Experiments and research colour palette and lightsource

Further experimentation on colour palette and light source. Implementing the earlier exercises I had done (using photographs I had taken to dissect the composition and implementing a light source to explore light and shadow placements) on some of the recent sketches of potential final artworks. Polished up some of the colour palette in order to see what it may look like, though optimally more work would be required on these artwork roughs to get a better visualisation of how they would turn out.

Using the idea of putting in light source(s) from an exercise I did and reinforce it into some of the artwork sketches (below).

More photographs I had taken during holidays, etc. that may conveniently help me with different perspective angles. Some photos may help with certain scenes in my artworks, such as the colours, time of day, high angle shots and dramatic lightings from the contrast of light and shadows.  

Quick dissection of perspective and vanishing point on these new additions of photographic research for compositions. 

Redesign of main characters

Redesigning the main characters based on the visual feedback Fumio had given me on how to exaggerate the proportions of the head and body size to fit in as a miniature version of the characters has helped a lot in the progress of recreating my characters as mini versions of my initial designs that are based on realistic proportions. 

Not a lot of changes were made and the overall design of the characters remain the same, it is just the size and the proportions of the characters were altered to make them easier for me to draw, as well as to make the characters have some sort of ‘fun’ look to their design and to add some appeal. The design for the animal (fox) and the spirit character remained the same, though I have gone through a few revisions of their design to refine their faces/expression.

Revised versions of the new designs for the characters in flat colours. Looking at objects that they use, features as well as their overall look. These will be used as references to help me know about their colour scheme, size, items and proportions when it comes to final artworks, so I can keep track and for consistency in terms of illustrating the characters. 

A quick size comparison of every character I had quickly sketched out/designed during the development of character creations for my world. It is interesting to see the varying shapes and sizes of different characters being grouped together and as a visual reference, this is useful to use when illustrating a scene involving interactions between different characters, as this allows me to keep track of consistency in character heights so I won’t accidently illustrate a character who is supposed to be small as tall as someone who is of medium height. 

After the development of redesigning the main characters to fit within my skills of illustrating human characters, I gave my Tutor, Fumio, an update of my recent progress on the designs. The feedback that was provided (above image) was good to know that everything as of now for the project (designing characters of the world) is ok. Only thing I need to do was to make some minor adjustments on the sizes of the heads, as well as the height of character 2 to fit to scale based on their initial designs. 

Only thing I need to do now is to refine the character a bit more with their design (also adding in the adjustments from the tutor’s feedback) and to do a character sheet for character 1 and 2 to explore more on their facial expressions. 

Character sheet on expressions. Can be used for visual guidance when illustrating the final artworks.

Final version/design of the main characters. 

The progress of the redevelopment of my character designs had went smoothly despite hindering the progress of the project. The issues I had faced after realising I do not have the confidence to draw characters as I wanted to due to the lack of confidence and experience (e.g. drawing anatomy/proportions and visual consistency) were troubling me and had me anxious about the outcome of my visual design. In the end I pushed the idea of exaggerating proportions on my main characters (and a bit of the visual style of my work), similarly to how I draw non-human characters. The visual consistency between all my characters are now there and it just a matter of practice (drawing the characters regularly) to keep the visual designs consistent.

Character illustrations - Characters of the world

After analysing the idea of redesigning my main characters due to the current difficulty I am facing with the consistency of drawing human characters (as well as art style), I decided to do several non-human character drawings/sketches that I would potentially incorporate for character interactions in my final artworks. These characters are just ideas of the locals/race/communities of the world I am creating. These ideas are not random as I wanted them to fit in with the scenes that they can be put in with my main character duos (robots in junk yards/spirits in forests/knights in castles, etc.). Doing these quick drawings of potential characters of the world will help me expand ideas, as well as fitting them in with the initial environments I had in mind (high street/forest/lake). The idea behind this is to generate extra content that will back up the expansion and the exploration of the world I am creating.

My final artworks will involve other characters (such as the townspeople) so these character ideas I had done can be fitted in with the artworks, being in the background or in action scenes that involves them (directly or indirectly). 

 Colour sketches of random characters for my world. 

The creation of other non-human characters/anthropomorphic characters, as well as human characters with exaggerated proportions are to fit within the genre/setting of fantasy and enchantment I am aiming to visually communicate in my artworks. The visuals alone will not be enough to communicate the magical/mystical portrayal of my world if the content itself (characters and environmental designs of the world) is lacking, which would conflict with the purpose of this project; to explore and create a world of my original characters and environments (the content).

Anthropomorphic characters based on real life animals such as cats and birds are one of the things I wanted to use as part of my content in generating a world that has a mix between reality and fantasy, where animals we are familiar with are given a persona to make them relatable to the audience. Their designs as of now are rough and not all of them would make it to the final artworks, though these ideas will not be forgotten as they can be used later on if I were to expand the creation of my world in the future. I will take some of these characters that will be involved in the final artworks (alongside my main characters) to finalise their design.

Phase 7 - Artwork idea generation and selection

In preparation to illustrate the artworks, I produced quick composition sketches that explores character interaction and the beauty of the world’s environment. Most of these are done randomly and did not have much thought put into each one as I wanted to be open with the ideas. Perspective and character interaction is the main focus for these sketches and the idea of doing these sketches quickly is to be efficient with rough ideas. Putting in too much thought into one sketch would hinder the progress of getting these ideas out on paper. I will choose up to 8 sketches at the end that I think would be a suitable to be put forward as final artworks. 

After reviewing these sketches with Fumio, we agreed to the idea where there should be at least 4 images as final artworks. Though personally I feel there should be 6 artworks (maximum 8 artworks), where 4 artworks will be large (A3 size at least) and 2 A4 size for artworks with a lot of detail.

As of this moment the large artworks will focus on the landscape of the world, while the smaller artworks will focus on character interaction (works that involve a lot of detailing will look better at a smaller scale). This is a rough outline for the sizes which I will stick to, unless there’s a problem with the sizes/chosen artworks in the future then I would need to reconsider my options. Applying greyscale tone for simple light and shadows on the sketches. 

 Applying greyscale tone for simple light and shadows on the sketches. 

Coloured version to get a glimpse to see what the image could potentially look like in the final artwork.