(Ashley Roughs)
(More Ashley Roughs)
(Ashley Costume Roughs)Hi! The first thing I do after roughing out my comic is production art - character designs, location designs, object designs, and anything else that needs designing, as well as shade testing. I think most people do this before starting any comic stuff at all, but I prefer to wait until I have my pages roughed and script finished because that gives me a better idea of exactly what I'll need to be designing. Of course, you should always have a good idea (a finished, sketched idea) of what your main characters, locations, etc should look like before you start the comic.
I started with characters because I like character designing, and because I already had a lot of stuff already for these characters, all I really needed to do was costume design. I'll show you the base designs for this character next week, this week I'll just show my rough plans. I did these in my sketchbook, with minimal reference. Just enough for the clothes. I've been drawing this character for such a long time that I don't use much reference for her when I'm just doing basic stuff. For clothes and outfits, I like to use Polyvore.com It's good for really simple outfits like this one, but not very useful for more creative stuff, and any kind of mens clothing.
My characters have "default outfits" that I use for art and pin-ups, and when I run out of ideas. But I try not to have them wear the same clothes all the time. I think first of the environmental requirements when designing an outfit. For this one, we're going to be in a lake on a cloudy day. So it would probably be cold and damp. But not too cold, since it's not winter or fall, so no coats. So that leads me to a basic hoodie and pants. Ashley is a very basic character when it comes to outfits. She has personal touches, (like the belt) but is overall pretty usual, which makes finding reference for her easy, since all I have to do is go to the mall. She's the type who always wears jeans, so jeans were a must for the pants.
Finally I had to pick shoes. That's where you see the most variation on the sketches. Ashley usually wears converse shoes, (or at least they look like converse. I'm not a logo person.) but I thought they might be a little too thin for walking around damp forest. Also, they looked a little strange with the way her jeans flared out - the way they scoop back in makes her jean bottoms drag on the ground, which would get them wet and muddy, and I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. UGH. So I also considered putting her in boots - I came up with a really basic boot design when I was doodling a winter outfit for Ashley. After some reference, I found the design I had looked a lot like UGGs... UGH. But, it fits well enough. I imagine these of course being a much better version, with good soles and warm fuzzy insides and you get the picture. And I stuck the tops of her jeans in her boots, like she would in winter. I ended up liking this a lot better, so it was the one I went with.
I also did a quick extra sketch of what Ashley would be wearing under her hoodie - not necessary but I like to know, just in case. The rest of the little details, like the stripes on her hood and the roundness of her belt buckle were just last minute things I added in to differentiate this outfit from her other ones.
Once I knew which outfit I wanted, I did a couple pages of rough Action Sketches to test her out. I did this to get a feel of how she moves in this outfit, and what she looks like in it, to see if it really suited her. It's like when you see something you love in a store that seems totally you, and then you put it on and its all wrong. Characters have that too! I stuck with fairly basic action poses, and tried to add some in from the thumbnail panels. I tried to get a variety as well - Action doesnt always literally mean... well, action. It basically means dynamic, interesting, with personality. Not Neutral Standing Poses. So I got some of her moving, but also sitting, and standing with attitude.
The outfit came out fitting like a charm. I could imagine exactly how she would move in it in my head, and the only thing I had doubts about - the boots, came out great. They reminded me of the boots all the characters had in How to Train Your Dragon, how huge and fuzzy they were and they just stomped in them. I really loved that.
Next, I moved on to finalizing my clean designs - my turn sheet, expression sheet, and head turn. But, I'll save that for next time! Thanks!
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