Becky Hawkins

Introducing...Captain Turtle!

Added 2017-10-10 21:31:35 +0000 UTC

You may recognize this guy from way back on page 9 (with a slightly different costume)

Captain Turtle started out as a background character, just meant to illustrate that superheroes are a regular part of Turtle City. But during a long road trip--er, story meeting--he became more of a major character. This warranted a redesign of his costume: Captain Turtle is an inventor who relies on gadgets for his super-powers, so we traded his cape for a turtle-shell jetpack. I added a garrison cap to make his outfit look a bit military. We also simplified his boots and added matching gloves. (I really liked the original boots. He had scaly, clawed boots and gloves until a couple of days ago. But the detail wouldn't show up in a small, simplified drawing, and the scale pattern would be time-consuming to draw in every panel. Maybe they'll make a special one-time appearance...)

Barry was helpful in making Captain Turtle's figure more superhero-y. My first sketch came back with huge pecs, narrower hips, and broader shoulders drawn in a separate Photoshop layer. (I have a figure-drawing tendency to make thin adult men look like Gumby. D'oh!)

I've also been sketching lots of turtles from photos, trying to see how I can work turtle-shapes into his costume and gadgets. On this page, we see Captain Turtle's goggles in action, but I also wanted to draw your attention to his turtle-handcuffs, because I'm really happy with how they came out. :)

Thanks again for supporting me on Patreon! My schedule just loosened up after a very hectic, convention-filled September. So if you like these behind-the-scenes posts, I'll be happy to keep 'em coming!

Becky