Larfleeze is back! Find and recover the stolen gifts in Metropolis and Gotham City before it’s too late! Look for “Yuletide Fear” (Villains) or “Winter Plunderland” (Heroes) in your Mission Journal. Or alternatively you can now use the Warp Menu to head directly to the Watchtower or Hall of Doom by selecting Season’s Greedings: Hal Jordan (Hero) or Season’s Greedings: Sinestro (Villain).

There are also wondrous new feats to be found, along with style items and accessories to be earned!

New Feats!

• All the Trimmings
• Happy Fraggin’ Holidays
• Wrap god

Larfleeze’s greed can’t be satisfied so he is taking advantage of a heated battle between the Green Lanterns and the Sinestro Corps. Look for “Ring in the Holidays” in your Mission Journal. Players must complete “Yuletide Fear” or “Winter Plunderland” and “Season’s Greedings” in order to receive the “Ring in the Holidays” Daily Mission.

Each day of the event, look for “Season’s Greedings” and “Ring in the Holidays” in your Mission Journal to complete the mission and earn Holly Leaves. Don’t forget to shop at Skeets’ Workshop to get the latest winter clothing, holiday goodies, and festive base items!

In the 31st Century, the Legion of Super-Heroes is locked in battle with the timeless sorcerer Mordru. Unable to defeat his rivals, Mordru devises a new plan: to win the future by destroying the past! The Legionnaires come up with a brilliant plan: to call for help from the heroes from the past that Mordru seeks to destroy.

Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad now look to you for support to face Mordru, Validus, Emerald Empress, and more. Will you answer their call?

Long Live the Legion features new daily and weekly Open World missions, raid-like world bosses, a normal and elite Alert, and a normal and elite Raid! To play this content your character must be level 30 and have a minimum Combat Rating of 310.

For a limited time, special “Event” versions of all content for Long Live the Legion will be available to all players level 15+ as well! Look for these Event versions in the Events tab of your On Duty menu.



New Open World Missions – 31st Century: New Earth

• Look for 31st Century: New Earth in your Warp Menu or use the teleporter in the Watchtower or Hall of Doom
• New Daily and Weekly missions in 31st Century: New Earth
• Minimum Level: 15

New Alert and Elite Alert – Legion HQ
The Legion has invited you to their Headquarters for orientation and evaluations: time travel to the 31st can cause unexpected side-effects, even without Mordru’s interfering!

• Open your On Duty Menu and look for Legion: Legion HQ under Tier 10 of the 4 Player Tab. Combat Rating: 310
• For the Event Version – look Legion: Legion HQ (Event) in the On Duty Menu under the Events Tab. Minimum Level: 15

New Raid and Elite Raid – Legion: Convergence of Unmaking

Mordru's ritual has begun and threatens to erase 21st century inspirations from history. Head to Mordru's lair before you’re next!

• Open your On Duty Menu and look Legion: Convergence of Unmaking under Expert Tier 10 of the 8 Player Tab. Combat Rating: 310
• For the Event Version – look for Legion: Convergence of Unmaking (Event) in the On Duty Menu under the Events Tab. Minimum Level: 15

New Gear, Base Items, Feats and More

• Earn new event currencies: Solar Credits and Time Beacons!

New Artifacts and Augments

• Acquire new gear inspired by Emerald Empress and Cosmic Boy!
• Plus collect new base items, feats, and more!

https://youtu.be/i1vrJB5_H4E


Questions or comments? Join the discussion on the official forums.


 

The Witching Hour Returns with new Base Items, Feats, Styles, & More!

All hell has broken loose in the streets of Gotham City and inside The Midnight Masquerade Nightclub! Go to the East End safehouse in Gotham City and speak to the Phantom Stranger (Heroes) or The Tap Room in Burnley and speak to Tala (Villains) to receive further instructions.

Alternatively, you can now use the Warp Menu to head directly to the Open World Content by selecting The Witching Hour: Phantom Stranger (Hero) or The Witching Hour: Tala (Villain). To queue for “The Midnight Masquerade,” go into your On Duty UI and look under the Events Tab.

