Mistral and Dusk

Some more stuff with my little red riding hood character, whom I’ve named Mistral. It’s kind of a dumb joke, because yes, it is a font, but I like it as a name too. It’s cute.

Her shadow wolf familiar is named Dusk and they go around collecting souls, probably usually of younger children, as she comes off less menacing than the usually black-hooded reapers, which are normally aimed towards adults. 

Commission Info | Patreon

Shaman? Design

Design I did up a few weeks ago. Not really sure what she/he? is, but I'm really fond of the design. Will come up with a colour scheme later and might model it, for funsies.

Scavenger Doodles

Some more doodles of the character I came up with when I did my random costume exercise. I decided the character is a scavenger of sorts, and traveled around like what I imagine is the like...a  European countryside or American forest area and picks through abandoned items for random stuff.

I did these up last week during the comic class I was teaching, sort of examples for the kids, and I even ended up starting a comic. I didn't even finish the first page, but still, it was fun. Also, it was neat to work in pen, which all of this is done in black and orange pen.

Misery Sketches

Some sketches for Misery. I most of these back in November I think, when my sister and I had gone down to Disney World.

For some reason, I gave her a black sclera on her right eye, but I'm not sure why - I think I was kinda going for a zombie-ish look with her, but I'm still not sure yet which way I'm going with her. The more cartoonish version at the top is more or less the design I settled on, as I felt the more normal proportion ones at the bottom were too close to my usual-ish style. 

But Misery's story more or less, follows her interaction with this boy she meets named Collin. He looks more like the doodle in the second image, with curlier hair, and not like the one with the pointed up-do.

Misery was basically an unplanned baby - her mother was not ready for her and named the girl Misery due to the nature of her conception. She would eventually give Misery up for adoption, but despite all the negativity surrounding her, Misery was constantly cheery. She would later be adopted by a loving couple and move to a happier town where she met Collin. 

Collin himself was a rather depressed boy (for reasons I haven't figured out yet) and found Misery to confusing, yet interesting. I think I was going to write a story with a similar character to Misery, where Collin commented something like

"She danced through life, either unaware or uncaring of the misery and suffering around her"

The story itself isn't totally fleshed out obviously; it was merely an idea that I just kinda build on over time. If I ever do anything with these two, I'll never know, hahah.

Albert and Fritz

Hey ho, new character time!

Well, maybe not new-new, as I've had sketches for these two for a while.

Anywho, meet Albert the Alligator and Fritzy the Frilled Neck Lizard, two Disney-esque/inspired characters I actually came up with when visiting Disney World down in Florida.

Albert was originally conceived a few years ago, when my mother and I went down to Disney World to visit my sister. She was working down there through the Disney College Intern Program and we had gone down to visit during my Spring Break. While riding one of the Disney buses to our restort, I decided to doodle, and because it was Florida, I was thinking alligators and because it was Disney, I was thinking Disney characters, so I drew my first version of Albert.

 

I ended up giving to the bus driver as a thank you, cause I wanted to make his day a little : P

Fast forward to a more recent visit and I decided to draw Albert again, and once again, that sketch was given to the bus driver of one of the buses. It was also this trip I came up with Fritz, as I felt Albert needed a friend.

I don't remember my reasonings for making him a frilled neck lizard - I think it was maybe because I thought it fit. Albert made me also think of Australia and that made me think of frilled neck lizards... Maybe it's a reference to the one frilled neck lizard character from The Rescuers Down Under.

But anyway, yeah! So, that's how they came to be and I just recently got around to sitting down and finalizing them up some.

Mannequins

A while ago, a teacher had mentioned working on a project where he needed to design a mannequin based off a cute girl. So the top sketch is my take on it, while the second sketch is just me playing around and the third is again, just messing around, though later.

I find these kinda fun to draw, cause it's really just a way for me to play with outfits, so yaaaay haha.

DIA Sketches - Dec 6, 2013

Went to the DIA today with my sister and her friend, so wandered about and did some sketches. The last few times I've gone, I've been sketching things like vases and pots, like I did here, though occasionally I'll go find a small detail on something and draw that (I drew a lock one time which was pretty neat). But yeahhhh Just some teapots and some vases and then some quick sketches of some lady sculptures.

ChessBots

Okay okay, hahah, last post for the night.

Here are some WIP sketches for some small designs I'm working on. I was brainstorming with a friend for a group idea and ended up with the idea of robot chess pieces. Here are some development designs for the King, Bishop, and Rook pieces. Many of the modes of transportation looked at in the King designs got recycled into the other pieces, such as the single wheel for the Bishop and the tank treads for the Rook.

I'm still working on the designs for the Queen, Knight, and Pawns.

Sprites - Lemon and Lime

Here are some sketches started back around Thanksgiving. I had one of my instructors give me a prompt to work on over the weekend break and we were talking about the differences between fairies, pixies, and sprites and I basically got tasked with coming up with distinct designs for them.

Turns out, fairies and pixies, though are distinct races from one another (even being in war with each other in one line of folklore), both fall under the classification of a sprite. So I ran with that and did up two different designs: one for a pixie and one for a fairy. And I think I may have read the word 'sprite' too many times, as they're names are Lime and Lemon respectively.

