Pixar artist Everett Downing set himself a challenge: to create 365 superheroes, a new one every day for a year. It didn't quite work as he planned, but three years later, he has illustrated 285 new characters! Downing expects to finish the collection in 2013. Wired Design talked to Downing about the project.
The origin story is a critical part of any hero's development. Downing is no different. "I got into a rut, I wasn't drawing enough and a friend told me I was over-thinking things," says Downing. "I just needed to do something I was really into that wouldn't require too much thinking. I started thinking about designing superheroes and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. I threw the gauntlet down and decided to draw a super every day."
Characters range from standard comic book heroes like Kid Korona to puns like Metro Gnome to goofy ideas like The Stylist. Link | Artist's site
Symbols in themselves have no power. They only reflect what we put into them. The Confederate flag has nowhere near the connotations we've assigned to the swastika. For me, I think of it more as a symbol of insularity, and not of hatred.