The Infamous Jungle Room Brawl and Millie Brawl

To kick off the Dames' inaugural home bouting season, we hosted an exhibition bout January 7th, 2012 called, "The Infamous Jungle Room Brawl" (in honor of Elvis Presley's birthday).  We divided our league into 2 equal teams, The Jailhouse Rockers and The Memphis Mafia, played Elvis' music during the bout, and even had an Elvis impersonator as half-time entertainment.


Our league president, Millie Brawl (#45rpm), is a huge Elvis fan.  So it seemed fitting that her likeness should grace the bout flyer for our first ever home bout.



I was really at a loss for how to design an Elvis themed roller derby flyer, so I decided to incorporate him into the drawing instead.  I based the pose on his classic, teetering stance from Jailhouse Rock.  I then tried to offer a nod to his costume as well, by keeping the outfit (aka a "boutfit") monochromatic.  And of course, the horizontally striped shirt is based on the shirt he wore under the jacket.




Being short on time and ideas, I kept the colors flat and the background incredibly simple.  Overall, the Elvis theme didn't really shine through, but for our first bout, it got the job done.

Ever since I submitted the design I've really been wanting to go back and re-color Millie.  For one, I thought some shading would make her pop much more.  Plus I wanted to adorn her with a Dames T-shirt, instead of one that just makes her look like a confused ref.  I actually started doing this a while ago.  I added a Dames logo, changed the T-shirt to solid black and changed the color of her shorts to red.  Her hair color was changed as well (at the time of the bout, her hair was a sort of turquoise color, but at present it's a bold red).



It was only today that I reopened the file and started giving the drawing a proper shading.  I also had to redraw portions of the T-shirt, since the original had a collar.  I also changed her gear to resemble the ones she actually has, from her leopard print knee-pads to the bulls eye/target toe-guards on her skates, to her fishnets and glasses.  Here's the end result.

  

Hmm, needs a lasso.

And here are a couple detail shots for your viewing pleasure!

Had I the patience, I would have redrawn her knee pads to look bulkier.

Those Smith knee pads are ginormous!

And there you have it!  Millie Brawl, #45rpm!