These first few sketches are for the Pixie, Lime. The first set are some head ideas I was considering, though some for the fairies are also present.

Anyway, here, I define Pixies as small, humanoid creatures. They lack any magical ability, though are very close to nature and live off the land. They live in small villages in forests and create things from leaves and sticks and rocks, but have no qualms about their condition. Pixies are around seven inches tall (give or take a few inches given the Pixie) and are mischievous, curious little creatures. They are intrigued by the nature of the humans that live in villages nearby and emulate some of their habits, but know to keep their distance.

Pixies wear clothing similar to human clothing, are tall and lanky, and ample at climbing trees.

Lime here, is sort of an outcast. He's a basketweaver, and a good one at that, but can only properly weave baskets when drunk. However, when he's drunk, he tends to be somewhat obnoxious and has a tendency to break out in loud singing. This leads him to live away from his village, though he's not too bothered by it. To continue with my name play, Lime lives in a coconut.

The last two sketches here are for the Fairy, Lemon. 

Fairies, in this instance, are small, humanoid creatures, who have a more direct connection to nature. They also have the ability to fly and use magic. Fairies are also half the height of Pixies and the two races don't necessarily get along. Lemon and Lime just happen to meet and have to deal with each other based off their situations. Fairies keep away from humans, just as Pixies do, but do so because humans actively seek them out. Fairies are supposed to be a noble, calm race (similar in a way to Middle Earth Elves) and prefer to balance nature in a peaceful, private, secure place.

Fairies are found in skin-tight "clothing" that basically look like natural designs on their bodies. They mainly fly about and are short, pudgy creatures.

Lemon, though, is a bit of spunk ball and is kind of sassy. This is why she meets Lime - she gets "sent out on a quest" - and just happens to cross paths with the near drunk Pixie. She teases him for his condition (which doesn't trouble him one bit) and tries to enlist his help in her quest (feeling a sense of superiority over him).

Nouveau Sketches

I label these Nouveau Sketches, because these designs were started with the idea of finalizing them in a style similar to the Art Nouveau posts by Alphonse Mucha. I did a test of that style for picture around the time I started these sketches (around Halloween I believe) and found it a fun, interesting style. So I decided to dedicate these designs to an exploration of that style.

My idea is that these could be used in an animation/game where the characters are rendered int that specific style, complete with the soft, interior colouring and thicker, defining outlines that would separate them from the more painterly backgrounds.

I have more to do up for these though, including of course some nice final renders, which I hope to get up soon. The two characters found here are named McBride and Roland.

All the characters from this particular series are based after animals, and have recently been based around some folk stories and fables as well. McBride is based around a mouse and Roland is based after a lion. This was originally random choice until I remembered the fable of the Lion and the Mouse, so in a way, they're tailored to fit similar roles to that story.

Sandman Sketches and Revisits

Hmm I seemed to have missed these! Above are two other sheets for the Sandman design I did for my friend, Matt. The first one was exploring some of the mannerisms and expressions of the design based off the Great Horned Owl and the second one is looking at some design ideas for the Rabbit design.

This third one however, was a recent revisit to the Great Horned Owl design. I did like the concept, but basically just played with the expressions again. A note on the doodle midway down, on the right: I was trying to do something with the big eyes of owls, but it just... haha, turned out a bit creepy.

Kaede and Hake Sketches

Here are some sketches I did when working on Kaede and Hake's designs. I actually started on these a little bit after my Tim Buron style exploration, which is the inspiration for the stick legs on Kaede. I liked the way I had drawn Veronica with the thin legs, so wanted to use it here.

I spent more time on Kaede's design, especially with her hair style. The idea of using a maple leaf came really late and her little hair antenna being the stem came super last minute when I was working on the character sheets from the other day. Hake didn't get as much time spent on him, because I had a very solid image of him already in my head.

The last picture has him with a sword, because these two actually have a much more elaborate story than shown in the animatic posted earlier.

In their story, Hake used to be a talented, aspiring painter, but a conflict called him away to war, where his mastery and grace with a brush transferred to his handling of a sword. In one village, that had been set ablaze, he found a younger Kaede. Her real mother had died in the attack and her real father had run off and was no where to be seen, so Hake ends up taking the young girl in.

However, because of both inhaling too much smoke, as well as the trauma of both her mother dying and her father's abandonment, Kaede is a mute. Hake learns to live around this and they settle down after the conflict ends, which is shortly after finding Kaede.

But after the war, Hake find he can no longer paint without being reminded of the things he saw while out to battle. So he retires his hand at the brush and devotes his time to raising Kaede. However, the young girl discovers his paint set one day and tries to paint herself. Hake discovers that through painting, Kaede can communicate rather well and despite his hesitation towards painting again, he slowly starts to resume his old trade, so he can better communicate with his daughter.

Of course, this happy little situation doesn't last long. Hake's abilities in the war marked him more or less as a "hero" and "legend" of sorts, which he doesn't like. He doesn't take pride in anything he did while away on the frontlines and finds these titles to be troublesome and annoying. This, along with things in the village that causes Hake mild PTSD spells, leads him to decide to relocate Kaede and himself.

The traveling from their old village to their new home is where most of the story (which I'm imagining as another comic) takes place.

But yeah : P Hahah, some doodles~