Gustaff Design Finalized

After many revisions and drafts, Gustaff's character design has finally come together into something I am comfortable with. In small ways, he will change here and there, but I can now move on to the secondary characters in the story. I would say he is about 95% finished at this point, and drawing him in action with other characters will fully round him out. The following images show the last part of his development.

Finally getting the acting I wanted out of his cartooned form, 

I decided to get a few more details in there.

Adding back in that touch of realism put the

 character exactly where I wanted him.

Old man shoes...check!

I decided to do a portrait of Gustaff to finalize his design

and insure that I knew his forms well. Also, it was just plain fun. 

It feels good to have Gustaff looking exactly how I want him to. I learned so much just by spending the time to really work on him. Now, I can move on to the other elements of the story. Things to look forward to are the completed sculpture and new character designs. Also, I will begin exploring the props and environments in greater detail. Check back soon!

Gustaff Look Development: Shapes

Here are the drawings I did of Gustaff right after sculpting in his basic form. Since then, I have been tweaking his design and deciding which details to include and leave out. Compared to previous sketches, Gustaff has lost much of his detail and appears a bit more youthful. This was so that I could distill him down to his most basic form and build on top of that. There are things I like more about his earlier designs, but I can always bring those back.

 This cartoon shorthand of Gustaff makes him useful for animation or comics. 

 These drawings show Gustaff at his most basic. 

From this point, I started to slowly add detail back.

The next stage of drawings will be focused on infusing Gustaff's character with more life. This will include redesigning certain parts of his face and learning more about his character. Check back soon for more process as this character takes form!

Gustaff Look Development: Reactions

Here are the drawings I did of Gustaff right before starting the sculpture. Compared to the early drawings, these have a bit more cartooning to them. These drawings were about clarifying story points and showing how Gustaff reacts to the world around him. More to come soon!

Early Gustaff Concepts

Below are some of my first drawings of Gustaff. These were my initial feelings of what the character should embody. I imagined him as a lanky, animated fellow who has a real charm when talking to people and a total focus while working.

As you can see, these are more detailed and realistic than some of the other drawings I have posted. Since these drawings were made, I have been working to find a nice balance of cartoon and realism in his design to get the most out of his emotions. 

Although I started drawing a newsboy hat on him, I kind of dig the visor.

It is nice to have these early drawings to look back on. They help me keep the initial spirit of the character while I refine his design. In the next post, I will show how the character has developed into more of a cartoon since I started the sculpture of him. See you soon!

Gustaff Maquette

Lately, I have been working on my character design for Gustaff, the repairman in my story. He is a kind, laid-back, yet hard-working gentleman who enjoys his quiet, little repair shop.

Although I like where he is going, I want to make sure I am 100% comfortable with what Gustaff looks like before I commit him to comic book pages. The best way to do this is to sculpt him. Here are some process pictures of a small bust I am making to help me figure out his character:

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I begin by creating a metal armature for the head.

Gustaff doesn't do well with metal detectors.

By this point, I have mounted the armature and begun sculpting.

Having added the mass of his torso, I start to build Gustaff's facial features. 

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Here is the current state of the sculpt. It is still very-much a work in progress. However, I am already discovering new questions about his design and answering others. My next step will be to redraw him in order to  figure out some of the sculptural details. Then, I will finish the sculpture and finalize his designs. 

(I will be sure to give him ears as well) 

The lower images showcase Gustaff with a placeholder mustache and eyebrows. I can still remove them at any time to refine his face, but they are very helpful for visualizing the final product.

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I hope you enjoyed this look into how I design characters. I will be updating the blog with more sketches and process in the near future!

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at what I'm currently working on. More process and updates to come. Stay tuned!

Also, here's a dog in a chair.