Character Design Process

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Thumbnails

I begin the design process with a general idea of the character’s direction – in this case, the aesthetic of a masquerade ball combined with a mercenary/warrior role. This is more of a personal exercise, so keeping only a vague direction gives me room to explore. If this was for a client or a bigger project, the character specs might be more specific and I’d adjust the process accordingly.

The thumbnails are meant mostly to find some silhouettes that create interesting negative space and define shape and proportion to help the character materialize in space. I try to keep things loose, not focusing too much on anatomy or details at this stage.

Iteration 1

From here, I pick some thumbnails to develop into rough comps. Things are still not really detailed, but there’s enough indication to be able to show these to a client or an art director to help guide the direction of the process.

Iteration 2 – Variations

Once we’ve decided on a comp, I’ll create some variations to give the client some more options. This is a continual process of exploring different ideas while narrowing them down to funnel the process to a final destination. In this case, the variations are fairly big in their differences – a patchwork mercenary, a Mesoamerican inspired tribal warrior, and a more classical knight type character. However, we should be able to develop significant variations in a design even if there are a lot more restrictions.

Final

This is just a matter of rendering, detailing, indicating light and materials, as well as correcting any anatomical or proportional issues. This can be the most time consuming part of the process, but it’s also the point where the least amount of changes can occur in the design. This is why it’s important to explore different directions earlier on, so you don’t get stuck having to make huge changes at this stage which can significantly delay completion.

You can see the full painting on Deviantart.