Each day of the event, also look for “The Witching Hour” in your Mission Journal to complete and earn Spooky Bites! Shop Skeets’ Boo-tique for the latest in scare-wear, tricks, treats, and creepy items for your Base. You’ll even find a few extra special surprises, like the new Boo Family Emblems, and new Victorian Detective Style Items!

Level Requirement: 10

New Feats

• It’s a Mystery
• Scream House Makeover
• Memento Mori

New Henchmen Uplink Device: Creepy Critters

During this year's Fall event, the new Henchmen Uplink Device: Creepy Critters will have a chance to drop from ANY On Duty mission boss in the game. Take your Fall cheer and costumed fun out into the greater DCUO world, and make sure you play enough to get this most ghoulish of Henchmen.


Victorian Detective Mask and Cowl


Henchmen Uplink Device: Creepy Critters






The Witching Hour begins October 1, 2020, and ends November 4, 2020.

 

But that's not all! What goes better with costumes and Halloween than more Style Unlocking? That's right! Nothing!

As a reminder, Style Unlocking allows you to unlock a style on one character that you already have on one of your other characters. Phase 4 enables more styles for the system, including styles from Episodes 27-35 and from Time Capsules 7-9. 

Style Unlocking Phase 4 is a permanent addition to the game. 





Welcome to October, Fall, and everyone's favorite time of the year in DC Universe Online. In addition to the Witching Hour (Fall seasonal event), we're kicking off the month with free gifts and a sale in the Fall Fest! 



Now through October 11th, log in to claim your free gifts:

• CR255 Character Advance
• Hallowings
• Vampire Bat (Trinket Pet)

Gifts are one per account. Hallowings can be style-unlocked for free to any other characters on your account.





Since free gifts are often not enough to put a smile on everyone's face, we're slashing prices during the Fall Fest, too! Look for 25% off Respec Tokens, Artifact XP, and Catalysts in the Marketplace. The sale runs through Fall Fest and ends on October 11th.


Fall Fest and Sale begin October 1st, 2020, and end October 11, 2020. 

TRAVEL TO THE 31ST CENTURY THIS NOVEMBER IN "LONG LIVE THE LEGION"

DC Universe Online's next episode features the future's bravest team, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and a time-traveling adventure into the 31st Century. The new episode LONG LIVE THE LEGION will launch in November 2020.



Legion of Super-Heroes #4

NEW EPISODE: LONG LIVE THE LEGION

In the future, the founding members of the Legion of Super-Heroes take inspiration from our present-day heroes to form a new team and face their 31st Century threats. Chief among those threats is their oldest and timeless foe, Mordru!

Having so far failed to defeat this stellar team, Mordru concocts a new plan: use his eldritch-enhanced powers in the 31st Century to destroy history's heroes. His logic? No past, no heroes, no inspiration - no Legion of Super-Heroes.

In LONG LIVE THE LEGION, Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad uncover Mordru's plot amidst exploding chaos in 31st Century Metropolis, and then have a clever thought: who better to help protect their past and future Metropolis than the 21st Century heroes themselves?

Players must travel forward in time with the Teen Titans - the Legion's most direct inspiration - to set things right before they and their legacy disappear. 


SJ'S TAKE: "Players have been asking for a Legion of Super-Heroes episode for as long as I can remember. Well, the future is now! I'm not sure if I am more excited for 31st Century Metropolis or the new Legion characters. Both bring something completely new to the game." - SJ Mueller, DC Universe Online Creative Director


THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT LONG LIVE THE LEGION:

• LONG LIVE THE LEGION will offer standard and elite versions of the content, with level-agnostic event versions of the content available free to all players for a limited time.  
• The episode will feature new and returning allies and adversaries, including founding members Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad as well as their foes Mordru, Emerald Empress, and Validus.  
• The storyline will include adventures set in the distant future, featuring 31st Century Metropolis, the Legion's HQ, and more. 
• The open-world 31st Century Metropolis will feature improved World Boss encounters, rewards, and mechanics.
• The episode will launch new player rewards, including gear, artifacts, styles, base items, and feats.

EPISODE 39: LONG LIVE THE LEGION will launch in November 2020 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.


