Over the course of 2005-2008, I assisted Art Asylum, designing production control art for various projects, most notably their Minimates line. This involved turnaround views for every part of the figure that was to be included in the final product, along with any surface artwork that needed to be applied.
Dr. Fate was a secret homage to my good friend Anubis8. Anubis8 is a HUGE JSA fan, and I wanted to take on as many of the JSA characters as I could to make him proud. That’s part of the reason I opted for the ‘modern’ look to Fate, but mainly I wanted to have fun pushing the details on the collar, etc. I was hoping we could revisit a classic Dr. Fate at a later date. One disappointment with the finished piece is the blue of the costume. When I initially designed the control art, I included a modern metallic blue on the costume. I had pictured the overall body being a deep midnight blue with lighter highlights on the muscles. This would have added so much more drama to the piece. The helmet turned out a bit softer than I envisioned. Still, at least they greenlit the modern interpretation.
One additional accessory that never made it to development would have been specially designed feet that pointed down. This would allow Fate to stand on a custom cloud base, given him the illusion of hovering. Alas, it got dropped before going into production.
While the photos shown here on the site represent the finished figure, it should be noted that I contributed the control art only. As with all of the Minimate projects, there were many talented people involved: production managers, sculptors, other designers… This figure was very much a team effort, and the finished product reflects the contributions of many individuals.
Particularly with these early waves, I worked with another designer as I learned the ropes and to help cope with the volume of characters in development. While I have included some of my own pre-production designs, fellow designer Uriel ultimately refined the look on the faces and muscles, helping maintain a consistent style for the overall Minimate brand. Thanks again for the assist, Uriel!
Released 3/28/2007
