HOME | DD
AdamWithers — Speed and Celerity
Published: 2007-05-01 16:37:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 10965; Favourites: 187; Downloads: 169
Redirect to original
Description
This is a pair of original characters from the comic I and my wife are developing - 'The Uniques.'Speed and Celerity are Kid Quick’s parents [link] and are the leading speedsters of our world. Well, Speed is - Celerity died. Their little family represents the sweetest, nicest little family unit we’ve got in our book. Even with Celerity gone, Speed and Kid Quick are still a cute little family. Since both parents were teen heroes, themselves, he looks on his daughter’s adventures kind of like parents sending kids off to Scouts or something. It’s very normal, and it shows life in a hero family for the mundane ordinariness that it can be.
Speed is also my unabashed love-letter to Barry Allen. He’s the family-man, the guy with incredible powers who’s still an average Joe and completely down to earth. We also thought it’d be interesting to change some roles, somewhat. Since Speed can move so fast, since the great New York Disaster he started crossing the globe to bring aid to people. With most of the world’s premier heroes dead, he has used his speed to pick up all that slack. His wife’s gone, and he’s used his hero work to fill that hole inside him. So, even in a world with Virtue [link] it’s Speed that’s the most renowned and beloved hero.
Then again, I always liked Flash more than Superman, so there you go. Between being a father to Kid Quick and heroing ‘round the world, you’d need super-speed just to keep up.
You can read more about Speed and Celerity and their story in their 'Better Know a Unique' entry on our blog: [link]
Related content
Comments: 45
Love your style reminds me a little of Neil Googe, who did Bazooka Jules. Your lines are awesome and your colors rock. Great designs as well.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes! I absolutely know The Googe. Thanks for the compliment! And these two are a couple of my favorites. Just a shame one has died already...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Very cool, how did you get that blurring speed effect?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It's a few layers of stuff, but it involves selecting a thin rectangle that's as tall as the person you're blurring, filling it with Noise, then Free Transforming and stretching it out the distance you want it to go, then colorizing it however you want. Then on a new layer do one again, fill it with Difference Clouds, do a Crystalize filter on it so it's just black and white cells, delete everything but the white cells, and then stretch that out too.
Anyway, after some trial and error you'll find the basics of how it's done. I now keep a pre-made one that I can bring into any piece and use Free Transform/Warp Transform to distort to fit any perspective.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nice, thanks for the advice Adam, much appreciated. Im drawing a sketch for a friend of mine and i want to illustrate her with super speed. Hopefully I can pull off the blur effect.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
THIS IS SUCH AN AWESOME PICTURE!!!
I'm a HUGE fan of Flash so this came so amazingly to me , I can't say much more.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Great! I'm glad you like it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks! *is huge fan of speedy people*
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
im a big flash and i gotta give this two thumbs up speedsters rule
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
That's true enough, I guess. It's just I'm a fan of how badass Barry is. But I see what you're getting at. Personally, he could be better if he was less caught up with the times, and felt like he no longer had a place in the world. Depressing yes, but I think that might just be where he needs to go if the writers want to keep him alive.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I thought you hated Barry Allen. Why make a love-letter to him? Not that I'm complaining, as I like Barry, but I am curious.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Never said I hated Barry Allen. I loved him when I was younger, and love the idea of him still. I don't think he should have returned from the dead, and I don't think this current version is really being played like Barry at all. He's too hip and slick; too modern. Barry was the ultimate "Dad" and about as hip as your grandfather!
So, no, I love Barry. I just think he was far better as a corpse that motivated modern heroes by his memory than as an active hero in the modern day. He's got no place here, and is kicking others out of the spotlight in the process.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Aaaaaah. Sorry man. Totally didn't mean to step on anybody's toes or offend anyone. You sounded upset. If I did upset you I'm sorry. Totally not what I meant. What you say makes perfect sense. Never realised it before. And just so ya know, if you note in my first message I said there was a character named Speed in the "Young" Avengers...not the New Avengers.