Questions or comments? Join the discussion on the official forums!

With the Source Wall cracked, multiple universes are merging into our own. Along with the new threats also come new allies: the Council of Wonder Women! Take up arms with Nubia, Flashpoint Wonder Woman, Red Son Wonder Woman, and more, face the Olympian Gods and the New Gods, and restore order before it is too late.

Wonderverse features new daily and weekly Open World missions, raid-like world bosses, a brand-new Solo and Alert, as well as Normal and Elite versions of a new Raid! To play this content mode your character must be level 30 and have a minimum Combat Rating of 299.

For a limited time, special “Event” versions of all content for Wonderverse will be available to all players, level 10+ as well! Look for these Event versions in the Events tab of your On Duty menu.



New Open World Missions – Wonderverse: Patchwork Themyscira

A crack in the Source Wall merged together Themysciras of different Earths. As the wall crumbles further, fragments of the Source Wall rain down on the island, attracting multiple factions of invaders seeking to raid this new resource. Help all the Wonder Women repel the raiders and then take the fight to their leaders!

New Solo – Wonderverse: Temples of Source Power

Invading factions have noticed that fragments of that Source Wall are being attracted to places of power around Themyscira. Queue for or walk into 4 different Temples to help the different Wonder Women deny at least one invading faction per day.

New Alert – Wonderverse: Crypt of Penthesilea

Instead of turning over her share of Source Wall fragments to the rest of the Council of Wonder Women, Queen Diana has suspiciously sealed herself inside the Crypt of Penthesilea. Meet with Nubia to see if together you can convince Queen Diana to see reason.

New Raid and Elite Raid – Wonderverse: Fractured God Sphere

We’ve learned from Poseidon that the Sphere of the Gods is crumbling and the Gods themselves have been collecting Source Wall fragments to try and shore up their own power. The Council of Wonder Women know those fragments are necessary to repair the multiverse. Enter the God Sphere and reclaim the fragments for the greater good.

New Gear, Base Items, Feats and More

• Earn new event currencies: Splintered Coins and Empyrean Aether!
• New Augments and Artifacts!
• Acquire new gear inspired by Grail and the Amazons!
• Plus collect new base items, feats, and more

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rNT6DcIV63s

Questions or comments? Join the discussion on the official forums.

THIS AUGUST, WONDER WOMEN MUST SAVE THE MULTIVERSE IN WONDERVERSE


Just announced, DC Universe Online's next content features a broken multiverse and the only heroes strong enough to heal it: each universe's Wonder Woman! The new episode WONDERVERSE will launch this August.




NEW EPISODE: WONDERVERSE


In WONDERVERSE, the Source Wall has cracked and the multiverse is collapsing. The Amazons awake to find a Themyscira dimensionally-patchworked as their universes merge. The Sphere of the Gods is in ruins, and so the Greek Gods and the New Gods - in fact, all gods - desperately seek fragments of the Source Wall to reclaim their power.

However, if the multiverse is to survive, our Diana - our Wonder Woman - knows the only chance is to collect those fragments to repair the Source Wall. She must face the gods and overcome their greed, and she knows she cannot do it alone. Answering her call are the players, heroes and villains alike recognizing the severity of the situation, and...the Wonder Women of the other collapsing universes!  

With the multiverse at stake, will the Council of Wonder Women and players be enough to defeat the gods and repair the Source Wall? Or does another power lurk in the background with other, more sinister plans?

SJ'S TAKE: "What’s my favorite thing about this episode? Without a doubt, the opportunity to create the concept of the Wonderverse! Nothing like it’s ever been done before in DC’s comics and it fits in perfectly in DCUO. We had the councils of Lex Luthor and Batman – why not Wonder Woman? Who else is better at leading us into the battle of our lives?" - SJ Mueller, DC Universe Online Creative Director


THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WONDERVERSE:

• Wonderverse will be a large-scale episode, with level-agnostic event versions of content available to all players for a limited time.  
• The episode will feature new and returning adversaries, from the Greek Gods (including Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon) to the New Gods (including Grail, Darkseid, and Orion) and beyond.
• The episode will also feature Wonder Women from five different universes.
• The storyline will include adventures set in familiar and remote locales, including a massive open-world, universe-merging Themyscira.   
• The episode will launch new player rewards, including new gear, styles, artifacts, base items, and feats.

