I might not be humanity’s greatest illustrator, but I do like to put together at least one bit of art for the yearly Halloween Countdown over at Random Lunacy, a site I work on with @humanscandrivestick and @blackbearthoughts. This’ll be the seventh one we’ve done, which is… utterly mental to think about.
The subject of today’s piece is Gabriel “Gabe” Shooter, one of the central characters from a old action horror project I’ve chipped at since like, 2009, called Heaven’s Order. He’s a particularly fun character on a couple of fronts; he’s a half-devil half-human hybrid, and has been gifted the ability to return from death under any circumstances by a timeless being that has existed since the beginning of time itself- and is the only person in the HO universe to have “true” immortality. Back when I first created him I was like 16, so this was all played dead straight with no drawbacks- he even had a “devil form” he could transform into, so cool!- but as time’s gone on that resurrection ability is the only unnatural perk he has over regular human beings: the only trait of his Devilish heritage he’s picked up is his eye colour, and any skills, strength, or speed boosts he has he’s had to work hard for. His real strengths come from his larger then life attitude; every word he utters is drenched in verbose prose, he does absolutely everything with as much dramatic flair as possible, and he actively uses his regenerative ability and the combat skills he does have to play mind games with every enemy or creature he encounters, presenting himself as a larger-than-life superhero with the ego to match. He’s so dedicated to this personae that he plated his twin Desert Eagles with imitation gold plating, for pete’s sake (and won’t hear anything about how absolutely ridiculous they look).
There’s a deeply wounded man beneath the bombastic veneer, however. For starters, sure, he can’t die, but getting blown to pieces still really hurts, so fatal injuries are a huge drag even when he actively goads his enemies into performing them. On a far deeper level, however, his decision to pursue a life of demon hunting, ghosts busting, and evil eradicating goes back to an incident in his childhood, in which his father- a once powerful Devil himself- was brutally murdered, and his twin brother kidnapped by the assailant. His mother never really got over the loss of her husband and one of her children, and succumbed to alcoholism not long after. With no family left Gabe hit the road with what little money he had, bumbling into and out of all manner of horrifying affairs and gradually failing (or accidentally succeeding) his way upwards into the more prestigious counter-supernatural organisations in which he now operates. Though he’s now a far braver and more competent (if slightly irritating) individual, he got there by just barely overcoming a lot of trauma- and, in a case of bitter irony, a not inconsiderate amount of alcohol consumption. And there’s still a lot of personal demons he’s yet to properly confront. However, in spite of all the personal tragedy and personae-crafting, he is genuinely dedicated to protecting innocent people from the horrors of the night; he has firsthand experience with how devastating an impact they can have, and actively strives to make sure as few people go through what he has as possible.
The image is kinda supposed to represent both of these aspects; on the left we’ve got Gabe during his very first “case”, a troubled 16 year old in way over his head and scared way out of his mind, trying his damndest to be brave and strong in the face of pure evil. And on the right, Gabe as he appears in the series proper; a cocky, over-dessed one man army that knows full well whatever he’s up against most likely won’t outlast him in battle, and is more then prepared to have a little fun with them before knocking seven shades of shit out of them. It’s definitely a bit rough around the edges (what art of mine isn’t?), but I’m fairly happy with the execution overall. Just a shame I wasted about eight sheets of paper on failed attempts before getting to this one.
~ Decon Theed (16/10/17)