This character was a bit of an accident, but a happy one.
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I started to give him eyelids, but they weren’t looking right, so I drew him some ancient, exotic Egyptian eyes!
…I’m running with it!
Here are a few more pencil sketches of Dmetri’s face.
I’m feeling better about his design now. He’s got a sleeker look but it’s important to have as much structure as style. The shapes and lines that make him up are finally getting to be more elegant, yet his face has a good solid (abstracted) sense of anatomy to it.
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Style may make the character memorable, but the structure’s what makes the drawing believable.
Now I need to practice drawing him more, so that I can get his look consistent, then I will work on his expressions.
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This guy’s a bit of a happy accident. I was aiming for something else, but I liked the way this drawing was turning out enough to pursue it further.
I’ve been working on a bunch of head sketches tonight. Here’s one of them, a test of Dmetri’s head.
Here are a few head sketches I’ve done. It’s always amazing to me how delicate these drawings can be. Our eyes are especially sensitive when reading faces, so proportion is key. If your line is slightly off a centimeter here or there, your character can look like a completely different person or change their expression entirely.
Sometimes, after struggling for a few hours, trying my hardest to capture a particular look or feeling, I might finally come up with a drawing I’m pleased with, but have no idea how to it. On the other hand, once it’s down on paper, it’s easier to recreate, but it still can take some work. Once I settle on a design for a face, I will often sit down and draw it over and over until drawing that face is second nature.
This is Venus. She’s a sexxxy sexxxy dancer.
She was inspired by Mike’s fondness for Gil Elvgren pin up girls.
Strangely enough, I’m happiest with my girl character designs so far, despite the fact that it’s generally easier for me to draw guys. Perhaps it’s that drawing girls is a bigger challenge for me. It keeps me on my toes.
Here’s a second pass at Dmetri. I drew him in a less complicated pose to show off the structure of his body, meanwhile, I refined some details such as his wristband, socks, and shoes.
Here is a design for two more roller girls, Marcy and Brick. Again, it’s a work in progress.
Just thought I’d share some of the progress on the 11th Avenue painting. There’s still a lot to do on it, a lot of detail to add, shading to smooth out, etc., but I thought you might be interested in seeing the progress along the way.
Roller derbies are a big thing here in Portland, and I was inspired by the local team, the Rose City Rollers for this character. I really like how she came out. She’s one of the best yet I might even try to make a few roller girls.
