For this week’s Insider, I’m sharing a peek behind the scenes in the development of the concept for Harlequin Versh. This MiniCrate -exclusive model is an alternate take of Harlan Phineas Versh. Playing off the nickname “Harley,” the idea for the concept steered toward historical harlequin themes. I sent artist Andrea Uderzo some visual references and a basic description, and the visual development process began.

In the first round of sketches, Andrea provided us with several options that could have gone in some fairly crazy directions. We immediately decided to avoid any clown-like appearance—so as not to alarm the rational part of the population that is rightly terrified of clowns.

Of all of the options, #5 had a lot of potential. The first change we needed to see was to make the mask more evil looking with an exaggerated nose. Instead of using the half-mask, we determined we could give him an evil grin if we went for a full mask.

Other notes:

• Remove the ruffle around the neck, frills, and bows.
• Give him a high collar.
• Bulk up his muscles to be closer to super-heroic.
• Pose #3 looks like the best direction to go as an homage to his original pose.

With those notes in hand, Andrea provided me with the sketches you see above. We then made the following choices:

• Hat and high collar from #1.
• Mask from #2.
• Everything else from #3, with the billowy sleeves from #2 tucked into the gloves of #3.

Andrea took those final notes and produced the finished concept above! Coulrophobics should have no problems with the final piece…

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this peek behind the curtain into the concept art process for Harlequin Versh. Now that you’ve seen the concept art, go check out the miniature on the MiniCrate website and secure yours today!