Character design and First Draft

I had originally wanted to base my version of Captain Swing off of politcal cartoons depicting him, however the only ones i could find weren't much help, either depicting him as an an anthropomorphic mass of explosives and flammables:

Or a greasy little tramp:

Both of which didn't convey what I felt the character of Swing should be. I imagined him as a farmer driven to desperation, who let his righteous anger go too far. And considering that no one knew who he really was (or if he was even a real person), I figured it would be wise to depict him wearing a mask of some kind. One thing I found interesting was the isolation hoods worn by Victorian prisoners. I figured one of those would be a fitting means of disguise for him, as six hundred swing rioters were incarcerated and five hundred sent to Australia.

So I tried to base his looks on a farm labourer and prisoner

Some early sketches:

I further explored the layout of the spread, focusing on the idea of Swing and the Luddites gathered around a table.

I much prefer the second one. Less characters crowing the page, and barrels of explosives to add to the background. I was originally considering making the two characters to the left of Swing just his cronies, but I will instead be making them other folk heroes, namely Ned Ludd (The original Luddite) and Rebecca (Of the Rebecca Riots).