It’s official: Wonder Woman heads to Fortnite later this week and joins the likes of Batman and Superman inside the popular battle royale experience.
To celebrate, Stevivor sat down with Sydney-based artist Nicola Scott, who contributed the “Honorary Amazons” Loading Screen that features in-game, to discuss her work and the character herself.
Scott is no stranger to Wonder Woman, having first worked on the character in 2010 as part of a Blackest Night tie-in. She launched a new Wonder Woman series for DC Comics back in 2016 and has also worked on the likes of Teen Titans, Superman and her own original series Black Magick.
Steve Wright, Stevivor: I’m curious as to how involved you are with Fortnite, and if that’s perhaps changed a bit now that you’re in said lockdown? Either way, how are you keeping busy?
Nicola Scott: I’m not at all a gamer but I know enough people who and yes, their gaming has definitely increased during lockdown. I think like most enjoyable media, we’re all taking comfort where we can.
As for Fortnite itself, I’m well aware and have a number of friends deeply involved in their gameplay. Producing some art for the game is my way of participating.
Lucky for me, I’ve had enough work to keep me safe and I also set myself some larger projects to keep me occupied.
Stevivor: Has the pandemic changed how you’ve been working at all, or is it more a matter of a change of location from a dedicated studio away from home to simply being at home? I’d imagine digital assets make it a bit easier than in the past when artists had to submit physical work?
Scott: Very little has changed for me work-wise. I’ve been working from home my entire career so it’s pretty much business as usual. I have a beautiful, bright home office in my sunroom that I quite love spending all my days in.
There was a day when I would be FedExing packages of art regularly but that hasn’t been the case for over a decade. I still work traditionally but it all gets scanned and lives digitally from then on. Easy!
Stevivor: How involved were you with the creation of the Loading Screen you’ve made? Were you in control of poses and of peripheral characters and items, or were they pre-selected by Epic and/or DC?
Scott: I was approached by Epic about my interest in producing a Loading Screen and after a really lovely discussion about Diana and my personal perspective on her we had a vague starting point. They asked me to include a number of their female characters, giving me a broad range to choose from, and from there it was up to me.
I submitted a number of thumbnail layouts, they chose their favourite, and I went on to produce the finished art, working with my often DC colourist and fellow Aussie, Annette Kwok.
I was pretty random about the characters I included, opting mainly for fun designs and colours.
Stevivor: Clark/Supes has an alternate costume inside Fortnite – if you could pick another look (or looks) for Diana, what would they be?
Scott: Who says there aren’t more looks for Diana in the game?!
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted before Epic’s announcement — we now know Diana has a couple looks available to purchase or earn. You can see two examples above and below!
Stevivor: What other female DC characters would you like to see in Fortnite?
Scott: Supergirl and Batgirl for sure as they’re both classics and favourites of mine. Starfire would be an awesome addition as would Black Canary and The Huntress. Big Barda would rock. How fun would they be to play?!
Our thanks to Nicola for her time (and best wishes to her and everyone in Sydney in the middle of lockdown!) and to Epic Games for connecting us with such a wonderfully iconic artist. Stay tuned for a little more from Scott later in the week.
Fortnite is available on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5 and Switch.
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