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IDW Publishing Transformers MTMTE #43 Cyclonus Cover Design Process by Alex Milne
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:47 amby Va'al
Via a notification from fellow Seibertron.com user
SW's Silverhammer, we have a full reveal of the linework by Alex Milne, plus the coloured version by Josh Perez, for the recently revealed July cover for More Than Meets the Eye, featuring Cyclonus's holomatter avatar and their robot self side by side. Check out below the two images, plus Milne's
insight in the creation process of the character!
So this was shown off today so I figured I’d show it off here and give a little insight into what I was going for with this cover.
With the design for the holo avatar for Cyclonus, I knew that James wanted a female Victorian school teacher look. I looked over a lot of reference image to find out what what the clothing would look like. This outfit is based off a old photo I found online with a few adjustments to it in with the character.
With the hair style I wanted to have something to do do with Cyclnous. So I gave her 2 long spikes of hair that shoot up to represent the horn’s on his helmet. The pendant is represents a modified look for his altmode. I didn’t just want to draw his altmode for the pendant, so I just gave it elements of his altmode.
For the colours I had a nice chat with Josh Perez about what I was looking for and he did an superb job of getting the look I wanted. That man has talent and I’m lucky to work with him, even if it’s only for covers.
I knew from the time James talked about what he thought the holo avatar was going to look like, I knew I wanted the eyes to be red. This was a big deal for me. When I was thinking about the red eyes my mind wondered to Full Metal Alchemist and the character of Scar and his people the Ishbalan’s and thought that’s how I want the holo avatar to look. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of someone from the Middle East or India to be the holo avatar. I thought about the episode of the original Star Trek when Khan was introduced and information on and his culture making some of the best warriors and that had Cyclonus down perfectly.
For the outfit, I knew I just wanted a lot of his robot colours in the outfit, just keeping the long skirt black. She’s holding a blackboard pointer or whatever those things are called.
I think the only thing that will be a problem is redrawing her in many panels since the out fit is very detailed, but when have I ever not steer away from detail ;p
Enjoy
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:51 amby YoungPrime
......I don't like it.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:16 amby Fires_Of_Inferno
You know, I always assumed that a Cyclonus holoform would look more like what people assume Jack the Ripper looked like. Apparently me and the RID guys were on the same page with the victorian look. That being said, I'm not really a fan of this design. That giant maroon bow on the chest is way too garish when considering the rest of the outfit, same with what's going on around the wrists. It would look better with more of a black lace rather than white frills. They just look too stiff. And when you look at it, there's FOUR layers to those sleeves. I think something more like funeral attire would suit him, to be honest. Something like what Vastra from Doctor Who wears would work better.
EDIT: Also, I always imagined him sounding like James Earl Jones in the comics. So picturing THAT voice coming out of THAT holoform is hilarious.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:16 amby Sigmus Prime
Hmm, I dunno... creative, yes, and certainly not bad, but befitting of Cyclonus's character? Not sure about that. I personally don't think it fits him well, but that's just my opinion.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:35 amby Noideaforaname
Hmmm... I don't hate it, but it wasn't what I was expecting. And I was already expecting "(female) Victorian schoolteacher".
Can't wait to see how this plays out in the comic itself.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:39 amby SW's SilverHammer
I like the allusion to Khan, makes me wonder what would happen if Cyclonus became Sikh.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:01 amby Flashwave
Twitchythe3rd wrote:Flashwave wrote:Darth Jumpy wrote:So a planet is chasing the Lost Light? I hope that it is not Unicron, since that would without a doubt reveal the Transformers origins, which I like being kept vague in the IDWverse.
I will be picking up those Combiner Hunter repaints if they come out. I couldn't really tell if Chromia was sporting a new color scheme though. And I find it odd that Arcee is using Decepticon colors.
I have also been enjoying the Earth storyline in TF, so it will be exciting to see the Decepticon station finally.
Not neccesarily, All IDW has to do is say that the Ancient Cybertronians worshipped Unicron as an anti-Primus strictly because he's 1000 times their size and eats planets. Poof! Instant DeathGod.
Isn't it Deathsaurus and the DJD coming after them with a Warworld ship?
Do'oh! Completely spaced that
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:24 amby Syn_13
Some great stuff as usual with those IDW covers.
Loving Milne's Cyclonus. That's the headsculpt I was hoping for with the CW figure.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:32 amby ctrlFrequency
I like the Cyclonus holomatter av. It really does feel like his personality from the comic at least. Well, as long as his personality remains the same, it's just an aspect of himself (we all have those sort of aspects, you know, it is what makes us multi faceted)
The dress is more fussy than I like, but it is fitting with the upper class Victorian school marm look.
