Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Visionaries of Tomorrow Costume Design sketches...up dated..TF added

Hi All - as promised here are few of the initial design sheets I did while coming up with the new look for the Legion. Please bear in mind these are just very fast doodles!

With the exception of the Shadow Lass piece I think all these show designs that ultimately weren't used!

Lots of folks have asked about the process behind the work I do - so here's a quick explanation of these. Basically I just doodle letting ideas form on the paper - I'll start in pencil and then as something seems to be coming together I'll go over the doodle in felt-tip - no fancy pens or anything as this is just trying to catch ideas as quickly as possible. As I'm working I'll make notes too as I go along - these are NOT always relevant to how the characters end up in the stories!

I send the sketches I do to Mark and Steve and we'll discuss them before I take another shot at sketching the character. Eventually we'll hit on something we're all happy with - or at least we can all agree on

Hope you enjoy seeing these 'thoughts on paper' and behind the scenes stuff! If you have the appetite for it I'll be happy to post more.

Thanks, as always, for all your support and feedback!

Wow this is really gonna enhance my micro version! I like this Colossal Boy look the best out of the other stuff I've seen of him!

Shadow Lass and Light Lass are two of my fave designs and they look great here!

I'm sold on Saturn Girl's cape! And Cos looks very cool.

Thanks Barry

Jorge

Feel free to keep these coming Barry! These are spectacular!

Barry, it's great to see these! I'm usually pretty open minded about costume designs. You'll find as you get to know me, that I'm VERY interested in HAIRSTYLES!

Shadow Lass has a pretty simple, plain style. I'm sure you've heard how popular Coipel's old Hollywood style on her was. It will be interesting to get to know this new Shadow Lass' personality. Maybe that "don't notice me" hairdo makes sense for her? I'd like to see something a little wilder, maybe even goth, on her.

Cosmic Boy looks like Cosmic Boy! That's a good thing.

Ayla looks really cute. With that body and that outfit, even I don't care what's going on with her hair, but she does seem to have the standard Light Lass style.

I love that in your Saturn Girl notes you've mentioned the slightly tossled blond hair. I've always noted how Imra's hair, in all of Legion publishing history, is just a bit off. At first it was too stiffly perfect, then it had weird swirling wings, then no style, then a terribly out of stlye mullet, and so on and so on. My line has always been that Imra is very very beautiful and has naturally blonde healthy hair, so she really doesn't worry about it much and just lets it do whatever. That's what it appears you've drawn. Her hair is pretty and blond but it's a bit messy so she just puts it back.

Sorry, I do ramble about hair, especially Saturn Girl's...

Love this sketch of Colossal Boy! He looks like an American football player, a lineman! That'd be perfect!

Thanks for sharing these! So fun!

I love it! It's wonderful!

I like the alternate versions of Cos uniform,specially the one on the right!

Thanks all!

I was pretty happy with this Colossal Boy, but Mark wanted a more 'stream-lined super-hero look' so that's what we went with. Who knows, I may sneak some of this back in along the way

That was exactly my thinking on Saturn Girl's hair - don't be surprised if she does make an effort with it for special occassions. I don't know any girls with long hair that don't have it in various styles from time to time, so I'm expecting our long-haired legionnaires to change theirs occassionally - tied back, let down etc.

Glad you're sold onthe cape now Jorge!

What an incredible treat to see these.

I think nearly all the versions of Cos would have been good and I particularly favor the bottom two on the set posted here.

Colossal Boy - I really favor the sketch here to to final version.

And I'm ready to set aside ALL my reservations about Saturn Girl in a cape based on what I've seen here.

I'm so glad to see how much these characters look like young adults (a la the Corckrum redesigns) rather than kids.

Hi Joe - Thanks - always glad to win another convert to the cape!

Maybe if enough people prefer this CB costume I can win Mark round to it!

This rocks Barry!

Love the Shadow Lass.Cosmic Boy looks awesome in every design you had.I don't think Saturn Girl has ever looked any better then in these sketches. And I will have to agree that I like this version of Gim in this outfit.

Please keep bringing them on Barry!

These are great to see, Barry. Thanks for posting them. Tasmia looks awesome as does Cos. I really like the arrow idea for Ayla but I'll disagree with you in the sense that I really liked the one piece design in the upper right corner. (Not that there's anything wrong with the other)

As for Imra & Gim (Is that still his name?), I'm still trying to get use to Imra's cape. It just seems out of place to me yet, perhaps because the costume is so similar to her previous one. If it had been a complete redesign I might not be struggling as much with the cape. Gim is interesting but I'll need to see more of him beofre I can get a feel for him.

