Portfolio Class- Character Development!

[Thomas Mahon]

Nice stuff Jake! I'm having difficulty making interest with just cloth too.

heres a test of what the design might be. DISCLAIMER: The sunglasses will not be in the final design

[emooi]

Hey guys,

Still struggling with my Merlin/sojobo tengu sketches. Just wanted to post an update and see what you guys think of it.

@thomasmahon, same problem here. if you look at a priest or monk, they only wear simple cloth's. And you can add other stuff but the look of a priest/monk soon disappears. Nice challenge ey :)

[Zipfelzeus]

@JakeB: Hey man these designs look great. I like that try out how to layer the clothes. The last four came out best so far. Did these monks or silimar monks wore any sexy jewelry? You could maybe play with that if there is any.

@thomasmahon: Haha that turtle riding monk looks good. The sunglasses on the turtle seem a bit silly though. This may not work but maybe you could work some of the turtles shell designs into the old monks robe :)

@emooi: I like the most left ones on each row. I can really feel you could do al lot with them. But nice designs overall!

I picked one and explored his costumes more:



Oh and I tried to change the sketch of this one so I hope more people get it. It was designed after these russian dollssets:


http://www.knickknacks.com.au/images/thu...llsset.jpg

[emooi]

@zipfelzeus thanks, glad you like them.
Still messing around with these guys. I'm looking for some elements to tie them all together so you know they are from the same series. So i want the belly armor belt to come back in this one, same as the belly armor for my Arthur design. But in this case i want to give the look and feel that he's a real magician. So maybe add some stuff like boxes or something where he keeps his potions in. And to give him the look and feel that he is not from this world. So i want to give him some armor that glow's in a sort of way :) Hope to post another update soon.

[Dan Warren]

really good stuff all around, everyone. Zipfel-- those new rounds of sketches are awesome! remember guys, style is totally fine vs realism, take some risks! Thomas, thats working well! up the design aspects of the smoke and get some interest in those robes. Jakeb, i really like those flat round oriental style hats in the bottom line of your sketches, play with that! ive got more comments comin soon. <3

[mateusrocha]

Hey guys! :)

This is what I made up in 2 days - gathered reference and started drawing.

The concept is a Indian (not native american) hero archetype. As I'm one step late in this, I think I'll just do the Merlin archetype at the same time as I finish the Arthur.



I did a more "refined" sketches to really practice: I needed to do all the details, because that was a lacking thing in all my drawings/paintings. Learned A LOT with these, aswell as some indian history!

[Nimao]

did a little sketch of my merlin guy..
don't know if it is really worth to post.
only thing i could do for today beside work.

@zipfel really like your sketches ;O

@thomas the idea with the turtel is great ^^

[JakeB]

Thomas - Can't go wrong with a giant tortoise. Looking good man.

Zipfel - Not sure about jewellery. Couldn't really find a lot. I just went for tons of layers. Experimenting with lengths and widths of stuff. Gonna push the hat and face to add to the character I think. That's tomorrow's job. Your designs are coming along well though man. Looks cool. The sketches have got a nice feel to them :).

Emooi - I'm with you man. This simple cloth thing is killing me.

Mateus - Cool start, really like some of the embroidery and stuff your getting in there. Could look really good. Nice one :).

Nimao - Looking cool. Like the overall shape. He looks kinda mischievous maybe ;).

Did some more designs for Merlin today, Gonna push a few of these on a bit tomorrow. Dno whether to add in some magic or not.. But I'll try it out and see.

Keep it coming guys. All looking pretty solid so far.

[malan]

Great work everyone! love all the different ideas and sketches you are all doing! :D

And here are some for my Merlin. Haven't had much time these days, so, I hope to submit more ideas later and work on the 3/4 pose. With these I played with a more stereotypic type of genie. Not very sure if I like it better with or without feet. Trying the smoke idea and using the face I did the last time. He has a flute on the hand. Which one do you like better? The only thing I liked about 3 and 4 was the pants that resemble the feet-less idea. 5 is a mix of previous ones and in 6 he is just sitting on the smoke.

