XGB: Early Concept ~ Lucy ~ Part 1

Back in 1996 while I was setting up my studio in Australia, Executive Producer Richard Raynis from Columbia Tristar (Sony) worked from LA with me visualizing the characters for what was to be Extreme Ghostbusters. It was so early in development that the characters I designed had no names so I would randomly assign them ones. Richard wanted a male character in a wheelchair, I was pushing for more female characters in the line-up and I could only foresee problems with the wheels in animation (that's a lot of ellipses and perspective to get right), so I sent him this design of "Lucy" and put her in leg braces (or calipers). I tried to show that the crutches could be used for sucking up ghosts, also that her head would be at the correct eye-line for the other characters to play off, making it easier for the Directors who would have to cut down to someone sitting all the time.

Needless to say the calipers were rejected, Richard really wanted a wheelchair so I went back to the drawing board.