Here are some of the rather crappy drawings I did for the character design project. I tried to combine some of the features from my previous blog (on inspiration) in these images in an attempt to explore some of the elements I liked.
In this page, I experimented with a few different shapes for 'elongated heads'. I like the drawing in the top left corner's head shape more than the two below it. I also like the way most of this character's features look, excluding the ears. I think I prefer for him to not have ears, or have invisible birds ears. I also don't really like the mouth as it would be hard to show emotions with a mouth of this nature. Also, note that he has needle pricks on the side of his neck from using trans-drugs!!! HOW EVIL!
The drawing in the top right corner shows some experimentation with the idea of making a character with two conjoined heads, or with two faces. The two center eyes are very distorted as they have been pushed together, and have therefore gone blind. I think I'll definitely make my character have two faces.
I don't really like the bottom two alien faces - they are too plain.
I thought about giving my character tentacles as arms, or perhaps just one arm could be a tentacle, but I think that it would be better if he'd just have one arm bigger than the other. A tentacle arm would make walking very difficult and therefore also very difficult to animate!
I like the arm I drew here, with the long nails. I think this kind of arm would suit the alien head in the top left corner of the page.
I also drew some goat legs to experiment with the different bone structure and joints, but I don't think this will suit my alien. I'd rather have him be smooth and hairless, and I think, as it is with my ideas, the character will already be hard enough to animate!
On this page I drew a simple gesture drawing to show the extent of the hunched/slouched back/posture that I want my character to have. Also, note how the legs have to bend to keep the character standing up - this is perhaps a good reason for me to give my character human legs - or mutated humanoid legs!
The drawing of the chest is just supposed to show how one side isn't in proportion with the other - perhaps caused by the character's terrible posture, or his horrible mutations. This should be particularly evident in the 'frontal view' drawing of my character.
The sketch of the alien below the chest was just another experimentation with potential alien ears, but again I'm not happy with them.
I think I might make my character have 4 arms as well, just as another sign of his mutation - and it would make him look a little less human, and possibly more interesting.
This is an image I drew, based on a few aspects of the aliens above.
I don't really like the way his elongated head looks, nor his ears, but I again like the idea of him having 4 arms and 2 legs.
In this drawing I made him have an upright posture and a fat tummy, but I think I like my hunched back, skinny alien idea better.
Also, I drew the goat legs to see how they'd suit an alien character, but I also don't really like the way they look.
I think he looks awkward enough without his legs adding to the craziness.
I think I'll just try to forget about this drawing!
I think I was possibly watching Star Wars when I decided to draw this character.
He doesn't really share many features of the aliens above - he has no arms or legs, but looks like a big fat slug.
At least he has the elongated head!!
No, I think this was another failure.
Best stick to a basic human body I think!
Again, I combined several of the features I had started exploring in the above illustrations in this drawing.
This alien, with the must have elongated head leans to one side due to his having a tentacle as an arm.
he also has some strange fungus or something growing on that shoulder and even partially on his face.
His chest has sunk lower on that side of the body too (to show the impact of his heavy load).
I used the arm I liked above as well in this image, which seems quite normal in comparison to his massive other tentacle arm. Although it is a nice comparison, I think I'd still prefer to give him four arms similar to the one on the left of his body (our right) and perhaps make them different sizes.
I also experimented with the goat legs again, but I think that they look way too awkward.
Maybe it's time to forget about the goat legs!
I don't really like this character design. I think that it looks pretty silly, and would definitely be near impossible for me to even begin to animate!
Here I decided to play around with one of the heads designed on a previous page above. It seems way too cutesy for the world he lives in though, but I thought it might be fun to try to make a mutated, elongated-head, chubby alien.
I think that's all I really need to say about this drawing - it basically doesn't suit the world I've created.
My alien should be more human-like but mutated.
This guy looks a bit like an evil teletubby elephant monster.
I thought that maybe taking a completely different path might pay off.
This alien wears a tattered and ripped uniform with a scary mask.
I thought that you could turn the semi-circular eyes to show emotion, but on second thoughts, I don't think this will be enough.
Also, I'd prefer for him to be more naked so that I can show how his mutated body really looks and moves.
Clothes hide too much.
This drawing is basically the same as one of the first ones above. I really liked it and thought that I should draw it again to see whether it feels right or not.
It actually felt pretty good.
I like this design the most so far.
Again, I'm not sure about that kind of mouth, or the ears, and I don't really like the spikey things on his head, but I think this kind of alien, especially with the elongated head done in a more realistic way will be the best way for me to go. This alien's skull was based off an ancient Mayan skull found by scientists which was also elongated in this way.
I tried drawing the goat legs again (I know, I know) - and yes, it definitely doesn't work.
More human-like legs will definitely be the way to go.