More stuff later, still have to work more on him :)

[KyTran]

I'm really new to this whole scene, I just found crimson daggers last night! Really inspired by the community, you should all be proud cause i'm positive this community plays a big art in facilitating the next wave digital artists. I'm very much a novice but i hope to finish 3 sketches for the Merlin assignment!

I'm impressed with all the sketches, they look great! :)

Edit: Here is my first one, i'll probably have to do the other sketches on the go with just paper and pencil. I'm having trouble with this. If you have advice i'd love to hear it.

I was exploring Merlin as a Native American/ Indian (tribal) shaman female. I'm pretty sure my final will be a male though.

Dan can you answer a few questions for me please?
1)You said Merlin doesn't have to be human, just humanoid, but does he have to follow a specific culture that existed at one point?
2)If our Merlin design is rooted in a culture, can it only have elements of that culture, and do they have to be completely accurate to that culture or can we exaggerate certain aspects?
3) Can our Merlin exist in a fantasy world? for example, Merlin rooted in elven culture?

Thanks Dan

[Thomas Mahon]

KyTran, I'm pretty sure I can answer this one for you, your character design has to be rooted in a culture that does or has existed in real life (not a made up one, like Elven, or anything sci-fi) but can be exaggerated to a degree. For Merlin, the otherworldly and magical aspects of him has to be apart of a cultures mythology, take Malan's Ancient Arabian Djinn for example, it was apart of the mythology, and so can be used in his design. I think the tricky part is balancing fantastical elements with the mundane ones. Goodluck!

[BenFlores]

im still working on arthur :) goign to start researching for merlin
(with and without lines)

[KyTran]

KyTran, I'm pretty sure I can answer this one for you, your character design has to be rooted in a culture that does or has existed in real life (not a made up one, like Elven, or anything sci-fi) but can be exaggerated to a degree. For Merlin, the otherworldly and magical aspects of him has to be apart of a cultures mythology, take Malan's Ancient Arabian Djinn for example, it was apart of the mythology, and so can be used in his design. I think the tricky part is balancing fantastical elements with the mundane ones. Goodluck!

Thanks Thomas!

[JakeB]

Did some variations for the face.


And realised I have no idea what I'm doing, so studied another face. Really trying to build a more fundamental knowledge. Thinking about form and light way more than I ever have in the past.


Looking good so far every btw. Keep it coming :)

[KyTran]

Some thumbnails for Native American Merlin

[Nimao]

defined the Merlin guy more

[DavidFisher]

hey guys, heres my aurthor, still not done yet but i started working on the crit that i got for him, and a couple merlin concepts, did some research on their religion and dieties, and came across a god they worship called negafok, the god of snow and cold weather, and thought itd be cool to play off that a little. looking good guys cant wait to see some of them finished! crits and comments always welcome :)

[Thomas Mahon]

Awesome David! I really like the first and second Merlin concept.

[KyTran]

I'm liking the Merlin concepts David, I agree with Thomas the first two look nice .

For the Aurthor I think the positioning of his left hand feel a little unnatural. I'm not sure if you intended for the sword to be stone or not but if so, there's no reason why it can't be in the shake of a more typical sword. When you think about it, if they made stone swords there would be no reason for them to make swords into such a strange shape. Some texture will make it look more stone-like and as long as the contrast is not too high the sword wont look metal.

[Zipfelzeus]

JakeB: These costumes designs getting better and better. I really like how they come out. You did a very good job with the cloth layers. I like 1 4 6 7 the most. Good study too :)

@Malan: Nice jobs at the genies. You probably already changed a lot but I think either the smoke or this wrinkled fluffed cloth works best. I for some reason like 4 a lot. Maybe it's that mediation pose haha

@David: The top two designs for merlin with that slightly evil animalistic looking mask look awesome.

I tried dollset merlin again. But it would be to much trouble to really flesh it out. I'm just still to shitty to really make it work:


So I came back to the design I chose and finally figured out the final design pattern: