Sunday, August 30, 2009

Group fullbody shot


Here's the group shot for my three main characters, showing the size compared between them. I'll also be using this as a blank template to design costumes.

I love the interplay of expressions on these guys, which is mostly accidental. Makes it look like Gwen (in green) just told a joke which makes Mike (in red) uneasy, while Donovan (in blue) looks ticked about it.

And yes, they have sock feet. No need to mess with toes here.

Gwen Fullbody


Much better! Got Gwen's face design down a bit better. (proportions were off on the previous, and I was trying to use too much pointed angles in the design.) Much better with a smooth bow-shaped flow down the face from the eyebrow to the chin.

Early sketch, didn't even get as far as sketching on underwear, let alone clothing, but decided I needed to get a copy.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Gwen Headshot


Here's Gwen, the female love interest in the episode. Her hair is sort of what I think as the Qui-Gon w/bangs. It's basically a ponytail bunched from the front-half of her head, leaving the rest to hang down in back.

Still might tweak this a bit, not sure. I like what I've got at the moment, but we'll see what it looks like tomorrow.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Mike Full Body


Here's the full-body shot for Mike. (It's a little more detailed than the Donovan shot, but then Mike is also more well-defined. He works hard for those ab muscles.) He's a lot thinner than Donovan is, both in frame and muscularity. He's also got longer legs, proportionately.

Working through several different sketch designs, I'm finding I have to thin down his neck, as compared to the original character headshots. Originally, I had this very specific image as to his build, which was directly informed by the thick neck and apparent shoulders in the headshot, but I was finding that it was too similar to Donovan's, albeit slightly shorter. (This would have worked better if Donovan had been, say, tall and lanky, but not when he's built like a linebacker.) One aspect of character design, when designing characters in pairs or groups, is to clearly define and create oppositions in the characters. I couldn't have them both be the same build.

This works, tho. It also puts a slightly different dynamic together, in that Donovan is thick and square, with blocky shapes. (albiet, built with curves, but with broad proportions..) Mike, on the other hand, is more sinuous, with that same V-shaped taper reflected not only in his torso, but also in his head. The basic shape of his head is roughly square, but wider at the top than at the base of the neck, and the V that starts from the front of his throat, at the clavicle, is extended up through the top of the head, where the side-most spikes of the hair stick off in either direction.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Donovan's new fullbody sketch



Here's a sketch for Donovan's full-body design. This is a pretty rough one, I haven't had time to clean it up, it's more for the purpose of showing the construction lines than anything. Of special emphasis is the way I'm combining the Cheeks-inspired angular construction with some S-curve dynamics.

Specifically, look at the groin area, how it's the center of the body construction. Rising up are the two curves which make up the sides of the torso, from the sides of the lower abdominal muscles up to the lat muscles and curving around the top of the shoulder, where it attaches to the torso.

Then on the legs, from the same point, the standing leg is constructed with a slight outward-curving line. The inner calf muscle is created with an inward curve, and the rest of the thigh and calf muscles are recreated with simple curves, such as the S-curve that runs from the top of the hip, down the inner thigh to make that swoop of muscle that separates the inner thigh from the rest, then crosses at the knee to make the outer calf muscle, and finishes up making the other side of the heel.

I decided to make Donovan a little top-built. Some figures are leggy, with the half-point of their height being that center groin point, Donovan is not. His half-point is around the middle of his hips, closer to the waist than the groin. (Mike, on the other hand, being more of a runner, is going to have more legs.)

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

New Donovan Headshot


Slight tweaks on the design for Donovan. I think I'm finally satisfied with this one, it's a nice intermediate between my original intent, and the more simplified action-cartoon/Cheeks-inspired design, which was bugging me to heck because I didn't have a good mnemonic for the design. This one, I've got a much better structure underneath. Also relatively happy with the eyes, though I still prefer my (unposted) sketch version of the design, where he's got these scowling flat eyebrows. (Hard to do in this shot, tho.)

Purposefully recreating the angle and pose from the previous Donovan pic, plus neck this time, so I can replace it. He feels more solid, more grounded.