Update on Character Designs:
Last time, I said I still wanted to work on these character designs and get to know them better. Sketching them daily and working with the intention of understanding their shape language really helped me clarify both their designs and their characterizations. Below are some recordings where I draw each character and explain some of what I was thinking when I was creating them.
This assignment is also an experiment in my learning log approach. I’m trying out video creation! It’s very difficult and my narration is not exactly stellar yet. The character design videos are actually recorded after the storyboard video further below, but they are narrated whilst I draw, unlike the storyboard video, which was narrated after the fact. Drawing while speaking is extremely difficult! And editing is also something I’m trying to wrap my head around, but I’m really excited about this part of the process, even if the videos in themselves are not ones I would personally enjoy watching quite yet.
Morten, formerly the Steadfast Tin Soldier
Runa, the Robber Girl (From The Snow Queen)
Verner, the Swan Prince (From The Wild Swans)
Maia, formerly Thumbelina
Ida, The Snow Queen
Each character and the shape at the base of their design.
Beginning the Graphic Novel
The second part of this assignment, or perhaps the main part, was plotting out a storyboard for the very first chapter of the story these characters are a part of. I took some time to write a short prologue (only three pages) and had planned to also make several illustrations to accompany it. The original idea had been to take a very illustrative approach and finish the whole thing in a short while (no more than five images), but the creative river kind of swept me away with this one.
Whilst I was writing, it just so happened that it was easier for me to continue the story in images and so I ended up with several pages of a graphic novel style approach for this story. I then changed tack, because I figured I might as well continue what I started and forwent the five illustrations in favor of the graphic novel pages. I had planned to incorporate sequential illustration in one of the assignments anyway, so this is only a small change in plans. The only problem was I did not have enough time to finish the actual pages because figuring out the sequence of events in visual form (the storyboard) took a while. But I do have a small sample of the next stage in the form of a penciled first page.
Style Inspiration
Alex Vede is currently one of my favorite artists. His use of texture is one of the best things about his work. He inks the pictures on paper and then renders them digitally, sometimes adding even more texture along with the color. His approach to color harmony is also something I want to try to emulate, because he uses a lot of bright colors without resorting to garishness, which is how my work usually ends up when I try to use a lot of color.
Stuart Immonen
Stuart Immonen’s iconic Superman: Secret Identity was one of the first comics I ever read and re-read because of the artwork. It’s not flashy, but it’s masterful and the penciled style was always worth going back for.
Posy Simmonds
Posy Simmonds is a very famous illustrator whose work I have not seen until recently, because my tutor introduced it to me (thank you Ms. Brown!). I really enjoy her linework and her kooky characters who look like real people. I don’t draw real humans enough and it kind of shows in my work. I would like to also experiment more with pushing the stylization of my own images by first studying real life.
Storyboard
I first started the storyboard by sketching on paper, then I photographed the sketches and manipulated them in photoshop by cutting and shuffling and redrawing until I had something I was happy with. More explained in the videos!
First Page!
The first page is a bit rusty, I admit, but I am really liking the pencilly approach. It allows me to get a drawing down fairly quickly whilst not sacrificing a lot on quality. Though I would like to enhance the contrast and add some more texture in the future.
In the next few days, I will be finishing up what I started with these pages, and hopefully get to a point where they’re at least penciled, if not necessarily rendered.
