Wow, I got a lot of feedback really fast. Which is great since the contest I need this guy for has its deadline on Sunday. Everyone liked the tunic-shaped stripes, and someone tossed me an edit with a better-shaped 'M.' I didn't want too much, so I decided I should add one more thing, but I couldn't decide if it would be the thick stripes, the gloves, or the boots. I feel each one implies a different thing. The thicker stripes leave his limbs black, which I think implies acrobatics (think Nightwing, as usual, haha). The gloves imply punching, and the boots imply running. All in all, though, he's a character who'll just shoot a bad guy in the face, so I am unsure which is best. The belt breaks up the composition, but it may be necessary for the story (he carries guns, and if I decide to be really stupid, they will be Magnums).
Also, putting the PSD up made is super convenient to get other artists' feedback, and Brian sent me this outfit. I think I'll use it as the base for his alter ego design - he even kept the M on the chest.
If it's obvious, I've been drawing but not posting. I'm having some trouble with a relatively simple character design, so I made a layered file to play around with things. I'm still undecided, so I'm uploading it for feedback.
Superheroes are this iconic thing, so I wanted to create the most shallow superhero ever (heavily inspired by Kickass, I suppose). By day, Richard Cox is a rich-kid investment banker who likes martial arts. By night, he becomes (the ever appropriately-named) Magnum - a superhero whose only motivation is to rescue attractive women, take advantage of Nightingale Syndrome, and bed them. He's the type of superhero who just shoots villains. Kind of a dick. The other thing being, for all his desire to be arrogant, he is a masochist and in part, takes on this identity to get the crap kicked out of him.
Anyhow, I'm stuck on the visual design because I want something sleek, but everything I draw looks like Nightwing. I didn't make him hulking-ly Superman muscular since he's meant to be pretty unappealing in his alter-ego - in that Draco Malfoy, useless, pretty boy, too-arrogant-to-like, way. Magnum is supposed to compensate for this. Therefore - no capes, no extreme armor. I am trying to incorporate the 'M' as a symbol, but it's difficult. The colors are set, at least.
Every so often, I find I have a new follower. Thank you, it really brightens my day to know people are reading this. :) Even if you are secretly making fun of it. No matter how weird my stuff is... Now, speaking of weird.
I have a thing for very old mythology, and a lot of old mythology is very dark. Prior to the Victorian ages, fairy tales were very different, and I'm trying to craft my own set of similar stories which possess these themes - in particular, transformation. Obviously, male-female relationships have been a point of contention since the beginning of humankind.
Long ago, the ocean was perfectly still. Sena Mahara is one of four gods and goddesses whose human forms were crafted from animals. She was a great, silver fish. Her human body retained the same svelte qualities, and every mortal man worshiped her, hoping to find a woman half as beautiful. Verulis was the only man who dared court the goddess himself. After much searching, he trapped her in a net and impregnated her against her will. Enraged, the goddess took him between her legs and dove into the sea where the ocean bloated her flesh like a beautiful corpse. The mortal man clung to her like a parasite, and the water beasts turned them into a tentacled, symbiotic creature. Since then, the sea has always been a seductive yet furious mistress towards all sailors, and Verulis is a name for men whose downfall is caused by women or their own rampant libidos.
Ta-da. More Dominance War - his final design, I hope. I'm sick of drawing him, though. So I'll color this and be through. The 3D model is so close to completion as well. Color compositions soon.
During my friend's swing dancing show, my other friend leans over and says, "Grace, your spirit animal is a zombie." My other friend, Joe, says, "My spirit animal is a bear - with sharks for hands!" It escalated. So, here we are: YiYi (Wall-E), Kristen( Cat in Apron), Daniel (Black Hole), Alice (Piranha Pete Plant), Jake (Talking Cupcake), Hamster Riding A Dog Riding a Bigger Dog - All Pink! (Rebbecca), Meerkat (Zoey), Other Meerkat (Nirav), Zombie (Me), Drunk Golden Retriever With Eye Patch and Bow Tie (Ted), Penguin with Shotgun (Rob), and Bear With Sharks for Hands (Joe).
