#western banded gecko | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hoardlikegoldenirises · 8 months

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Geckonyx aka Naomi Ishii, herpetologist and licker of rocks. Oh, and she can stick to things.

I have no self control so I designed several alternate costumes for Naomi, because I wanted to play with different color schemes and patterns inspired by different kinds of gecko (...and one frog)

And... a couple different variations for her head for each of them, because of my inability to choose between helmet and mask. I like both, I just don't want her to look too much like Spider-Woman. But I think, thanks to Blue Beetle and my emphasizing the round shape, that her masks look pretty distinct from any of the Spider-Women. It's still extremely blatantly Spidery to give a female wallcrawler this kind of mask, even if she doesn't shoot webs, but I think the bulbousness of the lenses and the cutout around her nose really helps shift the vibe.

EDIT: changed her gloves to all be fingerless so she can use her venom.

Closeups and some (a lot of) notes under the cut:

Western Banded Gecko (aka Naomi's first costume):

okay this is the oldest both literally and metatextually lol, I drew this in 2022 when I was first designing everyone, though it's had a minor color modification since then (more rose gold, less pink, but looks basically exactly the same) This one is rougher because I didn't bother redrawing the body for it. I'm only making the neat pics for the designs I haven't made refs for (and Seth's upgraded suit for completion's sake)

(Naomi is 30 by the way. she gets carded a lot.)

So, the western banded gecko. they don't have that much green irl, mostly like cream and pink and maroon, but there are hints of green so I included that because I liked the contrast. also. something i did not realize at the time is that, uh, i don't think... western banded geckos... stick. my excuse is that i am not a herpetologist and I just thought they looked cute and had nice colors. my retroactive excuse for Naomi is that she thought it was funny.

Anyway. This is Naomi's first costume, which she handmade. In-universe, while she is, yes, a herpetologist, she is also... a nerd. wait. she's already a nerd—I mean she likes comic books, cosplaying, lucha and pro-wrestling, not just lizards and rocks. So yes maybe I did purposefully give her a lucha mask to evoke Spider-Man, since she's a wallcrawler, and maybe I did purposefully make her literally a Spider-Man Fan because I thought it was funny, but also in my defense as far as mask design, I have... way too many goggles in my lineup... 😂 I had to have some variety in there. also it seemed like a good workaround for long hair.

The G on her chest is also meant to be a lizard/tail btw. And she made the whole costume herself out of fabric she got from the craft store and like, tights and stuff, so... iridescent mermaid scale spandex, etc. You can see her cosplay skills at play here compared to, for example, Seth's homemade Scratch costume, which, while sleek in its own right, is literally just black sportswear and a motorcycle helmet LOL

the little yellow strap-on shoes. The tights are stirrup tights, that way Naomi has the most important parts of her feet exposed but the tights will still stay put etc etc etc. They're probably a really high denier lol

Why does she really need the stirrup cut to expose the soles of her feet though? Well, since I have her using setae/van der waals forces to cling (vs. my version of peter parker, who has a fullbody electrostatic aura that works by charging his entire body including his clothes), this means... Naomi can't wear shoes or gloves while she sticks... at least, not without special materials. So her outfit is designed with that in mind; fingerless gloves so her fingertips are exposed and easily removable shoes she puts on a carabiner on the back of her waistband:

So practical! It's probably got a snap crotch leotard for the white part too but I didn't bother figuring that out here.

Anywho—upgraded suits.

Blue Tailed Day Gecko (female coloration):

This is the main intended step up I was thinking for her, despite the multiple other suits in this post. Consider this one "canonical" lmao idk what the rest are for i'm just like this.

The G logo on this one is a little smoother in its curves which I could say was on purpose but was kind of just me not really looking at the original when I drew it LOL though it IS supposed to look more like a tail, so that works fine for my purposes. I was originally considering giving her an actual lizard symbol (like the kind that show up if you google "lizard logo" I guess...) but I didn't like the way it looked in my sketches and trying to add little legs just felt too cluttered so I kept it simple. Unfortunately it does look kind of like a maggot or something when it's white like this, but I don't think Naomi would consider that a bad thing 😂

For most of my refs I didn't bother with the sexual dimorphism and stuff while looking for inspiration, but blue-tailed day lizards have like, really strong color dimorphism and I liked both a lot so I wanted to do one for each. So this one is inspired by the female coloration.

I didn't bother trying to recreate the lizard's pattern particularly, mostly focused on colors and vibes and good silhouettes that still evoked the shapes in her handmade costume. The copper spots on her back are based on that lizard's patterning though. But the female blue-tails tend to be pretty green, with a hint of blue, so I went with the blue-green gradient, and then since they have a lot of browns and earth tones I went with the sparkly bronze and the copper colors, and a fun coppery-bronze visor.