Sorry again.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Nah, I'm not upset at all. Just explaining the situation. We were really careful about that stuff, as much as possible. There's only so much you can do, though - especially when somebody swoops in and takes a name you've already been using for a long time. But what can you do?
I have the theory that Marvel and DC put out as many names as they possibly can just to snipe copyright and trademark licenses by the boat-load, the same way that movie studios buy rights to scripts they never intend to make just so no other studio can have them
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Kewlness. Well, I wish you the best of luck on your creations and I look forward to reading the Uniques when it comes out in the stores.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Unfortunately, Uniques won't BE in stores. For the time being (and the foreseeable future) it's only available through our website [link] You can order it in digital or paper formats directly from us.
We don't have a publisher, and certainly don't have a distributor, so we're doing our best to get the word out there on our own and through the people who have read and enjoyed it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
OOOOOOOOOOOH. ok. I'll definately check it out.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hey man. love the art work, truly I do. And I don't mean to burst your bubble, but I think a speedster by the name of Speed already exists in the Marvel world. He's part of the Young Avengers.....unless it's the same guy. Then totally kewl.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Two things: First, so far as I'm aware, there's no Speed in New Avengers. Second, you can't trademark the name 'Speed' because it's a regular word and part of the common verbage. The only names that can be trademarked or copyrighted are those that are 'unique words' and don't exist in the vernacular. It's why Superman had to be one word, why the bat-signal had to have the yellow background for a while (as you can't trademark the image of a bat), and why some characters in multiple companies on rare occasions have the same name.
Therefore, we're plenty safe even if they DO come out with some guy called 'Speed.' But, like I said, I've never heard of one.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Very much like the physique on both of them. They look lean and fast, powers or no.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks. Really went for the runner's build, here. A lifelong love of The Flash helped, but not as much as you'd think - people are always making him look way too beefy
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Giant fan of speedsters, and these are done so well. Great depth, at least from the reading, and really nice looking. Wow, this is just mind boggling, and why I must watch your gallery from now on. Going to go take a look at your wife's gallery as well.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks a ton, pal. I really appreciate the kind words.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I really appreciate the great art so consider us even. So your welcome, and keep it up. Your story ideas have a lot of power behind them, and I am really anxious to see how it unfolds.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I like the detail on the shoes and the action here. Very cool.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I like the complimenting blue and gold color scheme.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It was my idea, actually, to have Kid Quick's parents be blue and gold. See, because she wears Green, and blue and yellow make green. It's an art-joke, and few will get it, I suppose. Meh, I like it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah, I did catch that but I didn't want to state something that seemed obvious. It was not lost on me.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Great work, I love the speed effects that it looks like you did in Pshop?
Cool story too.
I always liked Flash more then Superman too.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Of COURSE I did it in Photoshop! I do all my color there. Thanks on the speed effects - it's taken a while to figure out the exact right steps to take, but I think I've found something nice.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
nice...
i love speedstars...
although im a quicksilver fan...
anyhoo...
nice design, you can really see motion in this one...
I like the real shoe idea as well...
with all the running you would think speedstars
would wear running shoes, or at least something
with a treaded sole...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks a lot. I never really dug Quicksilver until Peter David's X-Factor, but since then I've loved him.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
When I saw this I was speechless. The whole color job and stuff took me by suprise, awesome job Adam!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I really wanted our runners to wear - Oh, I dunno... running shoes?! I mean, it's uncomfortable enough to WALK in knee-high boots, but running? Forget it! I researched the heck out of professional runners' footwear for these, and I'm glad you dig them.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
i could tell - seems like you know that shoe inside and out. it shows, and you wanna know something? i like drawing shoes. so i always notice how people draw shoes in their art - maybe a small detail but, seriously is sweet. glad you put the time in for some shoe research.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
heh when I saw the title for this peice I was like, "Awsome Striking Speedster (aka Speedy to his friends) got new art!" then I checkedout the peice and I felt totaly embarresed.
Still I am a HUGE speedster fan so great job on this one and I hope to see more of *your* Speedy in the future
👍: 0 ⏩: 0