Project : Rooftop

Superheroes, Redesigned

Category: Interviews

Winner’s Circle Q&A with “Shadowman: In A New Light” Winner Tony Aros!

Last week we announced the winners of our latest redesign contest, Shadowman: In A New Light. And in the end, only one could be the winner, and it was frequent P:R artist  Tony Aros who beat out over 80 other entries to claim the prize. Aros, who works at the Kentucky comic store Collector’s Universe, spoke with us after the dust settled about the design choices he made that ultimately built up to be the winning design. We talked about classic Shadowman imagery going back to the comics and video games, as well as other dark heroes in comics lore, and even a James Bond villain or two.

Here, once again, is Aros’ winning image:

Chris Arrant: First off – when you heard about the Shadowman: In A New Light redesign contest, what were the first thing that came into your mind for the visual of Shadowman?

Tony Aros: I really wanted the design to be sleek and ominous, with an other-worldly quality. I also wanted to include the white skull face, glowing eyes, and glowing logo belt so that it would make for a very striking, unique image whenever he emerges from shadows. Batman doesn’t have to be the only hero that can strike fear at first sight!

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3 Comments by on March 6, 2013
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Winner’s Circle Q&A with “Fantastic Four: Fashion Forward” Winner Alejandro Bruzzese!

Note:There could be only one. This ain’t Highlander though, it’s P:R’s Fantastic Four: Fashion Forward redesign contest. After over 120 entries, Alejandro Bruzzese‘s science-adventurer take on the team won out with 83 out of 100 points by our ten judges. After the dust settled, we caught up with the Queens-based artist to investigate how and why he drew the team the way he did. Alejandro shared with us his reasoning on the color-coding, the pouches, and even some secrets about Ben Grimm’s skin care routine. – Chris A.

Chris Arrant: First off, congratulations for the  big win, Alejandro. One of the big things that won over our judges was your portrayal of the team not as superheroes but as science adventurers. Can you talk about your decision to go that route?

Alejandro Bruzzese: Sure. In my eyes every Marvel team has a clear purpose – the Avengers are a last-resort alliance of heroes, the X-Men are volunteer paramilitary activists and the Fantastic Four are explorers. They’re the ones that go out and discover the things that eventually end up back on Earth attacking the other teams. So in that sense I see them less as super heroes, and more as a group of true pioneers. Always traveling. A mish-mash of Neil Armstrongs and Stephen Hawkings who are capable of exploring places no other human can set foot in and interacting with beings who maybe don’t want to be interacted with. A big element of my version of the Fantastic Four is that they would make mistakes, because that’s how science gets did. Also, Sue is clearly the leader in my head. Also also, Reed goes by DOCTOR Fantastic.

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14 Comments by on September 18, 2012
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Winner’s Circle Q&A with Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue Winner Kris Anka!

Note: After an inbox full of submissions including some from professional comics artists, frequent P:R contributor Kris Anka stepped forward and claimed the title of First Place in our Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue Redesign Contest. Anka is a Los Angeles-baed artist who works for Sideshow Collectibles, but recently launched his comic career doing the final issue of Invincible spin-off Guardians of the Globe and currently does covers for Marvel’s New Mutants. I caught up with the artist after the winners were announced to try to get inside his head and see how he came to this remarkable design. – Chris A.


Chris Arrant: Everyone’s seen your name here at Project: Rooftop before, but why’d you decide to do an entry into Invincible: Viltrumite Vogue?

Anka: I spend a lot of time sketching out redesigns of characters, it has sort of become a therapeutic exercise for me at this point, but when the contest came up, it was just hard to pass it up. I am both a fan of the comic and having a contest to do a redesign just made too much sense not to do.

Arrant: How’d you go about deciding what to do with your redesign of Invincible?

Anka: The first and foremost principle I adhere to when approaching a redesign is to respect the original concept of the character. So when I approached Invincible, I first went the route of trying to see how i would approach the costume in the comic. I sat on a design for a few weeks, and when I went back to it I felt that I was still too close to the original. I decided to throw out any notions of taking from the elements from the original, and I just kept the idea of the design, and just tried to reinvent it my way.

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2 Comments by on February 27, 2012
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Interview with Costume Designer Brian Parsley

Note: Project: Rooftop was founded by two guys who shared a mutual appreciation of super-hero costumes, and one aspects that’s received great attention in the past decade is the realism that’s brought to the designs. While comic artists’ primary goal is making something iconic and memorable, they may not be concerned with how it works in the real world. Luckily for me, I happen to know someone who deals with that on a daily basis: Brian Parsley. Parsley is a full-time costume designer who is a staple of comic conventions in the Southeastern United States for the costumes he wears and the the cosplayers who wear his creations. A former newspaper page editor, turned his passion from a hobby to a full-time job last year.  If you want to commission him to create a costume for you, you can either email or message him on Facebook. Now on to the interview! – Chris A.

Chris Arrant: Is it correct that you do costume full-time now?

Brian Parsley: That is correct.

Chris Arrant: Can you describe the kind of service you provide for people, and what the big demands are?

Brian Parsley: I do my best to make quality costumes for just about any occasion anyone can think of. Generally speaking, my usual clients are comics/sci-fi convention attendees, but I have done just about everything from wedding dresses to Rocky Horror Picture Show gear.

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21 Comments by on February 22, 2012
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