Nightwing... Step 1

I've talked for months about wanting to put together a redesign of the Nightwing costume to send to Project Rooftop (where hopefully they will review it positively and it will be a huge stepping stone to a very lucrative comic career... um, yeah). Its been on every to do list of mine since October, and yet has never gotten done.

Now, as anyone who reads this knows, I've been making a very conscious effort to draw more. So why the hell not give Nightwing another whirl. Here was my thinking behind updating one of the plainest costumes in all of comics. After One Year Later, DC moved Dick Grayson to New York, my thought was that I needed to redesign his acrobat costume for a real world city. I would add a slightly thicker kevlar outershell as well padding for his knees and elbows as well as side padding for the ribs. I also added a utility belt that puts him more in line with Batman. As well as a side pouch for his fighting sticks (I've always hated the dumb notion that these would just stick out from his back as they currently do). It felt more like a design for movie version of Nightwing.

As inspiration I downloaded every different variation of the character Nightwing. Everything from the Titans animated series down to the original Nightwing of Krypton. That while being heavily influenced by the hyper-realistic style Bryan Hitch has for heroes and costumes to the gritty ultra-urban look that the city has in older Alex Maleev Daredevils. Its very different than the Michael Turner style I've been drawing in lately. Its less fluid, but more realistic. Something I think you would see a real New York wear.

This piece is no where near finished, I still need to scan Nightwing have my love color him in (I suck at coloring my own art) and then compose him with a great shot my love took of a building on 8th Avenue. Once that is done, I then what to strip in this great early evening sky from another picture MS took. Then and only then will I be ready to submit for review. It should be a fun project.