Aereldeth

My elf sorceress warrior, Aereldeth.

This definitely took a lot of work, but I learned a lot from it.

I tried a different body type from what I usually draw

(slender and tall instead of cute small and curvaceous)

I followed Alessandro Barbucci's work very closely, he has a stylized yet elegant way of drawing women that I just love, I had never noticed just how far he took his drawings until this assignment.

His style was definitely the best for this job.

Thanks for viewing!

Emotes and poses 

some early stages of work

Finished Duncan

Here's an illustration of Duncan along with his emotes and poses!

Cleaned them up and put em along with the finished piece.

It was actually quite a challenge to render this guy out, I usually illustrate girls, so when I painted him the first time I had to start all over, I wasn't getting it.

At the end I think it turned out ok, I gained a lot of experience while trying this character out, since I stepped out of my comfort zone the entire time.

Here he is now!

Aereldeth the Elf

While thinking up a back story and answering a character questionnaire, I wondered what this new  female elf would be like. 

I thought of movies and shows with elves in it and I realized  there's this cliche of elfs being "perfect" , "wise" and "stoic", and then made up my mind to not go along with that. I wanted a character that is more or less relatable  to the audience, more human, even when she is not.

 I then decided to go with one of preliminary sketches of her that I liked best, then I modified it to fit the character's new given description and story.

I made her facial features younger (by squishing her face for instance) big eyes etc.

This is a quick painting of her, I focused on her facial features, the costume is in the brainstorming stage below. 

Too bad I can only pick one! 

And finally, this is Duncan's model sheet!

Made a proper front view and corrected his side view (Thanks for the notes Rob!)

Next week I'll be moving forward to finalizing Aereldeth's costume and some other character sketches, hope it goes well!

Fantasy Female Character Brainstorm

After Duncan is through the polish face I'll get started on a new project.
I wanted to come up with a strong female character that belongs in a magical world.
I did some drawings on my sketchbook during the weekend, it was refreshing to stay out of photoshop and pick up a pencil again, but I also cant wait to start adding some more life to it with some digital painting.
I'll update again soon!

Model Sheets and More

I was trying to decide what body time would best fit Duncan. After some thought and looking up the 3

different types, I went with the "Mesomorph". I wanted Duncan to look young, but not scrawny, I didnt want him to look like a knucklehead either, so I though Mesomorph would be the way to go.
I was alsowondering what sort of prop I could give him. Since he is a mechanic I wanted him to have some sort of tool, but a tool that gave off a threatening vibe as well.

I feel like there's something wrong with the side view? but I can't put my finger on it.

Model sheets are always challenging for me, since I like working on looser sketches .
I hope I can get enough practice so that these are less challenging and more of a second nature to me.

The most fun part! Attitude, sketches, emotion, personality.

I couldn't help putting dialogue on a few of them, I have always wanted to do a comic, and as I drew these  though of fun little scenarios for Duncan.

What do you think?
Thanks for reading!

Duncan the Greaser

Here's the influence map for that I collected for the art style inspiration.
After watching "The Outsiders", "Grease" and "Cry baby" and looking at lots of real life reference
I decided I needed art direction as well. (Yes, someone made a rockabilly version of Batman, I thought it was really cool!)

Here are some studies I made, from actors and models, it was very fun! I thought what my character would have in common with these studies as I drew 

Finally! the most difficult yet exciting part, drawing and figuring my character out. I had previously drawn "Duncan" before, but this time I though I would think about his back story too.
Name: Duncan Lee
Age: 27
Works at his family owned car repair shop. Out of his two brothers, Duncan is the middle child.
He is kind, determined, and loyal, but has a hard time with his temper once its been triggered.
 He is also very protective of his family and his gang, which is a good thing, but gets him in trouble once in the while (specially things that have to do with his gang, bar fights here and there)
The time he lives in takes place around the 70's, where rockabilly had resurrected decades after the 50's.
 Ill think of more stuff for him and define more of his characteristics on the next sketches, here Im being pretty loose, but it was fun while trying to figure him out. Well, until then!

 

Influence Map and Notes

Get drawing!

Since drawing men is one of my weaknesses I decided to start with a male character to get me learning.
I'm ok at drawing faces but the figure male figure overall is whats most difficult for me, so I'll do more gesture next week.

As I was doodling I made this guy up, I liked him quite a lot and got caught up, then decided to give him color.
I liked his style so I think I'll develop his character further, I was thinking of making him a rebel without cause sort of guy, something among rockabilly, since I find that style very appealing.
 Next time Ill draw him full body and think of his clothing and develop his attitude.
After finishing this I gathered reference for rockabilly men, now that I have a folder full of James Dean among
other things, I think Im good to go!