Happy 20th anniversary, Gaia!
Yup! You heard me right!
Gaia, Frivolesque’s resident superwoman, just turned 20 this week. I mean, her character design. Not her in-universe age. (which still remains unknown) I cannot stress enough how important this character is to me. I can’t believe I’ve been drawing her for twenty years.
Here’s a collection of some of her various designs along the years, including the three 1995 pictures that started it all. You can see how much she’s changed since her original inception, but at the same time, her core design remained surprisingly consistent. (Unlike Saki and Chloe. But that’s another story.)
Gaia was originally envisioned in January 1995, when I was brainstorming for role playing game ideas with my good friend Papi. I started doodling a punkish, green haired mutant female for a sci-fi setting and her design just stuck for some reason. I got really invested in the character with time and kept drawing her, reinventing her and her background story every 3 years or so until I ended up having this silly idea of making a webcomic featuring of all my old characters…
What’s in store for Gaia in 2015? Who knows. I don’t see any radical change to her design anytime soon, now that she’s found a story to belong to. One thing’s for sure, though, she’s not gonna end up wearing glasses anytime soon. Unless Marie-Neige does something about it.
Dude, I wasn’t even THIS talented back in 1995… neither did I had original characters in mind… so congratulations for sticking with them for so long :)
And happy b-day to Gaia :D
Thank you, man.
I’ve always been committed to my characters… They’re the reason why I draw, it’s not the other way around.
Were you watching anime back in 1995?
These are all great and it’s really cool that you’ve been able to work on something for so long, even if only in fits and spurts. You never know where inspiration will lead you!
You bet I was. Even worse, 1995 was probably the worst of my “weaboo” phase where everything japanese was AWESOME and everthing else was shit. Thank god I quickly realized how lame that was. (mainly, I came into contact with other “otaku” who were probably much worse and made me realize just how stupid I was.)
I was especially into manga then, and I think I see some 1980s Masamune Shirow influences in the first Gaia drawings. :)
And thank you! :)
Shirō “Black Magic” Masamune? Wow, you draw inspiration from nowhere, don’t you?
I think I can see it, the androids, right?
Will you make a set of cards too? Just asking >:)
It’s that Shirow, but I was mostly thinking about Appleseed and Dominion. Most of my initial “anime style” came from reading Appleseed over and over. (I never read Black Magic)
There’s also a lot of Battle Angel Alita in the third picture with the armor.
Cards?
Well, actually I saw only a little bit of them all, mostly covers and art, I just looked for his earlier works back then due “Ghost in the Shell” (how typical). However I liked them a lot, and they are in my “some day” list :)
I do not remember hearing about “Battle Angel Alita” but just searched it and it seems pretty interesting, thank you and noted.
I found that there are cards depicting Shirō’s art related to his mangas. I never researched it, so that is all I know. The intended joke in my question was cause the art used is pretty erotic :P
Yeah, we all have had our weaboo phases. When I first discovered the internet in 96, it really inspired me to look up the anime style I vaguely remembered as a child. I started drawing in the style in the early 2000s when I could finally make a drawing that looked good. I love seeing the history of your character, its like finding lost treasures and bringing them back from the unknown. I went through your DA and noticed she was named Gail at some point. Why the change back? Im sure youll explain the Rain/Saki change at some point too?
Meh. I kinda grew tired of Gaia in the early 2000s and thought she needed a overhaul. I thought a new name would work, especially in the light of Gaia Online being so popular at the time that people were asking me if she had anything to do with the site. Gail was only one letter away and sounded like a proper name that she would use. (even though she was still part of “The Gaia Project” in the story)
Saki followed suit, I wanted a new name for her redesign from a schoolgirl to an assassin. Rain was always more of a codename anyway.
For Frivolesque, I decided to revisit the two characters’ origins, so I decided to use their original names again. (Saki is still using the “Autumn Rain” moniker sometimes, though)
Yay! Gaia, my favourite, and in non digital drawings too, cool.
I like the most the 2002 general aspect and the third 1995 badass facial expression.
The 1998 one is excellent, did you colour it with dry pens? Love the texture.
20 years is a while, glad you keep her long enough to me enjoy her here :)
Happy birthday Gaia!
Gaia in her 1999-2003 incarnation was actually much badass than her original and current self. (she was an antagonist in Saki’s story) And that redesign WAS inspired from that badass armor version version so you totally saw the connection there. :)
1998 drawing is made with pencils, ink and markers.
And I’m glad you like her. Makes me happy that I kept her around. :)
Happy Birthday Gaia! and Congratulations Dez! wow i can only draw entangled threads in 95 :D
20 years? Not bad. Keep up the creativity!
She’s old enough to drink in Japan now. ^_^
She’s old enough to drink in Canada too. :)
Wow, the art quality and style evolved with the design! Although some of her designs are very different, she still has her awesome green hair! :D
I think I’m finally getting good at this.
Ah, j’aime beaucoup cette influence de Masamune Shirow dans ton vieux coup de crayon, ayant moi-même maintes fois dévoré les Apple Seed ! :)
Wow. C’est fou. Y’a plein de gens qui voient ça. Mais j’avoue, Shirow (avec Appleseed et Dominion) a été une de mes premières influences “manga” au milieu des années 90. Mais j’étais tellement mauvais. C’est quand même drôle que ça transparaisse quand même.