Also, he needs a more curved back and perhaps 4 arms.
The final character design:
This is the character I ended up designing based on my research, inspiration and experimental sketches.
I still haven't exactly decided whether he should be good or evil, or what his deal is, but I am happy with the result.
This is my good copy 'frontal view' drawing using fineliner, which I will then scan into the computer to colour in.
I have obviously drawn my character with two conjoined heads - playing on my old work and the idea of my character having some sort of split personality disorder as I discussed in my previous blog.
I decided that perhaps his two center eyes should be blind - maybe this is shown through the use of a different colour in later stages. This would somewhat make sense, as the conjoining of two bodies would ultimately destroy or alter certain bodily functions. I think it also makes him a bit more mysterious and interesting.
He is also hunched backed and has 4 arms, one of which is missing a hand. I think this just adds something interesting to him and could perhaps be evidence of a rough life.
I thought that perhaps he is a conjoined twin (hence the other face and two extra arms), so to make this even clearer, I added 'bones' to the back part of the joints in his legs. These would probably help to strengthen his legs so that they can carry the weight of the upper body at least partially effectively, and could also maybe assist with jumping or some other physical activity. Aside from all that, I think that it also makes him look a little more interesting and a bit stranger and more unique.
He has a loin cloth to show that he is perhaps not well off, or maybe that he is in touch with nature. On the artistic side of things, I wanted him to be mostly naked so that I could show his disfigured and mutated body in a more obvious way. Also, I don't want to have to draw alien reproductive organs. This was a good solution to all my problems =).
The rest of him is basically in the form and proportions of a human or humanoid creature. I think that this is fine, as it highlights his 'stranger' aspects. Also, I think that I changed him enough from an easily recognizable human form to create a character that would be considered 'alien'.
I had a bit of trouble drawing the 'side view' of my alien character. I thought that the most important thing with this view would be to show the curve of his back and his horrible posture which is meant to give him some personality.
I also used this view to show more clearly the 'bones' or whatever they are on his legs. Perhaps, looking at the way they seem to make his legs bend, this is one of the reasons why the character is hunched back/ slouching all the time... maybe they don't stretch very well and after years of walking with his legs bent, the rest of the body started following the example.
(What is wrong with this text?! I don't know why it's underlined =S)
Anyway, even more difficult than trying to draw the character from the side, was the 'back view'.
I found this especially hard as I had to somehow show that he is hunched back and has his knees bent.
After a lot of consideration, I drew lines extending from the 'front/side view' characters' limbs and main points of change from one limb or body segment to the next onto a new page, and used these as guidelines for where to place body parts for this view. I think that the technique worked relatively well as he definitely seems to have a hunched back, but I think that the overall drawing isn't of the same standard as the 'frontal view' drawing.
This, however, was still my best attempt and with lack of time and still so much to do, I decided that it would be best to accept it as it is and move on.
With this drawing, I really tried to show the back of the head in relation to the back, which i wanted to make as disfigured as possible. It was also a good way to show where the 4 arms sit in relation to each other.
Now that I'm done with the basic drawings of my characters, it is time to scan them in and then colour them using photoshop (I have never used Flash before, and my Illustrator skills are very limited, so using either of these programs at this time seems WAY too daunting!).
Photoshop Colouring - Final characters!
I don't quite know why I had decided to make my character purple, but I like the way it looks in the images below! I think that it was probably just to really push the fact that he isn't meant to look very human, and there is something quite exotic about that specific shade of purple.
I basically used 3 shades of purple to make him look somewhat more realistic and nicely rendered. The two darker shades were applied using a lower opacity and higher softness brush. I then blended them roughly together with the smudge tool on a low opacity to get rid of any clear changes of colour which made him seem too 2D and rough for my tastes.
I thought that this wasn't enough, so I used the smudge tool to give him the strange plasticy texture that he seems to have (especially obvious when looking at his arms and legs). it also helped in highlighting the odd bumps on his body, and just made him look overall more impressive and interesting.
Again, when choosing the colouring for his nails - in this case, blood red, it was purely chosen for its strangeness and to add to the character's non-human qualities. I think that the brightness of the red I chose really grabs the viewer's attention.
The colour of the loin cloth was basically just chosen to be an off green-brown as it is so easily identified as being a dirty colour. I think that it makes him seem quite poor, or environmental but who knows, maybe it is of the highest fashion and expense on his planet!
Lastly, the colour of his two center eyes are an off pinky colour. It contrasts nicely with the black of his two good eyes, and seems to imply that he is blind. It is an almost fleshy colour and seems sickly. I think that this really works well.
Overall, I am very happy with my character development here. The next step would be to decide on who he is, his history, his mission, his alignment in terms of good vs. evil etc, and then to put it all together on my character sheet!
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