Dream Skillz: Robyn Kilgore - Miss Deathcember

This Character design project was inspired by a short comic story titled Dream Skills which featured in the anthology comic book Sun Bakery by the comic book artist Corey Lewis.

Dream Skills depicts a world in which Guns have become useless and the social culture is swordplay. Swords have become the ultimate life accessory much like smartphones within our world and conflicts are now resolved via sword fights called Blade Battles. Swords in this world are much more than weapons and have many unique custom features specific to the user’s design. These range from cosmetic items to functional tools such as a Deodorant Stick and built in Wifi Modem.

The goal of this project was to take this basic outline from the comic book and design a character and their accompanying sword for a hero shooter/brawler based on the comic’s world and themes.

This post concerns my design process behind an original character of my creation.

*In the comic book it is established that there are different subcultures who Blade Battle with different melee items such as axes. This project was my own personal exploration into a culture that centres around using Baseball Bats instead of swords
This character is a paid Hitman and Baseball fan who loves Europop and Y2K culture. They belong to a secret community of Hitmen and have been featured as Miss December in Playpen Magazine; the no.1 magazine for Hitmen.

The concepts of the Hitman society, Playpen and the character and prop are original to the design project.

Robyn Kilgore, The NEET Assassin. Playpen Magazine’s featured Murder Machine of the Month, Miss Deathcember wields a 2 handed baseball bat like a Katana. Due to a mutation in her Aura Circle her Dream Skill ability allows her to change the properties of any object into a sharp edge. In her hands her trusty bat Bloodbat transforms from a blunt melee weapon into a force that can cut down any object.
This ability however affects her physical appearance with all the forms of her body twisting and turning itself into a sharp spike. From her eyelashes to her hair and her very teeth, they are sharpened like a fine blade. A laidback Assassin who would rather be at the batting cages or listening to Europop; she has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Baseball and Y2K pop trends. She is more invested in her hobbies than her job and personal hygiene. Her enemies have often complained about her cat urine like odor and bad breath although Kilgore wields these traits as weapons just like her Bat or spikes.

Playpen awarded her December’s assassin of the month and believe she fights at a Blade Level of 367. If engaging her in a Blade Battle expect to SLASH TO KILL.