Black Mist (Zwarte Mist) tells the story of a nameless police inspector simply referred to as “The Inspector” who needs to solve the brutal murder on the vicar of a miniscule hamlet.
Black Mist
Behind the scenes
Character designs
Character designs, like any part of the creative process, tend to go through more than a few iterations before settling on a final design. The design for our main character “Den Inspecteur” was no exception.
The very first design started from a loose painting roughly based on a character from the classic neo-noir movie “Chinatown”.
In the next version, thick glasses were added, although not the ones featured in the final design. The character was also de-aged somewhat and a large moustache was added.
In our third design, the character was made even younger, the moustache was removed again and the glasses changed to a sleeker, tinted 70’s design.
Eventually, for the final iteration of the main character, he was aged up again. Now in his late 50’s, featuring thick greying sideburns and a Tom Selleck style moustache.
Artwork
Included here is the original cover artwork as well as the first three pages of the short comic book. The version seen here is without any speech bubbles or sound effects added on top, allowing the viewer to appreciate the artwork in an unobstructed way.
Included below are two pages of completely uncoloured line-art. As you can see, detail at this stage is often kept to an absolute minimum since all of the line-art eventually gets covered.
