Dave's ASH Art Fourth Heroic Age Last Updated: 6/26/23 City of Titans versions of the Morning Stars and Black Opal II added to Manhattanites. Back to the ASH gallery page

    While the old layout was nifty for a while, it got a bit ungainly, especially as my artistic endeavors expanded. So I've split things up by era. This page is strictly for Fourth Heroic Age (2022-onward) art, primarily drawings, but also a few miscellany. Unless otherwise specified, it's by Dave Van Domelen.

• Solar Max 2023 and Meteor: Leader of the Academy of Super-Heroes, JakZak Taylor wears the armor of the 1990s Solar Max, given to him when he graduated the Academy. His wife, Sarah Grant-Taylor, is the superfast Meteor. Note: there's a color error on Meteor, she should be wearing yellow gloves (and she's black anyway, so the flesh color is wrong). 11/3/94, rescanned 4/1/03.
• Solar Max "God Armor": A rough sketch, "try two" as it notes, of a design for Solar Max's souped up exoarmor from Capstone. Drawn late in 2000 or very early in 2001.
• Peregryn: Elemental mage of the Academy of Super-Heroes, aka Howard Henderson Jr. Disciple of Tymythy Twystyd and the Wanderer, although both died before he was born. 2/8/96, rescanned 4/1/03.
• Essay: ASH's team gadgeteer and bodybuilder, Sara Ana (S.A.) Rodriguez is shown here dodging hostile fire while shooting back with her homemade rocket pistols. 2/11/96, rescanned 4/1/03.
• Scorch and Channel: Born Scott Handleman, he had his name legally changed to Scorch when he was 18. This fiery youth's exuberant (and annoying) personality is balanced by that of his best friend, the energy-transmuter Channel, aka George Sylvester. 2/13/96, rescanned 4/1/03. (Channel's new look can be found in the HeroClix gallery)
• Scorch: After his power boost in ASH #27, Scorch had to get a more fireproof costume. This is the result, made from ceramic weave and titanium. Drawn with pencil and ink, the white, black and gray areas were painted with acrylics. 1/26/00. Rescanned 4/15/07.
• Armored Scorch: Wearing his "God Armor" suit first seen in Capstone (in red an orange) and later repainted in the same colors as his regular suit. 6/1/08.
• Gawain: ASH's strongman, shown here about to punch out a Pranir (the big interstellar trader race in the ASH Universe). Gawain's costume pattern is a stylized version of the Arthurian Gawain's coat of arms, and the colors in the Pranir's fur and feathers indicate its Trading House and rank therein. 2/15/96, rescanned 4/1/03.
• Green Knight: Gawain gets a new costume in ASH #20, incorporating the color green since people in Mexico had started calling him the Green Knight (el Caballero Verde). He soon after officially changed his codename to Green Knight. 4/27/99. Rescanned 4/15/07.
• City of Heroes Green Knight: I was messing around with another idea that didn't work out, but it was pretty close to the Green Knight costume, so I tweaked it a bit to get it closer. This didn't end up as a played character. 7/24/09.
• Centurion 2026: In ASH #100, Sal Napier picks up the legacy of the First Age hero Centurion, with an updated costume and a Collapsinum-fiber reinforced sword. Design sketch showing some details covered by the pose of the final drawing. 8/17/09.
• Contact: Aaron Zander, low-level psi and mind-over-body expert, merged his psyche with that of Paul Mahler in ASH #9. The bare legs were really a bad design choice, and all later versions (Lego, HeroClix) have blue leggings. 2/19/96, rescanned 4/1/03.
• Breaker: A later recruit to ASH, debuting in ASH #25. Breaker, aka Christina Li, is a telekinetic who until recently had very weak powers and compensated by becoming a master of several martial arts styles. However, it turned out that her low power was a result of "bleed over" from China's Premier, as she was born in China. Once he died in 2023, her power level shot up significantly. Major uses of her powers are accompanied by a golden glow. The Hexagram incorporated into her costume signifies "breaking through" and the application of justice. And yes, she bleaches her hair. Artistically, this was an attempt to draw a woman who didn't fit the standard comicbook body type. I think I messed up the proportions a bit on the arms and head, but overall like the results. 12/11/99. Rescanned 4/15/07.
• Fury: Costume designed early in 2000, but it took until 2002 for it to actually appear in a story (ASH #33). The fuzzy energy effects are not photoshopping or other computer manipulation, they're the result of experimenting with a knockoff set of blow-pens. Unfortunately, the paper I'm now using takes forever for ink to dry on, so her face is a bit blurred from when I erased the pencils. I also blobbed the inking on her left eye, so I went and gave her Kirby Krackle leakage from that eye. 3/7/02
• Poniente: A deliberate contrast to Peregryn's flowing robes, Esmeralda went for a more practical outfit...even the not-a-cape is thick and not subject to much wind-whipping. Based on the same materials as a NAC Marshal's uniform, with some added protective enchantments (notably to compensate for lack of a helmet), it takes the west wind's color of black from Lakota iconography and adds her own green as an accent. The medicine wheel effect around her fist and the symbol at her chest are also taken from Lakota. Trying for a below-feet-level perspective was very hard, and it took three tries before I was satisfied enough to go to inking. I tried a Copic marker for the cloudy background, but it didn't blend any better than a Prismacolor, so I had to cover up the seams with white and light gray pencil wind effects. Given that her powerset was inspired partly by a wind sculpture in Kearney NE, it's appropriate that this was the last piece of art I made before moving out of Kearney. 7/24/13

• Brightsword III: Hector "Slammer" McGee, former Paraball star, outfitted with redesigned TwenCen power armor (that ironically originally belonged to one of Darkshield II's minions) and a new laser torch to lead Samuel Walters's new Freedom Alliance. 10/31/08.
• Red Widow 2: Formerly the paraganger known as Ghostclaw, she's joined the new Freedom Alliance, picking up the obscure legacy of the Red Widow. Design sketch (missing the Freedom Alliance patch and with hair looking insufficiently fake). 11/26/08.
• Weapons Master 2: Supposedly the bastard son of the original Weapons Master. He carries the sword of Don Quixote, although he can't use its more mystical properties as he has no Magene (but a nigh-indestructible sword is useful anyway). He also has a number of antigravity gimmicks which may be low level supertech or may be Santari tech, this hasn't been established yet. At his hips are a pair of shock jitte, his belt has antigrav pods, and he has an assortment of other mundane weapons, both concealed and obvious. His jump pack is cosmetically similar to Dragonfly's flight pack, but does not use the same tech. Design sketch. 11/28/08.
• GLADI8R: Globally Linked Advanced Digital Intelligence: 8th Revision. Shown here wearing his combat body, but he can inhabit a number of other bodies (hence "globally linked"). This body was built from the remains of a robot invader from the future, and the resemblance to a Boomer from Bubblegum Crisis is purely intentional. The 8 eyes are significant for reasons unrelated to Boomers. Ink and Prismacolor marker for the most part, but the missile trails were painted in at the end. 1/10/09.
• Gauntlet II: Josh Cole wearing armor designed to siphon off his extra power (storing it in batteries on the shoulders, hips, forearms and calves). The bodysuit is biologically grown titanium micro-chainmail. The palm of the right hand opens and the hand folds back onto the forearm to free up the right hand for fine detail work. Ink and Prismacolor markers and pencils, with acrylic paint for the electrical crackles. 1/25/09.

• Delta Rose: While she wore a more standard spandex suit during her superhero career in the 1970s, this alien law enforcer now sticks closer to the standard field uniform of the Galactic Warrior Corps, with armored fabric and extra padding at vulnerable spots. There's also a helmet for hazardous environments, but I didn't draw her wearing it. 1/19/00. Rescanned 4/15/07.
• Ramjet: As seen in the Revanche storyline in ASH. The latest incarnation of a character design I've been fiddling with since 1984. 3/19/99. Rescanned 4/15/07.
• Galactic Warrior Corps: A group shot of a full-rank Galactic Warrior (yellow and brown in the middle), a Lieutenant (blue and light blue on the right) and a Patrolman (red and white on the left). The Patrolman is a Pranir, one of the very few in the Corps. The Lieutenant may have some cybernetic enhancement to let her carry that Tsaran cannon. The history of my continual redesigns of the GWC can be found here. Note that Delta Rose was a mere Patrolman when her career on Earth started, but she kept the color scheme despite being promoted to full Galactic Warrior. 3/11/07.
• Veturna Severa: A junior member of the Galactic Warrior Corps, assigned to the Sol system in late 2025. Shown here wearing her hazardous duty armor. A Santari, she has no special powers. 12/1/05.
• City of Titans GWC Uniforms: An attempt at making the three ranks in the December 2020 version of the City of Titans avatar builder. No female versions, as some of the parts had not yet been made for female avatars (turns out you can't just slap the skin over a different frame). 12/7/20.

