Gripps and Sev - Concept Art (Patreon)

Katsu's conceptual art for Arlew Gripps (left) and Jonio Sev (right). Both are officers in the PCPD's 'special crimes unit'. So far, Gripps has only appeared on Page 7 and 8 of Chapter 1, while Sev shows up briefly in the last panel of Page 8. 

Katsu and I settled on a pair of optional designs for each character. On the left are two versions of Gripps. While I liked both iterations, "1" appealed to me a bit more (and was ultimately the one selected). The version "1" design fit in with how I originally envisioned the character; the long hair, aviator-style sunglasses, and collared jacket helped to more closely underlined his "rebellious " streak. In a fashion sense, the outfit for version "2" appeared too close to standard PCPD attire. I wanted officers in the special crimes unit to have unique clothing, since they're not only different status from patrol officers, but perform different roles.

We also ended up with two designs for Sev. As with Gripps, I really liked both of Katsu's interpretations, and it actually proved to be difficult to choose between them. Though there were aspects I appreciated about version "1", I eventually decided on option "2", which I felt made the character stand out more. The shaved head and muscular physique offered Sev some nice visual attributes and, for clothing, I was partial to the tank top with military-style boots. I already had a backstory for Sev, but his "2" design offered me additional ideas I could incorporate--and that's the makings of an exceptional character design when, based on appearance alone, you can get a feel for their personality and, possibly, even hints of a backstory.