Character design

(Continued from this Post) Alright, so I was on my way to create a universe based on a very cool story. It's only fair to say that the story was not mine, but I had complete freedom in the creation of the characters. When designing a character, the first thing that you must have is the complete profile, which is the description of his or her or its phisical traits, as well as their personality and relationship to the story.

There was a fair amount of research needed in order to make an original interesting and original creation. From the type of outfit to the weapons or looks, you have to investigate what new traits you can contribute so the characters are fresh and exiting in new ways, and not another Wolverine or another Spawn.
In my case I used the Internet (obviously) to find out what I needed. From the different types of knives for the main character, which is a werewolf hunter, to military and pilot uniforms, F-22 airplanes and of course Dragons, big badass dragons. There is always something exciting to learn about everything, even if the story is not entirely based on reality, research is a fundamental part that reflects on your artwork.

These are the initial sketches exploring the outfits and weapons of the Hunter, some different kinds of dragons and the bad guy, a big ugly demon. First time I show some of this sketches btw.

 


 

Daily Sketching

Where are my shoes!?

Sketching is a very important part of any artist's life. It doesn't matter if you are a well seasoned artist or you are just starting, it is a discipline that should not be overlooked. When you skerch, you are letting yourself absorb the world around you and interpret it in your own way. I'll tell you, I know it can be difficult, sometimes there is the desire to do it, but either laziness or simply the "insert your excuse here" gimmick plays as a art blocker. Once you start doing it I'll assure you it pays off. It's kind of learning to buckle up the seat belt.  You get used to after a few times and it becomes less and less of a hassle.

Zelda Teaser

What would Papa Smurf do?

So the other day I started one of the daily sketches trying to do some Zelda stuff. It turned out into something more than a sketch. Here is a small teaser, Link doing his thing.

Dropper avatar Inks

Hello.

After the pencils (digital pencils at least) I got really hyped while listening to some very cool podcasts which I will mention later. Color version coming soon. Looking good.

Re-discovering one's true calling.

Ok, let's start shaping this mother up.

It was about one year ago when a friend asked me if I wanted to be the penciler for this comic book idea he had on his mind. At the time I was doing some graphic design, but it was not doing so well. So I figured what the heck, I'm going to get payed to draw a cool story and I get to design all the characters. It was a long time dream of mine to draw a comic book, so I got on board with the project. It had been a while since I last sketched something, so I asked him if I could do an art test first, just so he could be convinced that my style (if I ever had one) was adequate to  the story and to prove myself that I could still do it. It took me a while to get used to the old pencil and artboard, but little by little the hands remembered what it felt to draw again.

This was my first drawing in years.

The character was a were-wolf, a really nasty one. I decided to put some kind of ripped clothing as a form of a kilt, because he had to keep some kind of clothing, (kinda like Hulk's pants). I had never drawn a werewolf so I think it ended up pretty decent. When my friend saw this he was pleased with it and we started to organize the whole thing. This was the beginning of an interesting learning experience.

Next on the list: the character design process.

Starting Up

So what's the deal here?

I don't want to pretend things or invent stuff just for the sake saying something. My goal is to share what has helped or is helping me to improve my skills as an artist. I realize there is a lot of information out there, I mean, Internet is immense and there are millions of blogs dedicated to the same thing. I know this, but I want to be a part of that global community of artists and give my 2 cents. And if that helps anyone in any way I have reached my goal. Any of your favorite artists started out just as you, with this feeling inside them that drived them to pursuit  their dreams. That is what I feet and I'm sure that is what you are feeling if you are reading this.

So let's start as chronologically as I can, with some of the things that are driving me to get better. I'm focusing more on, like the title of the blog says, celebrating the process more than the final piece itself.

New avatar

 To officially kickstart this blog, here is a quick sketch of what is going to be my new avatar for anything from now on, at least for a while. I plan to refine it with the final art lines later on. That Intuos 3 is a tricky devil, but somehow I'm getting the hang of it.

By the way, the blurry banner on top of the blog is not my fault, there is something wrong with Blogger, and I hope it gets fixed soon.

Black Sheep, come on.

So I was at a at Starbucks looking for inspiration. Right... like nobody has done that before.

There is always an excuse for not doing things. If it's not the weather, it's your favorite TV show, or whatever other reason you can come up with. It's like -Oh, I couldn't sketch today because (insert your excuse here) and then it got kind of late and (insert your second excuse here). Hey, I know it's not easy, I've been there, believe me. It took me several years to figure out what my true calling was. I was distracted by the occasional things you know, Rockstaring, partying, booze and being awesome.

But thanks to a friend that invited me to be part of a comic book project (in permanent hiatus by the way) and to the extremely inspiring podcast of Artist Chris Oatley (http://chrisoatley.com/) I decided to start this blog as a reminder of the journey that everybody has to struggle to become better, artists and what not. Practice makes perfect and inspiration can come from almost anything.

I hope that the contents of this blog helps you in any way to become a better artist and if you have any comments, and I mean any about anything at all, please do not hesitate to write them.

Never give up, never surrender. In the end it's all worth the wait.