Rook’s InspirationsRook’s design was primarily influenced by the chesspiece and corvid, of course, but let me talk you through what inspired me to actually create this character.
The Winter Soldier: I was inspired (derogatory) to create my own self-indulgently tragic gay assassin character by Captain America: the Winter Soldier. Fifteen year old me was obsessed with this movie. Fifteen year old me was disgusted with the subsequent movies where they killed Bucky off and brought him back again with seemingly no emotional response from Steve, shipped Steve off back in time to be with Peggy after kissing her great niece (?) days after her funeral, cut Bucky’s hair off, and generally shit on my enjoyment of the movie.
Anyway. I was feeling nostalgic about Winter Soldier, but I didn’t want to actually get back into Marvel, so I decided I could do better, and gayer. As you can see I actually started the design process for Rook by sketching the Winter Soldier, trying to focus on the aspects I wanted to bring forward into my own design and story.
The Protomen: I’m not sure if listening to the Protomen sparked my nostalgia for CATWS, or if I had already been feeling that way, but damn those funny robot fellas made some banger songs with evocative storytelling and got me really hyped to create characters. Either way, I had them on repeat while designing Rook and the chessassins.
Zuko: I was also inspired (respectful) by Avatar: the Last Airbender and it’s MASTERFUL depiction of a sympathetic villain getting their redemption arc along with a glorious hair glow-up.
Nightwing: I don’t really know shit about DC Comics but I like that this guy is always doing the most in every panel whenever I see him. Diversity win, the character posing sexy for no reason is NOT the one woman character. Also I named my setting Scotham as a joke about it being Gotham but in Scotland.May 7, 2023
The Winter Soldier: I was inspired (derogatory) to create my own self-indulgently tragic gay assassin character by Captain America: the Winter Soldier. Fifteen year old me was obsessed with this movie. Fifteen year old me was disgusted with the subsequent movies where they killed Bucky off and brought him back again with seemingly no emotional response from Steve, shipped Steve off back in time to be with Peggy after kissing her great niece (?) days after her funeral, cut Bucky’s hair off, and generally shit on my enjoyment of the movie.
Anyway. I was feeling nostalgic about Winter Soldier, but I didn’t want to actually get back into Marvel, so I decided I could do better, and gayer. As you can see I actually started the design process for Rook by sketching the Winter Soldier, trying to focus on the aspects I wanted to bring forward into my own design and story.
The Protomen: I’m not sure if listening to the Protomen sparked my nostalgia for CATWS, or if I had already been feeling that way, but damn those funny robot fellas made some banger songs with evocative storytelling and got me really hyped to create characters. Either way, I had them on repeat while designing Rook and the chessassins.
Zuko: I was also inspired (respectful) by Avatar: the Last Airbender and it’s MASTERFUL depiction of a sympathetic villain getting their redemption arc along with a glorious hair glow-up.
Nightwing: I don’t really know shit about DC Comics but I like that this guy is always doing the most in every panel whenever I see him. Diversity win, the character posing sexy for no reason is NOT the one woman character. Also I named my setting Scotham as a joke about it being Gotham but in Scotland.May 7, 2023
#chessassins
#characterdesign
#oc
#originalcharacter
Comments
oooh those are really cool inspirations and i can definitely see them all in rooks design and vibes :00
also felt that about marvel
also felt that about marvel
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