Anyway she will probably be a little more muscular by the time she gets a nice suit like this, just from supporting her own body weight (though she doesn't exactly weigh a whole lot and her strength is completely un-augmented so like... can't compare to Seth, whose job it is to leap five feet into the air and lift 5'10" athletes above their head lol) but she's still not exactly a bruiser.

(*edited 11/1 to add texture to green material, since, you know, lizards... scales... etc.)

And something you may be wondering is:

Why a helmet?

Well.

That's why.

Me, sowing by purposefully referencing Spider-Man in my wallcrawler's costume: teehee~

Me, reaping when I realize I can't put lenses on her mask without making her Literally Just Spider-Woman: fuck

I've got my ways though. Obviously. I wanted to keep the almond shape of the lucha silhouette even for the helmets though so I looked at some sentai helmets as reference and I just kinda winged it.

also I like that the visor on this helmet is kind of shaped like a heart 🧡 and also kind of like a butterfly 🦋 it's a good fit for Naomi, who is supposed to be cheerful and cute on top of liking, you know, lizards and bugs and shit.

At the same time I decided to play with variations on the lucha style mask and round bug-eyed lenses that aren't framed, and I do like how those look... I just can't tell if it's too Spider-Man or not. But I like the look so much I think I might use it... maybe she swaps between helmet and mask depending on context and weather.

Very cute... extra shimmery...

Anyway like my scribbly handwriting says, the helmet also serves, well, helmet purposes, to protect Naomi's head if she falls. Which is like, "well why would that even be a problem?" and the answer is simple: Naomi doesn't have super strength and her healing power is technically only "enhanced," generally speaking. Not to burden the Spider-Man comparisons but if you think about silver age and some early bronze age Peter Parker, it's kinda like that. She's tougher than she was before, and heals a little faster, but she can still break her arm if she falls wrong, or get laid up with the flu (though she's probably not quite as flu-prone as Peter, the guy who appears to have caught every flu strain known to man.)

In my head (...badum tss) she uses the helmet outside/high up/if it's cold or in other situations she might need more protection, and the mask is for like, indoors, more cramped spaces, or casual situations that still require her to keep her face hidden but maybe not quite as anonymous. also like, probably talking to people would be easier in the mask since her mouth is free and I didn't exactly put vents or filters on these helmets. (that's how you know they aren't regular materials)

Naomi does have some latent regenerative healing abilities (tied to the gecko theme) but—and I mean this in the most literal way possible: it doesn't work if she loses her head, so a helmet is probably still a good idea. also she won't know about this ability until something needs to grow back so her subconscious suit design would probably not take regeneration into account anyway?

idk i haven't quite worked out how these suits work yet. I know they're programmable matter and some kind of exotic or metamaterial, and in my head I've been thinking about them as similar-ish to the Fantastic Four's unstable molecules, but as far as specifics go, I dunno.

Wait I know one specific.

The white parts on her palms and soles are (some kind of silicon substrate probably?) made with CARBON NANOTUBES in them. This was in my plans already in a vague sense, in that I knew her fancy upgraded suit was going to get rid of the barefoot requirement and specifically allow her to use shoes, but it wasn't until a few days ago in a wiki hole that I realized I could use carbon nanotubes for that. I was just gonna handwave it lol

But basically my thought process for carbon nanotubes was like, gecko/nano tape but... more. I don't think irl gecko tape can support the weight of a grown adult woman, even a small one... (though there is some invention out there that figured out you can actually use van der waals forces to support a human being but they're real bulky)—but it's a neat idea and really what is more superheroic than partial science? and now she can still use her sticking powers without having to take her shoes off.

take that foot fetishists.

Anyway, her shoes aren't strictly climbing shoes (I don't think they're that curved) but I was looking at pics of climbing shoes for inspiration, so that's where the overall shapes and the super smooth soles are from.

(oh also it's cut off there but as I note in the drawing: Naomi's skills are mostly reconnaissance and stealth (despite her extremely vibrant colors), and anything focused on maneuverability, because while she has peak human reflexes, her strength is unimpressive and her healing ability is only mildly enhanced, like I said earlier, so she is not a very good offensive fighter.)

okay next!

Blue Tailed Day Gecko (male coloration):

I Swear To God I didn't do the red and blue on purpose, it literally didn't occur to me until after I had colored it. I just thought the male blue-tails looked cool lmao. But I think it's got enough green tones and so little red that it doesn't really evoke Spidey's red and blue anyway, especially since her visor is blue-black instead of white. So I'm not sweatin' it.

