, essays, and more. And I realized it had been more than a decade since I “checked in” with myself. (more…)

For those of you who aren’t regulars here, this is Steve Collins, a.k.a. The Victory Streak. He is the title character of my upcoming comic-book, and naturally the protagonist of the story.

I’m going to be posting character designs for this and many of the other recurring characters in the book, with the exception of a couple whose appearance in this blog would reveal a major plot point that I don’t want to telegraph.

I’m leaning toward dispense with the idea of the costume altogether, as I’m kinda fascinated with the idea of a hero who runs around in street clothes. There’s something about normal clothes that grounds a character, at least for me, and makes the fantastic all the more believable. I’ve also thought about using the tee-shirt as a running joke, placing a different logo there in each issue (or at least in each story).

Can I pull it off? Ultimately, I think it will depend on my drawing skills. If my drawings are dynamic enough, I think I can make it work. I think this drawing represents an improvement over the last two I posted. But there is still enormous need for improvement. For example, I did a lousy job rendering the character’s hair, hands, and sneakers. And while I’m getting better at drawing folds in clothing, I still have a ways to go in that department.

I’ll be aiming for completing at least three sketches a week, all of which will be posted here. Feel free to leave a comment below. I’m eager to hear your thoughts!

Anyway, while I was at the airport waiting for my luggage to come my way via the baggage carousel, an interesting thought occurred to me. I began to wonder how people might have reacted had I, upon seeing my bag, put my hands on my hips and cried out, “SHIT! Why didn’t that DETONATE?”

Here he is with a jacket: 

What do you think?

Hey kids, sorry I’ve been gone awhile. To make up for it, here is the first ever sketch of The Victory Streak in action!

I’m afraid the scan is kinda crappy. After I scanned the drawing, I tried inking it and remembered that my inking skills are waaayyyy behind my meager penciling skills. I’m going to “recover” it by tracing over it on a clean sheet using my lightbox, and see if I can tighten it up with a darker pencil that will scan better. If it’s appreciably better, I’ll post it.

Gotta go. I understand a friend is having a crisis of confidence and I need to set him straight.