Character Design - World History and Environment

When I was considering the world of my character I was planning on making a whole new fantasy-setting from scratch. I later decided to base my character in the heart of folklore tales, Ireland. I chose this area because not only does it have magical descent and ancestry about the land but is also a place where people viewing my work can relate to and know of.
I was uncertain of the time period I wanted to settle on for this world and was stuck between just after the Witch Trials of England (1690's) or the Victorian era (1830's). But later decided on the latter. I decided this would be a good idea so that my character can look back on these dark times and apply knowledge from the Witch Trials passed down to future predicaments and situations of her own.

She lives in a vastly vegetated area in the woods, close to a small local village. Similar to that of Lake Town (The Hobbit).

Because the world she lives in is mundane and punishes those host to magical abilities it means that her family craft would have to be in secret. Ingredients and magical items would be found in a secret underground market, owned by Folklore and magical beings such as trolls, fairies, brownies, leprechauns and more. I was quite inspired by the underground market from Hellboy 2, where this secret underground passage leads to a massive open community of bizarre and mysterious creatures.

For her cottage home I was very set on the cottage from Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service. I love the interior and exterior design and the greenhouse they have, perfect for a Garden Witch. Its filled with plants, herbs and general nature and I can definitely imagine my character living in a place so comforting to her. The cottage itself is covered with leafy greens and surrounded by the woodlands, safe from the mundane world.

Read More

Character Design - Research

For this unit I decided to go for a character that really appealed to myself, especially one I wouldn't lose interest in half-way through the process and one that I could look forward to creating rather than just dragging one out like a chore. I looked at many different artists to consider their workflow, style, techniques and colours.
You might notice that I had tried to lean towards more traditional artists, looking at more hands-on traditional techniques like ink, ink-wash, watercolours and more. Based on technique and workflow I chose to focus on artist such as Will Morris and Zosia Dzierzawska who were previously featured on the NoBrow issue 9.

There isn't really an aspect of Morris's work that I wouldn't call inspiring, his style, colours and his general work flow are more than notable. He often works with both digital and traditional methods to approach his work, but what I really wanted to focus on was what originally drew me to his work; his line work - which when researched is normally done with black ink.

The next artist I looked in to was Zosia Dzierzawska, who's work is almost- if not all traditional. Her work has a very experimental nature i've noticed and not every piece is is the same. She works with a lot of pencils and pastels to achieve her child-friendly appeal and scans her work in to fix any minor mistakes on software such as Adobe Photoshop. It's not just Dzierzawska's workflow that has inspired me but her colour palette too. I love the washed out look of her work and really like to replicate that kind of look.

The next artist I looked closely at was Bianca Bagnarelli and Hellen Jo for their kick-ass style, linework and colour palettes. Both artists show in-depth knowledge of their go-to technique and style but both approach their work with different workflows. Where as Bagnarelli uses digital means from start to finish Jo uses traditional mediums such as pencils and watercolours.

Bianca's colours and they way she draws faces so effortlessly looking inspires me to go for a more simple looking style, there are small imperfect details in her work that really round it off to look more unique and stylised. Something I would definitely like to take influence from. Her colour palette, shading and highlighting correspond with the atmosphere and mood of the piece.

One of the biggest influences for my style has to be Hellen Jo, her use of traditional methods gives a very earthy and organic looking visuals. Her linework is something that especially appeals to me and the way she draws her hair. Jo uses watercolours to colour up her work, making her pieces come together very effortlessly.

               

 

Read More