I have awesome friends.
Also, continuing on the "cute" theme, I'm making Pokemon keychains for convention season. It's going to be a lot of work, especially since I have to re-draw almost all of these. Only Espeon and Jolteon don't look like they're diabetic. :(
Since it looks like I will be doing conventions again this summer, I'm going to try to put together some sketchbooks to sell - everyone has prints and trinkets, so I think this would be a novel turn.
We watched "Pleasures of War," a short animation by Ruth Lingford, in class. It is a highly sexual re-telling of the story of Judith and Holofrenes. The story does not bear much resemblance to that of my characters, though. It's meant to be Kai and his (yet unnamed) pregnant, girlfriend.
Rivek and Willowren being very much out of character and out of canon. Done as if they were zombies, one feeding off the blood of the other. More representative of their relationship than anything.
Finally, some Dominance War sketches to try and figure out how my character's eyepiece works. I think I might name him Dr. Jonathon Gisbourne. The thing is, despite being English, has very Asian eyes. I think his nose is my favorite feature, though.
And a bad sketch trying to form Sorian - he needs to somewhat be comparable to Rivek but looks like he is from an entirely different society.
For pieces I want to turn out very well, I usually invest a lot of time sketching in development. Ave Maria is an idea I had in freshman year, but only now do I feel I have the skill to attempt it.
I tend to find one semi-famous person for each of my character references. Torino Bronze Medalist, figure skater Jeffrey Buttle, is my reference for Kai because he's got the hair and a perfect, goofy smile (I hope, if he ever sees this by some off chance, that he doesn't find this creepy). While searching, I came across this, a picture of his routine to Schubert's "Ave Maria":
I have always had a thing for old church music - it's so beautiful, so sensitive. As non-religious as I am, I can see why it would bring people closer to God. Mary, as the mother of Jesus, has a much gentler, parental association. One of Kai's notable traits (other than "pirate") is that his father abandoned him when he was young, and he in turn, is a teen father. Much of his personality is defined by a dichotomy of whimsy and hedonism versus regret and responsibility. Since I created him, though, I knew he die before his child was born. The concept behind Ave Maria is this sensitive, private, moment where Kai, just seventeen, knowing that the next mission might just kill him, is scared enough - for both himself and his unborn child - to actually pray.
On to background sketches, outfit sketches, pose sketches, facial sketches... (I always forget where his piercings are...) Many just go unfinished.
Often, I do sketches and writing which don't directly relate, but have some character development story-wise (too short or unfinished to be standalone pieces themselves). The easiest way for me to get into a narrative is to change my mood - an easy thing to do with music. So, with the power of YouTube, I found this glorious version of Ave Maria - not Schubert's, but it had more of the feel I wanted. Turn it up, her voice is gorgeous. (I can't believe she's my age... I feel so unaccomplished).
You betrayed me. Kaiaden glared at the traitor through swollen eyes. "I trusted you."
"They should have never selected a boy to run a ship. Let alone one who's too small to hold his own in a fight and can't keep it in his pants." The child. "Not even with his own sister." His child. "Captain, my ass."
"Better than some hard-headed, uneducated, boor like yourself." He spat in the larger man's face, saliva mized with blood.
The former lieutenant slammed his axelike arm between Kai's shoulderblades, and the youth crumpled to his knees. "Words. That's all you have ever been good for." He turned to the army guards. "Take him away. I want him dead by nightfall."
"Andel, I am still your captain. If you really want to kill me, you will at least have the decency to do it on my ship."
He picked up Kai's own sword and placed the curved blade on the back of his neck. "If that is what you really want, so be it." The only sound that followed was his head rolling across the deck and the sea batting at the hull.
"My pleasure."
Sorry to subject you to my bad, emo fiction writing. I scrawled that during class. This is the closest to full body that I have drawn Kai in years. I also have a deep-seated fear that my real-life friends read about my story work and think I'm nuts.
I finished the sketchbook I started in August which I dedicated solely to original work, so I decided to christian my new one with a drawing of Rivek. Just plainclothes, though, something he would wear on a daily basis. I always draw him in something he would only wear on occasion... or not wearing much at all. On a funny note, someone at the con pointed to the sketch and said, "I would so date him."