• Warden: Star of his own ASH-universe series by Matt "Badger" Rossi (and occasional guest writers), Warden is an eyeless telepath bent on dishing out simple justice in a complex world. 2/16/97
• Hellhound: When Warden vanished from Manhattan, Hellhound rose up to take his place, fighting Road Ragers from her Magnum Motors "Spartan" street machine! Helmet design taken from this piece I did from photoref for a high school art class. 5/30/08
• Weregild miniature: A Reaper Miniatures "Clay Golem" figure covered in gold leaf courtesy of a gold leaf marker, then given green eyes and a blacktop base. I may eventually redo this miniature as something else. 3/29/04.
• Gimble: A quick pencil sketch gone over with a Sharpie, of the humanoid rhinoceros beetle gadgeteer. That species of beetle has a fuzzy patch on the underthorax, hence the furry chest. 2/28/06.
• Maria Incarnata: Second in command of the CyberNostra, shown here in her combat gear. Most of that armor is removable to let her wear a "skinsuit" that lets her pass as human if she wants. And the hair is a wig. And yes, her armor is based on the robot from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", although I added red trim to jazz it up a bit. 11/11/06.
• Morning Stars in City of Titans (mid-2023): As of late June 2023, the City of Titans avatar builder is pretty powerful, but still a bit difficult for purposes of modeling a pre-existing idea. Major areas that need work are hairstyles (HexaBlue is particularly ill-served, but IcosaPink needs twintails) and auras (which seem to be kinda broken for full-body ones). 6/25/23.
  Anyway, Here's some slightly higher rez versions of the girls, plus (not even close to the same body type) Black Opal II:
  • Tetra-Red
  • Hexa-Blue
  • Octa-Green
  • Dodeca-Yellow
  • Icosa-Pink
  • Black Opal II

• Tony Pi's Icons: Bigger than the ones used on the various series pages, two sets of characters.
• Doublecross in Weavesilk: Weavesilk is a drag-to-draw program that makes things that appear to be woven from strands of light, appropriate for Doublecross.
• Bust shot of Doublecross in Weavesilk
• Chibi CSV: Using a chibi creator program, Tony homaged Joe Singleton's CSV cover.
• Chibi Peregryn, Kleinvogel, and C.J.
• Peregryn Emoji: Animated GIF of Peregryn made with a chibi generator.
• CSV in Deep Armor (CSV #5-6), done in PS4 Dream. May 2020. Based on these 1998 vintage kitbashes.

• Helijet: Designed to be quick but versatile while not requiring any "supertech" which might be interfered with by Anchors, the NAC-H12 Helijet is the standard mode of transportation for ASH and STRAFE teams over relatively short distances. The model shown is larger than the version used in the Academy series, which was the NAC-H8. The H8 is roughly half the size of the H12 and has a single centrally-mounted rotor that folds back in jet flight. 3/17/98 (See Fan Art for some other ideas.)
• ReAgent: A slightly pre-ASH design repurposed for ASH, ReAgent is a power-armored alchemist who joined the Revanche. 1/10/94.
• Doublecross: The Lord of Living Light himself, updated for the 2020s! To get the white bits right, I used acrylic paint and painted them in, since the paper is off-white and using a white colored pencil always hurts my hand by the end of the drawing. 4/25/99. Rescanned 4/15/07.
• NAC Marshal uniform: A rough sketch of the Marshals corps uniform, for instance Noire seen during the Battle of Montreal. I cleaned up my notes, which didn't scan too clearly. Drawn in either December 1999 or early January 2000 (based on the dates of the sketches flanking it in the notebook that got turned into final dated drawings).
• Bronzewing vs. Heraclius: Kaiju battling on Venus! Painted in acrylic on special "acrylic pad" paper that has a canvas-like surface to avoid soaking through. Bronzewing is based on a Japanese Crested Ibis, and Heraclius on a Hercules Beetle. Some of his "children" are swarming around him as tiny gray dots. 6/30/08.
• Infernion: Infernion, the lava lion, embodiment of Leviathan's self-hatred. Painted in acrylic. 7/17/08.
• Green Treefrog Senshi sketch: One of the members of the Hyper Senshi Atavarangers. Just a colored pencil design sketch to work on costume ideas for the Atavarangers. 12/11/08.
• City of Heroes STRAFE Templates: The City of Heroes costume system can't really get STRAFE uniforms right, but it can get reasonably close. And should I ever feel like playing a STRAFE character, I've saved Grind and Kleinvogel as templates for male and female agents. July 2009.
• Jen Kleinvogel on City of Heroes: I lost my original costume files in a crash, but decided to remake the character as a playable one after Going Rogue made it possible to have a heroic Stalker (I've stacked the Flight and Concealment pools often enough to know it's inefficient and costly, making a Stalker let me get no-endurance-cost stealth at level 1). You can see it's not changed a lot, I added the visor because I liked the look, but had to change the hair because the dangly bit in front from the original "ponytail low" interacter weirdly with the visor. This also gives her a sword as per post-Chinese-exile. I couldn't find the bird emblem I'd used earlier, so I settled on a falcon head, and I fiddled with the boots and belt to get closer to what I wanted. September 2010.
• Captain Combine: Marshal Tsukiko Crowley dressed up in one of the concept costumes from the Flagsuit Memo. See that file's notes for why it's kinda impractical and cornball. June 2010.