Death of Statesman

CITY of HEROES' most iconic hero, Statesman, met an untimely death in Chapter 5 of the game's first Signature Story Arc. To commemorate the solemn event, I was tasked with this painting of the funeral, which includes appearances by a rather large number of characters.

Statesman's former Freedom Phalanx teammates serve as pall bearers, and his granddaughter, Ms. Liberty, follows in a daze while flanked by her fellow Vindicators. Hero Corps and Longbow members look on, with a wide variety of Paragon's other heroes also in attendance.

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Given the RIDICULOUS number of characters to draw and the complexity of their costumes, I approached this one a little differently than normal. Instead of going straight to paint, I actually loaded up most of these specific models in the game editor, then meticulously posed and screen-capped each one. From there, I arranged them in proper perspective and corrected all the poses, before finally repainting everything under a consistent lighting scheme. Still a ton of work, but at least I got a detailed underpainting 'for free.'

Another interesting tidbit: this was the first time players got to see Penelope Yin in her new super-hero outfit (she's the girl in red and white, slightly behind the main funeral party). It was a blast watching people on the forums speculate about who she might be and why she got such prime placement in the composition.

More marketing artwork: