Xerces Character Design

== CHARACTER DESCRIPTION ==
She lives secluded in her apartment room in the distant future, uncovering a conspiracy revolving the death of her parents... if there even is one. Her name is Madeline, and her bright blue skin and colorless eyes catches too much attention for her liking. Helping her in her every day life is her companion, AVA, a "smart" AI gifted to her in her youth. When a surprise roommate is made, her trail may be hindered in the unlikeliest of ways...

== CONCEPT CREATION ==
I've never been very fond of superhero stories but I have always liked their designs... at least the good ones. However, my appreciation for the superhero genre grew when I read and saw Watchmen. So a few years ago I wondered; if I had to design a superhero, what would it look like? What would be their superpowers? I took inspiration from Spider Gwen and Cortana of the Halo series, and drew up what such a character costume would look like. Considering that I imagined this character to be in her late teens to early twenties, I imagined that she wouldn't have a lot of money to make a proper costume and was therefore created by everyday clothing, almost as if anyone could create a cosplay of it.

I began to think of what sort of name she would go by, as well as what her true identity would be. Many superhero names are based off animals, and I tried thinking of one that hadn't been used yet. I then remembered about the Xerces butterfly, which has been extinct for almost a century, and knowing by then that I wanted her to have blue skin, made sense for her to go with a blue animal. I took the hood that Spider Gwen used in her costume and I implemented it into Xerces' own design. The logo concept was fairly easy, and the costume came together once I placed it on the chest as most other superheroes seem to do.

Her power is based on hard light, which is an element in Halo lore and in the more recent games, Cortana utilizes it to create her physical form and manipulate areas in the game. I wanted her world to be based in the sort of realism of our own world, but after researching hard light technology, I concluded that it would not be possible for this sort of technology to be available in the present tense, so I decided that her story takes place in the near-to-distant future where this technology is starting to take shape. So naturally if the story took place in the future, I could start adding other technologies that we have yet to develop in our world. Giving her an A.I. companion was a good way of pushing this superhero concept into the realm of science fiction - where most superhero stories seem to hand wave and/or misrepresent.

Considering that cyberpunk is a genre I am very fond of, I decided this would be a neat way to mix the superhero concept with it. Over the years I had planned and began writing the story she would be involved in, and I thought "Outcasts" seemed like a good superhero graphic novel name and it hints towards the themes that the narrative would touch upon.

*Since I am not as experienced when it comes to drawing anatomy, I did rely on references and commissioned a talented artist to help design and flesh her out. You can find his work here! ---> https://www.deviantart.com/titi-artwork
(While I did commission his help, I am not presenting his work here, as this is my personal portfolio and all the work I will be posting is of my doing to avoid confusion. Hope this is understood!)

Currently I'm still writing and discovering the story and world, and I plan on creating and showcasing more art of the characters and the world around it- so we'll be seeing more of Xerces for sure!