The Hulk With Herpes.

Continuing our sneak-peek at Book 2 this summer, today I’ll be officially releasing the first ever character sketch and name from the second book in the Babayka-Lives series. 

A lot of character designs I just have in my head pretty much from inception. I know what I want to do with that character, and how I want them to look, and it’s just a case of trying to sketch their design down. That said, in both Book 1 and 2, there have been a few characters I’ve not been a 100% sure what I’m after with their look. I know what their characteristics are, but I can’t see them clearly in my head yet. Baransky (a new character in Book 2) is a good example of that. I knew I wanted him to be burly and mean looking, but I couldn’t quite get a fix on how his face should look. I think he was the last character I designed for Book 2, and it took a couple of goes to get him right. I like my character designs to be interesting, so I don’t get bored of drawing them over the years, but Baransky always seemed to come out a bit plain looking when I tried to doodle him down. I saw him as a kind of Bluto like character, minus the beard and the sailor aspect, of course, but I just couldn’t zero in on what I was going for. Then it popped into my head that I should draw him like a more human version of the incredible hulk. I just wanted to draw that hulk style massive chin and bird's nest hairdo, as I’ve always thought it was a cool look. Plus making him hulk like fitted with him being burly and tough looking. This bruiser hulk look worked for me, but I felt like something was still missing, and the design was still a little plain. I then remembered at one point I was going to draw one of the other characters with a gross herpes infected lower lip, but didn’t for some reason in the end, so I recycled that idea, and thought it suited Baransky look a lot better. Once I’d done that, I really felt his look was complete. In recent months, I’ve notices he’s fast becoming one of my favourite characters to draw in Book 2. He’s maybe more of a background character in the story, but I thought readers might get a kick out of knowing his look is human hulk with herpes inspired. I enjoy drawing him in the same way I enjoyed drawing Kevin Moon in Brides Of Babayka. I really like characters with unique facial characteristics. 

So there it is. Our first official character from Book 2. I’ll probably post one or two more over the summer before Babayka-Lives returns in august, so stay tuned for those.