Ascendant Androids Chargeman

Business of War: Chargeman of the Scissor Army's Ascendant Androids. Twenty-foot tall rampaging hell-train. Towering smokestack spewing searing ash and noxious smoke. Unstoppable. Uncontrollable. Overwhelming.

I was first inspired to draw this a couple years ago after reading Rich's part of the BoW intro. I finally did draw it around the end of the year, intending for it to double as Proto Stryker's prize for the Secret Santa contest we held at the time. Then, like the last few pics I posted, I kept putting off the colouring part until just a couple weeks ago.

I really love how this turned out. It was one of those projects that involved a lot of effects that I had no experience with and so I wasn't sure I could pull them off, but it all worked out better than I thought possible. It's relieving to learn I had more artistic skills than I was aware.

The ash-spewing part didn't quite work as envisioned though. I tried about three different looks that are all mixed up in an incomplete state. There's the red-hot coal chunks sparking out the smokestack, the translucent black streams raining down from the openings, and that lava-like slobber spilling out of his "mouth". All were separate attempts at the same vague visual in my head. I opted to keep them all in the hopes they would combine to get the proper image across.

Chargeman is based on Capcom's character from MM5, and Proto Stryker's team position on the Ascendant Androids. The design is loosely based on Rich's descriptions (turns out I didn't fact-check some elements, like the part where he has pink bloodshot eyes behind a facemask). The pic also contains Special Forces units designed by Gauntlet and a police robot designed by Hard. Whew, lots of people besides me to give credit to on this one. Oh yeah, and I drew it.