EPISODE 38: WONDERVERSE will launch this August on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.


Questions or comments? Join the discussion on the official forums!

Poison Ivy is back to wreak havoc on the people of Gotham City! We’ve added three new Feats, new Spring-themed Base items, and new Spring-themed gear. Collect Seed Pods and purchase Spring items from “Arborist Louis” next to Swamp Thing in the Watchtower or “The Misgiving Tree” next to Poison Ivy in the Hall of Doom.

Villains can learn more about Poison Ivy’s plans by speaking to her in the Hall of Doom’s Pit, while Heroes can speak to Swamp Thing in the Watchtower’s Aquacultural Area to help bring down Ivy and her minions. Plus, speak to Veronica Cale (Villains) or Doctor Sarah Charles (Heroes) to find out more about taking on Swamp Thing. Level Requirement: 10

Celebrate this year’s Spring event with our new Holi Festival celebration! Pummel your friends and foes alike with handfuls of colorful powder!

New Feats:

• Midnight Spring Dream
• Holi Snikes!
• Wooden Chip On Your Shoulder

Metropolis has descended into a battle royale due to the machinations of Lex Luthor. Is Luthor dead or alive and what’s his master plan? Team-up with the street-level heroes and villains of the Birds of Prey team: Black Canary, Huntress, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and their newest member - Harley Quinn - to find out.

Travel from Metropolis’ burning LexCorp Tower to Luthor’s hidden lair, and for the first time: Oracle’s Clock Tower HQ! You never know what to expect where Luthor’s involved, so be ready for anything, from Lobo to Amazo to Brimstone: a towering threat from the heart of Apokolips!


To play this content your character must be level 30 and have a minimum Combat Rating of 287.

For a limited time, special “Event” versions of all content in Birds of Prey will be available to all players level 15+ as well! Look for these Event versions in the Events tab of your On Duty menu. 


New Open World Missions – BoP: Metropolis
Metropolis descends into a battle royale after Lex Luthor broadcasts to the world that he's leaving his wealth, technology, and weapons to anyone willing to take them. Crime is rampant and the Birds of Prey are on the case! Each of the Birds of Prey has a mission for players in the new open world. For example, Heroes will help Huntress fight crime while Villains partner with Catwoman for a piece of the action!

• Look for BoP: Metropolis in your Warp Menu or use the teleporter in the Watchtower or Hall of Doom
• New Daily and weekly missions in BoP: Metropolis. Minimum Level: 15

New Solo – BoP: Lex Tower
An explosion at LexCorp Tower causes a mad rush for Luthor's tech and spurs an investigation into Luthor's fate. Heroes find H.I.V.E. harvesting what they can while Villains work to prevent A.R.G.U.S. from taking Luthor's tech. Work with Superman and the Birds of Prey to battle your way to Luthor's inner sanctum.

• Open your On Duty Menu and look for BoP: LexCorp Tower under Tier 9 of the 1 Player Tab. Combat Rating: 287
• For the event version – look for BoP: LexCorp Tower (Event) in the On Duty Menu under the Events Tab. Minimum Level: 15

New Alert – BoP: Volcano Mining Facility
Follow intrepid reporters Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen as they investigate Luthor's hidden lair. No one's shocked that Luthor built a volcano lair, but he has plenty of surprises in store for uninvited guests!

• Open your On Duty Menu and look for BoP: Volcano Mining Facility under Tier 9 of the 4 Player Tab. Combat Rating: 287
• For the event version – look for BoP: Volcano Mining Facility (Event) in the On Duty Menu under the Events Tab. Minimum Level: 15

New Raid and Elite Raid – BoP: Clock Tower
You’ve received a distress call from Oracle! Lex Luthor has initiated a direct attack on her safe house, the Gotham City Clock Tower, and has taken control of Oracle's security measures, turning them against her. Get to the Clock Tower and protect Oracle from her own technology and from a new danger even she never saw coming!

