Character Design

Current Revised Design

While I had flexibility and variety with my initial design and it was developed into a 3d model for some early use (See below), it was not quite flowing right when translated back to a 2d format, and as that work was done 10+ years ago as primarily a class project, I wanted to dive back in and refine the look.

This led me to take a step back and take some time, coming back to it with fresh eyes. In the end I took a lot of the form from that initial version that worked well for me, but streamlining and simplifying it throughout. 

Taking this base idea I have allowed for the same core look, but finally locked down what I feel are good base forms for more diverse body groups. And while the process seems to be in constant refinement, I am feeling good about the current iterations as they stand. 

The "Base" forms of my character design, both in male & female. I like the flow and definition that is able to be conveyed with minimal line usage.

And a more complete lineup of many of the variants that build from those base forms. With a combination of body tweaks, and swapping head shapes, I am able to create a wide array to match up to numerous characters for an individual look. I am working off the base modifications of Base | Heavy | Athletic for both the male and female, as well while I prefer the look of the female form with the narrow head, the male form seems to work well when I switch it around, allowing for some more tailoring to character type. 

As I was working on the story section of the character designs, I realized that I needed a variant that I had neglected. To that end I have added in a Skinny/Wizened form to the male side, to fit an archetype that I was missing, and after tinkering with the the new design in 3d to visualize it better, I decided that I while it worked in 2d comic book style my base female form was far to busty to be truly a "realistic" depiction that I was comfortable with. That got slightly tweaked and became a more stylized "Centerfold" version, to allow for a more varied form, and a slightly more natural feeling shape was introduced into the Base. I have also added in a more heroic form for the truly bulky superhero shape.

I have been working on adapting the base form of the character design into a 3d model, which allows me to visualize my forms at various angles as mentioned above giving a good ability to refine, and eventually for use as a pose-able maquette to allow for better dynamic posing. This is the first time that I have done any modeling in ten years or so, so this doubled as a learning experience, but the end result so far has been encouraging. It is not "final" but the base forms are actually looking decent.

Defining Character

While this is most definitely intended for a sequential medium, I am utilizing some of the techniques of the animated pre-production and production pipeline, to allow me to refine some of he facial work that will allow for all the characters to emote more fully.

To that end I am using the basic Lip-sync phoneme chart design for animation, and making sure that I will have my bases covered for those moments in time that we catch our characters mid-conversation.

I am also making sure to develop a matrix of "emotional extremes" that I can use as reference and bases to show the feelings of the characters.

With the combination of the body designs, coupled with individual looks for each character (costume, hair, accessories), and a feel for what they are feeling and reacting to in the story conveyed through their faces, I feel that even my more simplistic style of art will be able to tell a good story.

Incorporating Existing Character Designs

Over a recent weekend I wanted to tinker with filling out a full look for some characters, but didn't want to dig to far into the project so went with strongly established characters with looks all their own, to see how they would look adapted to this style. These are all based off their older "New52" designs, but they were current when I did the artwork. I think that they translate pretty well, capturing the feel of them while stylizing to a good degree. I haven't re-worked the others, but I threw together a quick version with the new Wonder Woman design from the film.

Variations on a Theme

I wanted to make sure that I had a palette of skin tones to cover the spectrum of people that I might encounter, while not "everyone" I think this 7 (ok 8) shades covers most people cleanly.

Initial Design Stages