I actually really like how this one came out too. I was having some trouble with incorporating the green but I think this very soft glaucous green works really well. I could almost see this one being a like... slightly more stealth-focused suit... obviously it's still brightly colored and the arms are still pretty light, but the deep colors overall evoke a slightly more nighttime oriented feel for me.

...a blue-tailed night gecko, if you will.

Made this one a little metallic-sparkly but not as glittery as the one with the female coloration. This one has a tiny bit more inspiration from the lizard's actual markings (mostly on the helmet) but is still of course all about clean lines and good silhouettes.

The logo also ended up smaller and slightly different which, IDK why I didn't just copy-paste, but I like how it looks this way anyway so eh. They don't HAVE to be identical.

I don't really know what texture the green should be though. More glitter seems like a bit too much. In my head I'm thinking it might just be a very, very matte, soft texture but surprisingly durable. It's not like it's made of spandex so it can really be pretty much any texture. That's also why it's possible for the helmet to match the fabric color and glitter perfectly 😂 I'd feel bad for any real life costume designer who had to deal with this... lmao

mask version...

I had a terrible realization with this one because I didn't look up pictures of Spider-Woman until afterward and it turns out she has a triangle on her forehead which I had forgotten about LOL but I think it's still different enough. There's some Blue Beetle influence in there that I think helps differentiate it pretty well. Like, okay, if she was a Marvel character I would assume she was a spider-person or some weird cross between Koi Boi and Spider-Woman, but outside of Marvel... I think it's got a good vibe.

pop of contrast with the red knees again. I just think it looks nice and the kneepads let me evoke the bike short-style cut on her homemade costume without actually putting her in shorts.

Pretty similar here for soles, slightly different silhouette but that's about it. palms are the same, white and rubbery but flexible. I imagine her gloves move kind of like a second skin despite being all one piece without any seams. fuck helmet matching, i would REALLY feel bad for an irl costume designer having to make that work in live action.

Here's a better look at the actual palm btw.

and also. her fingertips. ridges from setae already weird enough but not noticeable unless someone looks close or can feel her fingers, and then... the new ability... to shoot modified hairs in the form of hollow needles with which to inject venom.

it's an awful mental image, tbh. lmao. the venom she uses is similar to that of gila monsters or beaded lizards. (not bearded)

Part 2!!!

Northern Spiny Tailed Gecko:

Okay! I'm mixed on this one tbh. lol.

I did this one kind of on a whim cause I saw a pic of one of these lizards and I thought they looked cool, though not really Naomi's like... aesthetic. So I guess this is kind of like... what if Naomi got serious... but still was Naomi LMAO she can't resist the hint of shimmer... (wait that's me.)

I like the way the mask turned out significantly more than the helmet for this one, though I like the spikes on the helmet. But the lenses specifically turned out a lot better imo. I was looking at the actual lizard's weird fucking eyes and was like, how the hell do I evoke that. And then I remembered that, even if this WASN'T made of some kind of unknown unstable molecule or nanomachines or whatever the fuck, you can put patches of different colored foil films on real life motorcycle visors and sunglasses and stuff, so that's basically what I was thinking about there. She still sees out it the same, though with I guess random dots of full spectrum color vs... orange-tinted... LOL

This suit was actually surprisingly hard to do. Turns out doing a completely monochromatic fullbody suit in any color other than black is... difficult, if you want it to actually look good. I did know I wanted it textured at least... but the rest, hard. That's why the white lines are there tbh. It just needed something for visual interest.

The G on this one is segmented/broken up instead of soft curves to fit the slightly edgier look, and also as a reference to geckos' famed ability to detach and grow back their tails. (Naomi doesn't have a tail and she can't detach her limbs but she can do the other part...!)

I gave it spikes to match the spiny appearance of the lizard... wow... so edgy... 😂 Actually it was super odd to do a costume like this in such a pale color, because normally when I do more grim costumes, they feature a lot of black and very vibrant accents like purple or red. (Though I guess the orange color of the lenses here is a bright color...)

Since I've been heavily referencing climbing shoes so much, it made sense to me to put crampons on her shoes. More spikes! I doubt they're super useful but, maybe... I mean. I'm sure they'd make a kick in the balls real killer. oh... hm. I mean obviously this is a weaponized costume, but... is this her weaponized costume? her only chance at offense as a 100 lb wallcrawler... metal spikes.

Assume they are reinforced and framed inside where it's not visible, in this magic superhero costume that doesn't need to follow the laws of tailoring. The angled knee pads are my way of doing knee spikes cause unless you got a full suit of armor that never looks good lmao. They are def hard on the outside though.

