Captain Character Part One - Who They Are (OUAN404)

The hardest part about this character design study task was coming up with an original initial concept. I wanted to stay clear of the conventional character traits and avoid the traditional tropes of antagonist, protagonist, underdog, grizzled misanthrope who really has a heart of gold, zany sidekick and all those other ones. Nothing too played out because in truth, the most forgettable characters are the ones who can be lumped together under a broad banner like "incompetent mob boss" or "hyper-masculine lumberjack" . It's why no one should ever try to design a "funny deadbeat Dad" character ever again, because all the good jokes that can be made have been done by Homer Simpson at least three times over.

Oh, and I didn't want to make a creepy self insert character. Just because I want to see myself written as the main love interest for Judge Dredd doesn't mean that the general viewing public also wants that.

I briefly considered drawing a 20 year old history student named Desmond who, after a drunk mistake resulting in the destuction of city property, gets sentenced to a summer of community service with hardened criminals. I got put off that idea and I can't remember why, but I decided to develop a new character instead called MILAN TURNER.

Milan Turner is fifteen years old. He comes from a middle class family with a very pious Catholic Mother and a loving Father who isn't around much because his work takes him on loads of worldwide business trips. He is a bored teenager in a small English village who doesn't work hard enough at school to have much scope for advancement in the world, despite being afforded every opportunity. He is a bit of a rowdy teen, sporting a tracksuit and a rusty BMX, and who is the ringleader of a small gang of other rowdy teens who spend their evenings loitering around the village, swilling energy drinks and calling each other dickheads and stuff. However, unlike some rowdy teens, Milan Turner uses his powers of youthful energy and a sense of invincibility for good, rather than evil. He and his gang spend the evenings seeking out crimes to solve and criminals to stop using brutal vigilante justice. They are a small group of rowdy and unpolished crime fighters occupying their own world within the village and they live for the thrill of the chase on their rusty BMX bikes. They mostly solve crimes because they have bugger all else to do, though. I mean, they're still rowdy and obnoxious, but not entirely evil. They're giving back to the community in their own way, I guess.

My one regret about choosing this character was that I thought of an awesome character halfway through the project who would've been really fun to make. He's a cult leader who tells his followers to steal zoo animals so that they can recreate the garden of Eden. Shoulda drawn that bloke. Oh well.