Would I have thought female on my own? No, but I can see it. Cyclonus doesn't strike me as someone with a hang up about gender, rather takes it all in stride as aspects of his personality. And well, frankly, I would think Transformers are more comfortable with these things as they don't have millions of years of gender roles already defining them. Without preconceived notions of gender and the ability to completely change their appearence, one would think male or female is just aesthetic.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:59 amby OptimalOptimus2
Cyclonus reminds me of Age of Extinction Optimus Prime.
You know, if he was a Decepticon.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 12:48 pmby Gallifreyan Autobot
1. for the combiner wars line , it looks like Soundwave might be a retooling of AOE evasion prime or CW prime/ motor master mold or a new mold all together
2. Arcee's Combiner hunters coloring is familiar but can't place it on what it is
3. i have no complaints on Cyclonus's holomatter avatar
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:04 pmby Shuttershock
Autobot tap out wrote:1. for the combiner wars line , it looks like Soundwave might be a retooling of AOE evasion prime or CW prime/ motor master mold or a new mold all together
2. Arcee's Combiner hunters coloring is familiar but can't place it on what it is
3. i have no complaints on Cyclonus's holomatter avatar
The legs might be new, but we've seen Soundwave as an APC like Universe Onslaught.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:12 pmby Va'al
Shuttershock wrote:Autobot tap out wrote:1. for the combiner wars line , it looks like Soundwave might be a retooling of AOE evasion prime or CW prime/ motor master mold or a new mold all together
2. Arcee's Combiner hunters coloring is familiar but can't place it on what it is
3. i have no complaints on Cyclonus's holomatter avatar
The legs might be new, but we've seen Soundwave as an APC like Universe Onslaught.
The CW MotorPrime mold looks a lot more probable, given his appearance in TF#38:
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:16 pmby Shuttershock
Va'al wrote:Shuttershock wrote:Autobot tap out wrote:1. for the combiner wars line , it looks like Soundwave might be a retooling of AOE evasion prime or CW prime/ motor master mold or a new mold all together
2. Arcee's Combiner hunters coloring is familiar but can't place it on what it is
3. i have no complaints on Cyclonus's holomatter avatar
The legs might be new, but we've seen Soundwave as an APC like Universe Onslaught.
The CW MotorPrime mold looks a lot more probable, given his appearance in TF#38:
Damn sneaky body swaps, you may be right.
Although I like Soundwave, not terribly thrilled about him using that mold.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:31 pmby Va'al
Autobot tap out wrote:2. Arcee's Combiner hunters coloring is familiar but can't place it on what it is
Got it!
mmc-r-08d-azalea-stealth-assassin-exclusive-t101603s0.php#p1603808
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:32 pmby fenrir72
先生は停止しないでください！私はもっと欲しい！
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:06 pmby BATTLEMASTER IIC
I'm not sure which old pictures Alex Milne was looking at, but that's not actually historically accurate for a Victorian-era school teacher. In fact, most female school teachers back then
couldn't afford to look that nice
I know this from experience working at a living history village, and I know I am totally nitpicking, but I respect artistic license and like Cyclonus' avatar nonetheless
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers MTMTE #43 Cyclonus Cover Design Process by Alex Milne
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 6:49 pmby Skyfire77
Why do I get the feeling this is the result of a prank by someone, possibly Whirl?
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:48 pmby Shockwave7
Let's see... the fan built combiner comes from the sea of rust, is Autobot, rust colored theme...
I hope to heck it's Junkions with a Wreck-Gar voyager of some kind...
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:53 pmby steve2275
im just glad his avatar is female
i couldnt tell untill i was told
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:06 pmby BumbleDouche
No sir, I don't like it.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:07 pmby Shuttershock
MegaDump wrote:No sir, I don't like it.
Thanks, Mr. Horse! Always nice to hear from you.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers MTMTE #43 Cyclonus Cover Design Process by Alex Milne
Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:10 amby fenrir72
Skyfire77 wrote:Why do I get the feeling this is the result of a prank by someone, possibly Whirl?
Nanny McPhee anyone? Or better yet, if given the anime treatment by Yuki Ohshima
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers MTMTE #43 Cyclonus Cover Design Process by Alex Milne
Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:34 amby SKYWARPED_128
Va'al wrote:[center]
I'd have never guessed Cyclonus was into visual kei.
Re: IDW Publishing Transformers Comics July 2015 Solicitations: Combiner Hunters, RID, Cyclonus and More
Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:27 amby reVelske
I find the idea of Whirl being a rebellious little girl and Cyclonus being a classy victorian lady to be rather amusing.