Reynaud by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)

July 2010 sketch of Captain Reynaud, leader of one of the three factions of "software pirates" in DYOS XI. He is one of many characters that I conceived as part of an ultimately abandoned hobby project predating my involvement in DYOS; he made cameo appearances in DYOS 10 from the moment I started submitting sketched comics, and I tweaked his role somewhat to fit him into the canon.

The software pirates were originally planned as competing mercenary factions that the other contributors could wheel and deal with as part of the cyberpunk flavour early in the story. Alas, the plot took off so ridiculously fast that this subplot quickly fell by the wayside, and I'll be lucky to even give them a conclusion before the thread finishes.

Unlike the Crimson Binome, who's motivated by profit, and Locke, who's just generally opportunistic, Reynaud and his crew are in the game chiefly for the thrill of the adventure. His is a cavalier, cup-half-full attitude; his first semi-plot-relevant feature showcases him laying waste to the Space Pirates simply because he feels like it.

His uniform is based on that of a Vice-Admiral of the British Navy circa Trafalgar, although I later decided the actual colour a grey-blue. Not seen is the feather to his cap (as I started this too close to the top of the paper) and the ribbon affixed on the opposite side. The name Reynaud, which is similar to Renard, the French word for fox, was actually inspired by the politician Paul Reynaud; there is no other basis of comparison between the two.

It's an older sketch, and my approach to drawing him has changed somewhat, but his pose and expression led me back to this piece for subsequent references numerous times.

[Originally submitted to DeviantArt January 2012.]