• Open your On Duty Menu and look for BoP: Clock Tower under Expert Tier 9 of the 8 Player Tab. Combat Rating: 287
• For the event version – look for BoP: Clock Tower (Event) in the On Duty Menu under the Events Tab. Minimum Level: 15

New Raid and Elite Raid – BoP: Fire & Brimstone
Lex Luthor’s plans have finally come to fruition and they're not good for anyone. Battle Luthor in the heart of his volcano and discover the world-killing threat he’s been working towards this entire time!

• Open your On Duty Menu and look for BoP: Fire & Brimstone under Expert Tier 9 of the 8 Player Tab. Combat Rating: 287
• For the event version – look for BoP: Fire & Brimstone (Event) in the On Duty Menu under the Events Tab. Minimum Level: 15

New Gear, Base Items, Feats and More

• Earn a new event currency: LexCoins!
• Rank up new Augments and Artifacts!
• Acquire new gear inspired by Harley Quinn and Huntress!
• Plus, collect new base items, feats, and more!

https://youtu.be/eckMEBu17uQ

Questions or comments? Join the discussion on the official forums. 

Welcome heroes and villains to our first Birds of Prey Dev Diary. The new episode launches April 16, 2020, so it is time to share what’s ahead. 

Today we are here with dev and artist Megan “Megzilla” Cheever to pull back the curtain on how we go about creating the “key art” or promotional art you see with each new episode. Enjoy!


Let’s start with the basics. What is your role here on the DCUO team and how long have you been at it?

I’m the 2D Artist for DCUO – I handle concepts for our gear suits, our UI (such as the icons and menus), texture support for our environment artists, emblems, and I help out with marketing art - which includes key art! I’ve been helping design for DCUO for about 4.5 years now.


What does it mean to be a 2D Artist? What things do we see that you make?

For concept art, I help give a road map for our 3D artists (character and environment) to help visualize what a prop or gear suit would look like. My job there is to solve any discrepancies between a comic book suit and how our styles are broken up in the game. Translating a 2D comic into 3D is not always as simple as it might look. 

My icons, UI, and texture work are pretty straight forward. Sometimes I’ll help make a pattern or do a monitor screen or a poster. My actual in-game handiwork is emblems that players can wear, and I’ve been doing the key art, or promotional art, for episodes since Deluge in Spring 2018.


What tools or software do you use most?

95% of my work is done in Photoshop. For all the previous key art, the art team would work within our UE3 editor to get our DC characters posed and lit to start off with, though that’s not the case for Birds of Prey.


How did you get into the industry and find yourself at Dimensional Ink?

I went to Academy of Art University for art school, which is in San Francisco. I attended GDC in 2014 on a student pass and made sure to go talk to as many studios as I could. Life happened in such a way where I ended up in Austin, TX and one of the studios I kept in touch with was also located there. I got my foot in the door via an internship there, and by expanding my professional network. 

One of my friends presented the knowledge that DCUO was looking for a UI artist, I took an art test, and now I rule the second dimension with an iron fist. 

 
Do you have any advice for folks out there considering a career as an artist in the game industry?

Work hard and network. Educate yourself on what a concept artist or illustrator needs to bring to the table and have examples of that in your portfolio. Be open to feedback and have a growth mindset! 

 
Do you have any advice particularly for women looking to break in?

Same as anyone else – work hard, be passionate. Don’t be afraid to speak up or have a voice.  

Okay, let’s talk about key art. First of all, what is it and why do we create it anyway? Don’t just say “marketing.”

I like to think of it as our hype piece! Like a movie poster. Something that gets people curious and excited about our upcoming content. The key art is the centerpiece of the marketing material for our episodes, so it needs to convey an idea of what the episode is about and what the overall mood will be. 

For example, our Metal episodes had really dark key art. For Metal Part II, I wanted to convey a feeling similar to a Frank Frazetta painting, utilizing the drama of a hero versus a big bad monster-creature. Our Birds of Prey key art is much different – more of a fun and and light tone. It features some of our key DC characters in a girl-band team-up vibe which helps convey some of idea of our story.
 
We also use the key art for some of our loading screens and I think that extra reminder of our comic roots is enjoyable for everyone.


