Trapped in a Comic

Author notes

Weekend Extra: The Evolution of Phoebe 'Butta' Brown

MrSynnerster

on Dec. 7, 2007

Here we go again, with another weekend extra. This time around, I'll talk about my favorite character Phoebe Brown. Phoebe went though a TON of character changes, so let's run them down.

Version 1:
The version is based on American Idol contestant Nadia Turner As you've read this week, Sophie's record store is having a rapper named 4-playa do a CD signing. Originally, the 4-playa part was for Phoebe. Instead of a gangsta rapper, she was supposed to be a woman who recently won an American Idol type show and was looking for a back up band. But that part was completely rewritten into what it is now for added drama.

Version 2:
Another version of the 'American Idol version' of Phoebe. I really liked the skin tone of this one, which is why it ended up in the final version.

Version 3:
I had Kamara Thomas (bassist and singer for the group Earl Greyhound in mind for Version 3. She happened when Marcus was created. I intended for Phoebe to be the replacement for Hanna as the 'Good girl' of the comic. This version of Phoebe was in art school and sang lead for an Earl Greyhound type rock band. V3 is where the back story of Phoebe, Marcus and Patrick being childhood friends started, and was carried over to her 'bad girl' part.

One of my main gripes with most web comics (and most television and movies) is the lack of diversity, so to be different, I had people from as many different races, colors, creeds etc. etc. as I could. That being said, I didn't use this version because the skin tone was too close to Marcus, Patrick, and Sophie, and in some lights Pilar.

Version 4:
To make Phoebe stand out from the Gentry family, II went back to the V2 skin tone. The V2 facial features were changed to look more African American. I've had a couple of people ask me whether Phoebe is a very fair skin African American or is she mixed. The answer to that question is I haven't decided. Lol. Truth be told her race is not an issue. I suppose if I ever show her parents, I'll have to come up with an answer, but until then, she is what she is, and we'1l just leave it at that. Moving on, since Phoebe was now 'Butta,' I had to give her the voluptuous 'Butta body.' I traded her Afro for a different hair style. The reason being, the afro was a bitch come render time on my old computer. And it took hours to render a scene with her and Marcus on my old computer.

Version 5:
Same as Version 4, with the finalize hair model.

Version 6: (Slight Spoiler Alert)

You'll soon learn along with keeping the childhood friends back-story, I also kept the artistic aspect of Phoebe and this is a picture she created.

This Weekend Extra might actually be longer than Patrick's. Anyway, I'll have something else for you guys next weekend.