Your "doddling" reminds me very much of what my dad used to do when he was at work drawing something. Brought a smile to my face.

Thanks for sharing them!!

I do like this costume design for CB than the other one I've seen, BTW. That one didn't grab me at all.

WOW! Thanks for sharing these Barry. Simply incredible!

These are FANTASTIC Barry!!
Please post more. I'd love to see all of the design work that you're willing to share.

Thanks for sharing, Barry! Those are cool, especially Shadow Lass. Your "process" for styling the Legion is very logical--shows that you are a true Legion fan!

I agree about long haired heroines. It never made sense to me that they'd always wear their hair the same way! Real women sure don't!

Can't wait to see your sketches for Dream Girl and Sun Boy, since they've always been my favorite Legionnaires.

Thanks guys!
Nightcrawler is being kind enough to host these images for me so I'll try to send him a few each day until they've all been seen!

Hey Barry,
I'm gonna have to come down on the side of Colossal Boy's costume as seen in the preview pages. Sorry, but I agree with Mark. I love the clean lines of the costume you've got him in now. And I love the logo on his chest! The blue squares are the coolest, most succinct graphic representing his powers I've ever seen.

Between the new Legion series and the Red Sox winning the World Series, this is turning out to be a pretty good year!
Sudro

Aw, yeah, THIS is the stuff I love to see! It's always great to get a peek at the "behind-the-scenes", development-style work.

Ironically, my favorite design for Shady's medallion is the one you've scribbled out...

Hi Sudro - I'm definitely not going to be upset about you liking any design I came up with

That is an interesting look for Colossal Boy. He looks a lot gruffer than any other version. But then, after the postboot version, maybe that's exactly what he needs.

I still love the costumes for Shadow Lass and Cosmic Boy. The cape for Saturn Girl has grown on me a bit, too. I'm still not sure about that arrow on Light Lass, but I'm sure I'll adjust.

Another think I like is that, like someone else said, I no longer have to translate code names in my head.

Thanks for posting these, Barry! Really I just like seeing different versions of the costumes, so I can't positively say that I like some over others. I'll be happy to see some variations as the series goes along too.

One thing. I like Ayla's new costume. But, for some reason I only noticed with these sketches how similar it is to Element Lad's from the 70s. I think it only really became obvious with the one-piece version. Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.

Allow me to add my "WOW, COOL!" to the general good feelings. Mr. Kitson, you've made a big impression so far. Please continue to visit. I know Mark writes 87 monthly books, but maybe he could drop by? You could mention that we're not ALL crazy...

Barry, a thousand thanks for sharing these! Even these sketches look just as beautiful as the final product!

I really love all the designs and have to admit a preference for the original Colossal Boy costume over the one we ended up with. It makes him look like someone who should be taken a bit more seriously, as any giant should!

Thanks for sharing and we'd love to see what other pieces you'd like to share when you find the time.

i love these!!! thanks barry. keep'em coming.
all of these sketches makes me appreciate the final results a bit more. i was cool towards the saturn girl and cosmic boy from what i saw in the preview, but these sketches win me over. they do capture the characters.
i like the "giant characteristics" take on colassol boy. the brow, the thick proportions...it gives him more of a personality and a way to stand out from all the brunette good looking all-american guys on the team. i like the arm-band treatment in the sketch, but also like the chest logo on his "preview" uniform. i love the light lass look. it really brings back the cockrum/grell feeling. I find shadow lass to be serviceble. i miss some more exotic, mysterious feel. especially in current comic book costume standards, it's kind of run of the mill. i do like your description of a leather-clad warrior woman and wish to see more in that direction. why do ALL the girls have bare midriffs? your personal taste? 30th century style? the LSH's interpretation of 21st century super-heroine styles?
please keep sharing, barry. my respect for your craft is growing enormously.

Barry, is it possible that some of these alternate costume designs may show up? I know that superheroes tend to stick with one costume, but is that necessarily realistic? I can understand someone liking a particular look, but wanting variations on it or different accessories from time to time. That's what real kids do. If I were a superhero, I would have several different costumes (they do get dirty) and while the theme would be the same, there would be some variety.

I can't believe how excited I am about this new version of the Legion! Barry, you've been great to come on here and give us even more tempting teasers! I've been reading LSH since the late 70s and wasn't thrilled that things were changing again. With the preview story and everything we've seen so far, I can't wait for issue #1. Haven't felt that way in a looong time.