A friend of mine commented on how long it would take my characters to get dressed in the morning because of all the bandages. I excuse myself saying the bandages are for pitched battle - which still exists in my all-too-hopelessly-romantic world - and with pitched battle, one can be ready ahead of time. That said, binding a wrist doesn't take too long. At least, not nearly as long as putting on plate armor.
I really like drawing the figure, using knowledge of muscle structure. So sometimes, I just get too damned lazy to put them in clothes. That happened here. Plus, my hands were shaking from too much caffeine, too little sleep. Rivek has a tattoo, but people always seem to forget/don't know that.
On the same note of too much caffeine, too little sleep, during the Giant Studios presentation, the Ph. D. student, Joe, leans over and says something about a big, fat, cat (He has one, it's name is GUI - like graphic user interface). In my fragile, sleep-deprived, state, I heard "draw a big, fat, cat." So I did.
Lastly, some sketches from Dominance War, trying to add some stylication and affect the body to show the way the character moves - bow-legged, close to the ground, active arms.
I'd like to write a couple entries describing how I go about working. I figured some people - mostly other artists - will be interested.
I'm as analytical with my character designs as anything (Computer Science will do that to you.). Do note, however, although the initial idea can crop up at any of these steps, I usually do all of them to flesh it out before I consider the character worthy of releasing.
I tend to form them from a general archetype at first. I feel this is because a character too weird, people won't relate to it. It has to be mildly familiar. For example, Kaiaden's base idea is "pirate youth." So he's brash, arrogant, and a prodigy naval strategist.
Then, I try to put a twist on that idea, make it something less like every other archetype character out there. Kaiaden again - is both a "pirate" and a "teenage father." But he's still a good dad - something you wouldn't expect from a pirate. Bonus, the kid is from a relationship with his adopted sister.
The setting. If I have a story already going, great. If it's for an RP, figure out how that character evolved in that world. Kai is from a world where magic used to exist but is dying out. Those who still have it war with one another for power. Therefore, he is less a classical Carribbean pirate and more a very smart boy, with a boat and an ideal.
Then, I work on some history on how they ended up in that position. Kai was abandoned by his dad, a merchant, and groomed by a rebel leader because he showed promise in strategy. This explains why he acts much tougher than he is - because he never wants to admit his spoiled origin.
And then, I work on the physical stuff. This stage tends to be the easiest or the hardest, never in between. When it's easy, they come out full formed. When it's hard, it requires sketch after sketch after sketch to perfection (plus lots of research). Usually, I have a basic costume idea but never really set it in stone. Kai was one of those who was fully formed. Red headband, blond hair, freckles, and green coat. And like, while green coat is the trademark, it's length and cut aren't very specific and up to artistic interpretation.
More Dominance War. The orthographic projections this time. I like how the one on the right turned out, but I forgot a few items (i. e. pistol, because he doesn't want to, uhm, die). Design is almost finalized - I wanted to go simpler in the clothing layer - to show off anatomy more, more complex on accessories - because he's gear-reliant as a character, and more gritty on the texture - for the sake of making things look cooler and more worked.
I think I'll be there after one or two more, posed, sketches.
Joy of joys, I have moved onto the character design stage. This was hard, and I seem to have landed in a semi-cartoon style. I just can't see the story working with hyper-realistic characters.
The story focuses on hair, so I started off designing that. The only criteria was "long" and "white," and I established that bangs were too modern. The top of the middle portion is my experimenting with overall figure shape, similar to silhouettes. I though the fishtail dress was too adult. This is as much a coming-of-age story as a romance. The bottom-middle row is possible dress designs, inspired by Disney princesses and Lord of the Rings elves. The picture at right is what I have so far, but I need more suggestions. I don't know what my "vision" is yet.
In response, I'm running a poll here on deviantART: http://fongmingyun.deviantart.com/journal/poll/1285091/ . Once I've decided, I'll probably go over his hair color again, and then call it finalized.
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