It’s episode time and the team needs you to do your magic with key art. What's your first step?

When we are getting ready to start key art work, I like to have a meeting with design, marketing, community, and other stakeholders to discuss what we want to convey. What are the key story points, who are our DC characters, what are we trying to say? 

Usually we don’t start this process until we are about a month or two out from releasing the episode, since we were utilizing our in-game models, but for Birds of Prey we went full illustration, so we were able to brainstorm together much earlier. It was a really fun and collaborative process.

 
How much do you refer to the comics directly in this process?

We rely a lot on our own narrative for the storytelling in the key art. For a couple pieces, we’ve done an homage to other comic book covers to give “our spin” on something we thought was very cool. Our Metal Part I key art took inspiration from DC’s Batman Who Laughs comic book cover, and this Birds of Prey key art is very much inspired by a gorgeous DC Batgirl and the Birds of Prey cover by Kamome Shirahama. 


With Birds of Prey, there is a different mood going on. What makes it stand out?

This episode is FUN and features completely new refreshes on our major DC characters – doing a “band” style illustration allows for the piece to focus on the DC characters. It is much more subtle storytelling than something like our Superman vs. Doomsday key art, but we are also telling a different story in this episode. The mood comes across as entirely different, and that's the point.


Can you speak to that tone or vibe you were looking to communicate, about the episode itself?

Light-hearted! Teamwork! Funny! They let me draw Isis chewing on cords. :)


You mentioned the Birds of Prey key art is full illustration, which is different than the way some other key art was done. Can you explain the differences?

All previous key art that I have worked on utilized our 3D models set in our actual environments. There were a lot more hands that touched the art – we had environment artists help with the levels and posing our character artists’ models, we had our animator making specific poses, and then I helped composite and fill in any gaps. There is a lot of collaboration among the different disciplines, which is really rewarding. This also means it gets done much quicker! 

In the past, we have also had a couple of amazing DC artists do key art for us (Age of Justice, for example) and I thought those turned out super neat. So this time, I asked if I could do an illustration for Birds of Prey. 

A lot of the collaborating was done on the front end so we could hammer out the finer details of the background, the poses, etc. I worked with another concept artist here on the characters themselves, since it is always good to have another set of eyes checking your work. A lot more of my time goes into something like this since everything is handcrafted. I referred to our in-game models for some pose help and used a lot of photo reference as well. 


I know getting from blank page to final piece has a lot of steps. Can you walk us through the process, and maybe shows us some of the major work-in-progress versions along the way?

Sure, here goes!


Earliest Thumbnail Sketches Set 1


Earliest Thumbnail Sketches Set 2

These were my first batch of thumbnails. I thought it would be cute to explore the selfie idea with this team. I could really ham up Harley with duck face or very expressive posing, and I could lean into Huntress being reluctant and DARK in the background. 

It was overall a little too silly for what we wanted for this particular key art. I only had one action sketch since that wasn’t really what we were going for, but I wanted to throw it out there just to see. Since Black Canary is a singer in the comics, I liked the idea of “GIRL BAND” for this set of characters. Using the speakers as the main environment element allowed us to go more pin-up and “graphic design” rather than a literal location.


Color Rough

After much discussion, we went with #6 from thumbnails. The next part was for me to flesh out the sketch a little bit and make sure this was really the direction we wanted to go, as well as address any concerns. We liked the monitors from Kamome Shirahama, so I went ahead and composed those here. At this point, we sent this version to DC to get approval with this direction.


Poison Ivy Sketch with Feedback


Poison Ivy Variant Sketches

This is an example of me sending my linework to one of the other artists. I sent him WIPs of everyone when I was able – this is a great of example of how small changes can really make the difference. Here I thought Poison Ivy’s shoulders were stronger than I wanted and she was overall a little too “tough” – his changes of softening the shape of the shoulder and for the hair to drape over the ear really helped soften her look. 


Updated Color Rough

Here is an updated version of the color rough. I had painted in Harley and some of Poison Ivy, and this was another progress check for our internal team and with DC. Here you can see the refined linework and drawing for all the characters and background. I think characters are much more interesting to draw, so I made sure I blocked in my background and got that linework done before jumping into painting characters. Between here and the final, it’s just rendering out everyone.



