April O'Neil's character design

[TurtleTitan97]

Originally Posted by mikeandraph87

Thanks,Turtle Titan97. I could have looked it up but I have been away from a computer several hours and iPhones are much harder to navigate.

No problem dude. Glad I could help.

[Fugitoid Jones]

I always figured her design was primarily based off her jumpsuit appearance in issue 2 of Mirage vol.1, but it's interesting to hear about another influence. Thanks for looking into this oldmanwinters!

[Sage Ninja]

oh my gosh, April O'Neil was modeled after Fujiko! That is something because whenever I draw April O'Neil's body I always use Fujiko as a body model.




When I drew these drawings of April I used these shots of Fujiko to get the body figure and bust right:

[oldmanwinters]

Interesting observations, Sage Ninja!

I'm surprised at how similar Fujiko's posture is to April's style guide model in that last picture you posted:

[Sage Ninja]

during the April O'Neil remodel contest I was going to submit an updated April O'Neil with longer hair in the same style as Fujiko's from the Red Jacket series:



but it never came to fruitation because I couldn't get her to look right and after several attempts the contest was over and I shelved the idea. It's too bad, if I had only gotten it to look right in time I think it would have been good. The prototypes looked like they could have been awsomne I but I trouble with the body and getting the longer hair to look right and still look like April. I'm not as good as some other people on here who can make April's face look indentical to her character design in the show, and I'm anal over things like that. I prefere to draw characters so that they actually look like the characters, so that they can be more believable as an up graded version.

[MikeandRaph87]

Contest over or not I am sure that we all would like to see it still to see what you had in mind. Some fan ideas are right up there with cannon material and designs.

[Sage Ninja]

Originally Posted by mikeandraph87

Contest over or not I am sure that we all would like to see it still to see what you had in mind. Some fan ideas are right up there with cannon material and designs.

Hey thanks so much! Maybe when my semester is over I'll take another crack at it. I think one of my problems is that I attempt things that maybe too comiplicated or out of my skill range before I'm ready and I get frustrated when I can't get it right. Back in the day before entering high School I used to to draw all the time and I was pretty decent at it, then I got busy and dropped it for a while and unfortunatley my skill suffered as well and I'm not as profient as I used to be.

[Cryomancer]

A brand new Fujiko-centric Lupin show just started airing a few days ago, if this thread is making anyone interested in checking out Lupin that would be a decent place to start. Know that it has a lot of nudity in it's first episode, although it's overall pretty tasteful and logical to the theme and scene.

I'm not sure exactly which episode/movie they saw that had Fujiko wearing yellow with a camera, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is one. She doesn't tend to stick to any one outfit, disguises herself a lot, and there's over 40 years of material for that appearance to have occurred in. If I were to guess though, it's mostly likely an episode of the second TV series. If I happen upon the scene in question when I get around to watching more, I'll take some screenshots and post em in here.

[Sage Ninja]

A brand new Fujiko-centric Lupin show just started airing a few days ago, if this thread is making anyone interested in checking out Lupin that would be a decent place to start. Know that it has a lot of nudity in it's first episode, although it's overall pretty tasteful and logical to the theme and scene

are you sure it's a new series or is it just another annual Lupin the 3rd movie special?

[Cryomancer]

It's a new show. There's already a second episode.

[saul]

Any chance David Wise would share his pilot scripts with us? It would sure be fun to read how he describes the characters and their personalities.

Maybe he could sell his old script copies on ebay like Francis Moss is doing.

[Stingray69]

So does this mean we where wrong all these years on calling April a red head?

[Sage Ninja]

no she's a red head. Her hair was mostly depicted as being a softer, muted orange-red color. Only on certain ocassions did her hair look brown, or auburn. Besides I prefere her as red head any way. Makes her seem more interesting.

[Luzmagica]

Amazing!!!! I didnt know it!!! Thanks a lot for sharing this info!

[NameGoesHere1066]

why is April's head pointy here?

[Stingray69]

Originally Posted by NameGoesHere1066

why is April's head pointy here?

She's jersey shoring it with a hair bump.

Cabs are here!

[Sage Ninja]

Originally Posted by NameGoesHere1066

why is April's head pointy here?

that was a mistake on my part. However you'll notice if you look at the April O'Neil picture OMW posted her head is kind of pointy. I blame the 80's for that one.

[Lisardo]

Originally Posted by Swedenfan 1982

I don't know what news reporters wear when not being on TV, but one thing that has made me wonder is Irma. Working as a secretary girl, wouldn't she usually be required by her employer to wear something better-looking than a sweater to work, something like a blouse and a skirt. Actually, Irma usually sits just where visitors open the front door, and it's her they usually talk to when they arrive and wonder where someone is, so that would make more sense.

The sweater part was probably ok (the receptionist I work with wears them, tho they are more flattering and professional-looking). It's the ugly skirt I never understood.

One other thing that bugged me about April's attire, why didn't she ever wear casual clothing? She was always in the yellow jumpsuit. In real life, she'd never wear that thing around all over, she'd look weird, like some construction worker or something. Only in one or two eps did I EVER see her wear casual clothes.

In general, jumpsuits weren't worn by reporters, even in the 80s I don't think. I agree with the other poster about how most reporters look more like Lois Lane with a button-up blouse, jacket and short skirt. Not to say I didn't like her yellow jumpsuit, but it was pretty "loud" and gawdy for a reporter's uniform.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Sorry to bump this old thread (there's not a rule against it here, is there? I know of a few forums where it is is why I ask), but after I found out about this in another thread, I went poking around, and I found this.



This is from that newer Lupin the 3rd show about Fujiko herself, but it kind of looks like a reference to that outfit as well doesn't it?

Found this one as well. She definitely looks April-ish here.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Gyt Kaliba

Sorry to bump this old thread (there's not a rule against it here, is there? I know of a few forums where it is is why I ask), but after I found out about this in another thread, I went poking around, and I found this.

Spoiler:

This is from that newer Lupin the 3rd show about Fujiko herself, but it kind of looks like a reference to that outfit as well doesn't it?

Found this one as well. She definitely looks April-ish here.

Spoiler:

Nice finds, Gyt Kaliba! Those yellow shirts really are a blast-from-the-past.

I've not yet figured out what episodes Wise must have watched to inspire April O'Neil's original look, but the closet thing I can identify is a late scene from the fantastic (seriously, I'm not even a Lupin fan and I love it) Castle of Cagliostro movie.

Fujiko masquerades as a number of different professions in order to pull off a theft from the Castle, but near the end of the movie she pretends to be a reporter in a pink jumpsuit.



After she takes off her pink jumpsuit disguise, she runs around in camo-pattern jumpsuit with some knee-high boots:





And... because I just happened to see this somewhere (can't remember the reference) and thought it might be more than just a coincidence:



I don't know much about the early broadcast history of Lupin III in America, but my guess would be that Wise wouldn't have had access to too many episodes. I don't even know that he saw Castle of Cagliostro before 1987. Maybe Fujiko wore a yellow jumpsuit in an early episode or maybe Wise just forgot the colors on the jumpsuit in Castle of Cagliostro?