Also this whole color scheme and the white on the palms just makes me think of like... sharks... which I guess its fitting.

Anyway this costume was... interesting to work on. It was mostly an experiment, and IDK if she'll ever use it (I say this like I have a story about anyone other than Seth lmfao) because I already have several characters with white, red and black color schemes (though Tama's includes gold) so I didn't want to add yet another, but it was just such a neat looking lizard I couldn't resist.

next!

Lygodactylus williamsi aka the Electric Blue Day Gecko:

I like the color of this one... could not resist adding yet MORE glitter, though I figured the body could be one of those very, very slightly shimmery matte looking deals in contrast to the super heavy flake glitter in the helmet and mask. would film terribly. lmao.

I was briefly judging myself for giving every helmet a different visor for some reason instead of using the same one to save my hand (meanwhile i copy pasted the mask XD) especially since... Naomi is NOT the only one with a helmet (if I keep her helmets at all) but what I realized is that most of her helmets in this lineup still have similar enough visor shapes that it's pretty thematically consistent even though they're all different. I think the tree frog and the spiny gecko helmets, aka the two most experimental costumes here, are the most divergent, but they still have like... the rough overall vibe of curves and heart shapes. but this electric blue helmet fits very neatly in with the blue-tailed helmets, so I like that. I could see this one slotting very neatly in with the blue-tailed day gecko suits as a set.

Which, importantly, means I probably don't have to worry about TJ's helmet when I get to him, especially since his is going to be significantly more influenced by Power Rangers and super sentai stuff... I'll probably give him a way weirder visor shape.

Anyway, this suit was another case of monochrome making my life difficult but you know what makes everything look better? Gradients. Lmao. and more shimmers. I just like sparkles, and I liked the idea of leaning into Naomi having a consistent aesthetic as far as being colorful and sparkly, even when it's toned down. (right, "toned down," as if the helmet accompanying it isn't extremely over the top lmao)

In my head the material on her gloves and shoe soles is like... a really sticky-looking (but not—well. it is sticky but it's not wet) kind of gummy, rubbery, or like... jelly almost? but like. on an opaque base cause her hands and feet are in there. like... one of those translucent rubber ducks...

(*edit 11/1 added texture to this one as well)

Attempts Were Made...

I considered making a version based on the female coloration of this lizard, as a counterpart, but my hand hurts after spending three days on drawing superhero costumes...lol. if I do draw a counterpart like that, I think it would be a mix of rose gold/copper and a shimmery iridescent gold-green, I think... either a front-to-back gradient or with side panels. or even like... almost like those tinted holographic fabrics...

anyway

Red Eyed Tree Frog:

Okay this isn't a gecko but it occurred to me while I was taking a break yesterday and it sounded fun... It's not technically on theme since her vigilante/hero/whatever name is literally Geckonyx lmao but it is on theme in that she probably likes frogs, aside from obviously being a wallcrawler.

Also when I realized I could make her helmet for this one look like an alien... bro. how could i RESIST?! I think this is by far the cutest helmet I have drawn, ever.

Unlike the other costumes, but similarly to the electric blue costume, this one has the back and front of the hand all the same material (does that mean she can stick with the backs of her knuckles in this suit???)

As far as styling goes, this one was very straightforward since it's pretty obviously literally just the exact pattern on a red eyed tree frog (well, plus the rubber G) lol — this is also the One where I started to figure out her mask, and that's because frogs have big round eyes. I copy pasted the mask from this one to all the others lol.

also came very close to looking like Seahawks colors (lol) but thankfully the cool base I used for the metallic blue drew it away from that a little, on top of being a little lighter than the navy they use. (plus the blood orange/scarlet accents)

rubbery texture on the shoes again for sure... not so sure about the green though... like is it also rubbery... like un-laminated neoprene?? pleathery/leather-like texture? idk. not shiny spandex, i know that much.

texture: skin?

ANYWAY

That's it!! IDK why I felt the need to design four extra suits for Naomi on top of her upgrade, but it's fun to think about all the gecko colors... who knows, maybe she needs a variety... every wallcrawler needs a stealth suit. and. a bunch of other ones. duh.

UPDATE: realized I still need the full gloves for certain situations—luckily, when I did the fingerless gloves, I just drew fingers on top of the full gloves in a separate folder, so i still have all of them lol.

Considering the lizard theming there is something strangely fitting about Naomi being able to switch between helmet and mask, full glove and fingerless glove, all as needed. Something chameleonic, if you will.

#geckonyx aka naomi #scratchverse #nadiart #not fanart #arghdesign #shiny art #superhero oc #my hand hurts 😅

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