Episode 37: Birds of Prey Final Key Art

Looking at this completed and now out there for everyone to see, where does your artist's eye go when you look at it? Walk us through the piece.

Harley is our bright, center of the piece – I think she definitely has the loudest personality and probably the goofiest, so by personality contrast and literal contrast, she stands out the most. 

I wanted everyone to have their personality show through in their pose and placement. Poison Ivy is our femme fatale seductress, Black Canary is cool and badass, and Huntress is a little grumpy about being thrown into the girl gang, so she’s hanging in the back but also still here to be part of the group. 

Oracle’s role is less front-line punchy, so I have her represented through her persona and the monitors. We weren’t confident that Catwoman could fit into this particular composition, and throwing Isis (the kitty) in created an opportunity for some humor. 

 
Are there certain elements or choices that stand out to you as an artist that an average looker-at-art like me probably wouldn't directly notice or have the vocabulary for?

From a technical standpoint, it was interesting to separate the DC characters from the background since there is a lot going on. Then, I had to get them to read separately from the speakers themselves. There was a balancing act of keeping an appropriate visual hierarchy (which means my focal point is the characters, secondary is the background, and Isis is my third read). 

Harley is very light and dark so by value contrast she naturally stands out the most. The background is relatively low contrast to not take focus away from them. There is also a vignette effect, which means I have the edges of the picture darker to guide your eye towards the center. 

 
Are there any elements that surprised you or ended up very different than you expected by the end?

I did all the characters separately and first, which I’m not sure was the best solution to putting this piece together. The most difficult part of this was trying to get everyone to look cohesive and in the same space. 

A couple of my sketches had Black Canary as a ginormous, giant woman since it is a little harder for me to tell proportions when someone is sitting, and I think I had to shrink Poison Ivy down a couple times. Harley also had some leg surgeries throughout the process. It happens! 

I haven’t done very many pieces with multiple DC characters so this was an interesting learning experience. I’m definitely going to ask other artists what they would’ve done differently!

 
Finally, just in your own response looking at this art finished, what comes up? is there something you are most proud of here? 

It means a lot to me that the team was so supportive of going this route with full illustration and just how excited about this project everyone was the whole way. And now I’m geeking out seeing the Birds of Prey art on sites like Steam. SO COOL!


One more big thank-you to Megan for taking the time to walk us through key art today. We hope you have enjoyed the little look behind the scenes. 

If you have questions for Megan, she will be able to answer some of them over on the official DCUO forums, or you can find her on Twitter @megillakitty. 

And remember, Birds of Prey launches April 16, 2020, on PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Check back for more inside looks soon!


 

Be a hero. Stay home. If you do, you will get DOUBLE Thanagarian Marks in Episode 36: Metal Part II this week. In case you haven't heard, Episode 37: Birds of Prey launches April 16, so now is the time to get caught up or pick up some of these hot new rewards. 

Thanagarian Marks are the currency found in Episode 36: Metal Part II. These are primarily used for obtaining new gear and rewards from the Metal Part II vendor.   

This week – from Thursday, March 26, 2020, through Wednesday, April 1, 2020 – all players will receive double Thanagarian Marks when completing instanced and mission content in Metal Part II (event, regular, and elite versions).  


PLEASE NOTE: The bonus weekend will begin this Thursday with daily server restarts, and will last through Wednesday to daily server restarts on (next) Thursday morning. 



Seven new items will be added to the episode vendor for Metal Part II (Episode 36):

• Tenth Metal Chroma Set
• Blackout Construct Aura
• Gotham Knight Hairstyle
• Henchmen Uplink Device: Dawnbreaker Constructs
• Green Lantern Orbital Strike
• Yellow Lantern Orbital Strike
• Red Lantern Orbital Strike

These vendor rewards are permanent additions to the game. 



Tenth Metal Chroma Set



Blackout Construct Aura, Gotham Knight Hairstyle



Henchmen Uplink Device: Dawnbreaker Constructs



Red, Green, and Yellow Lantern Orbital Strikes