Creative Challenge: Character Design (work in progress)
For Module one, I am planning on designing a singular, combat-type (human) character.
There will be a total of 3 concept sheets
Character concept sheet 1: at least 3 full-bodies, front, back, and side t-poses; character will be based off of a Blackwing Flying Fish, with dark indigo and silver being the main colors and patterns in their clothing or mechanical parts will also correspond with flying fish (ex: shape, wing-like structures resembling the wings of a flying fish).
Blackwing Flying Fish: Abe / www.discoverlife.org
Character concept sheet 2: in order for the character concept sheet to not feel too crowded, the second sheet will be a continuation from the first sheet, except with more emphasis on action poses of the character in movement.
Mechanical Parts concept sheet: A more detailed version of only the weapon itself that the character will be holding in the character concept sheet; weapon will be a fencing rapier sword with a sleek, sharp blade and an ornate handle. There will also be a more detailed drawing of the character's mechanical wings, which match the metallic and geometric nature of the sword.
Character Treatment
The character is from a planet named Vastell (from latin words vagus: wandering; and stella: star), where water takes up more surface area of the planet. Thus, mobile cities were created to float on the oceans (essentially massive ships), moving from one “dock” to another (a dock being a foundation point in the oceans where mobile cities can anchor themselves to) in order to avoid severe weather and follow ocean life migrating patterns (for food, economy, etc.). Since the character is based on the flying fish, I decided that their environment would reflect that by being in/on the water.
The character is part of a rescue group, since a flying fish’s wings are used as a method of escape, so they could use their wings to help others escape from danger (such as catastrophic weather hazards or sea monster attacks). This means their weapon is mainly for defense in case an emergency happens when a rescue mission is in place.
Their weapon is a fencing sword because it fits the sleek and streamlined style of the fish. The thin blade is also similar in shape to the spine of a flying fish’s wing.
I have done some character designs and concept sheets, so I wanted to challenge myself by going further in drawing out character details such as in their clothing, as well as to draw inspiration from real life objects/things that are otherwise mundane or not thought of as a human character (thus the idea of designing a human character from a fish).
I’ve also never done a weapon concept sheet, so I want to learn how to get better with weapon shape and details.
From left to right: sketches done on 1/23/23, 1/28/23, and 1/28/23
Coattail represents fish tail, and the two sides of the coat sticking out on the sides of the legs represent the flying fish’s two, dark indigo pelvic fins.
The outfit is streamlined like the sleekness of the fish.
The character’s wings are based on the spines of the fish’s pectoral fins (wings).
I may add a semi-transparent light between the wings’ spines to better resemble the fish’s wings.
Progress 2/13/23
Character Process Video
Changed shoulder cape side because it was on the same side of the chains at the hip (add asymmetry).
Considered making shoulder cape more flowy but ultimately decided for it to be pleated to match the angularity of the Flying Fish’s fins.
Changed wrist cuff shape to be more streamlined instead of rectangular/flat to also refer to triangular shape of fins.
Added thigh holsters to further offset symmetry so upper left and bottom right halves of the body is more balanced.
Added waist strap to attach the cape to as well as an area for the weapon holster to go.
Character has long hair, which will flow when character is gliding/moving to add direction of movement.
Will copy/paste side view and remove arms and shoulder cape to see how jacket cape looks attached to the waist strap.
Boots have additional shin guards to offer more defense, and so the legs aren’t too bare (not just light gray pants with standart boots)
Decided not to attach wings to body directly or else it looked too clunky, and might be too close to the character, which may make it feel “claustrophobic” or too squeezed together
Weapon Process Video
Made hand guard’s radius smaller so it doesn’t stick out from the “height” of the hilt (not as round and wide as the reference image), so that it keeps to its sleek form.
Changed hilt grip area into hand guard to be more recognizable as fencing sword (not too much on the futuristic component or else it may not look as refined/traditional as a fencing sword).
Adjusted hilt-to-blade angle so it was mostly in-line/parallel (not bent strangely).
Character Action Poses
I sketched out some action pose ideas for the second concept sheet.
The right-most sketch sheet is referenced from poses in fencing technique videos from the Olympics' Website. This allows me to better envision an accurate movement and stance when a fencer is attacking and leaping forwards or defending and leaning back.
I will move the weapon holster sketches to the weapon's concept sheet for better organization since it's more directly related to the weapon.
Final Version (3/1/23)
First Concept Sheet: Standard Poses
A detailed rendering of the character in the front-facing t-pose. Scarlet is the accent color to pop out from the otherwise light purple / dark blue color palette.
Side view shows the wings and the character's longer hair.
Back view shows that there are a pair of wings, and their location on the back.
The second version of the concept sheet is a bit brighter for easier viewing of the darker colors (may also need to zoom it to see better)
Color Concept Sheet Timelapse
A timelapse of the coloring process as I first start with a grey base that I can alpha-lock in order to make sure the colors stay within the base's boundaries. I then lay out the flat colors and start shading, adding in lineart along the way to make it blend in with the other colors. Lastly, I add a few color adjustment layers to make the colors less dull.
Second Concept Sheet: Action Poses
For the second sheet, I decided to go with grey-scale since the purpose of the sheet is to focus on movement. As long as the shapes of the body and form is discernible, grey-scale focuses better on that without the distraction of too many colors blending together.
Through the action poses, the viewer can get a better idea of how the character moves and acts with their weapon and wings, which may not be as clear in the first concept sheet.
Action Poses Timelapse
I used the same technique of starting with a solid gray base to work off of, adding noticeable shadow and highlight areas instead of color, and then outlining parts of the clothing to differentiate section of grey that are similar in tone.
Third Concept Sheet: Mechanical Parts (Weapon and Wings)
For the weapon, since it is mainly geometric in shape, I used the line and curve tools to create the outline so I could quickly and accurately fill in color.
I did simple shading to clarify the texture of different materials (the metal of the hand guard and blade looks different from the synthetic material of the handle).
I decided to add in the wings from the first concept sheet here with another drawing that has a closer view and different angle of the top half of the largest wing piece since its metallic and mechanical nature matched with the sword. It also filled up the empty space to the left of the sword so that the dimensions matched with the previous two concept sheets.
Mechanical Parts Timelapse
Unfortunately, I did not start the recording in time to capture the process of the weapon outline and rendering, but the shading process is the same as the wings. For the wings, instead of using the line and curve tools in Clip Studio Paint, I used the layer outline function as an even faster way to create outlines of each part of the wing for the closer, detailed drawing.
