Week 10 - Reflective Journal

This week I continued gathering references and working on rough sketches for the characters I'm considering working on for this module. I broke down and arranged my references into specific sections, with the bulk of references relating to designs, and a few more relating to mood, the setting in which my character exists/works, and items they carry. The colours of the environments my characters exist in will also inform the colour scheme of my final design sheets, e.g.: the monarch would most likely have a deep red background to reflect a theatre curtain, the sailor would have a blend of blue and greens for the ocean floor, and the witch/cowboy a red and orange background for the desert.

Monarch and Sailor References

Quickly it became obvious that I was having an easier time finding references and inspiration for the witch + desert + guitar character, I think in part due to cowboys and witches having similarities in silhouette and some clothing styles; e.g.: large hats, capes and ponchos, pointed boots, etc. Patterns on clothing could be adapted to have symbols that are associated with witchcraft and the occult, and a banjo can be used to cast spells.

Witch/Cowboy References

I began with rough sketchbook drawings, mostly of faces and hats, as for two of the designs I was looking to combine a sou'wester fisherman's hat and cowboy hat with a traditional witch hat. I also looked at hats from games such as Bloodborne (2014), Dark Souls 3 (2016) and Elden Ring (2022), as not only did these games contain a plethora of wonderful hats that were similar in design to what I had in mind, but also a visual style I enjoy and was considering aiming for in my character sheets. 

Rough Sketches

I tried working on some silhouettes for my characters, but found that they looked very flat and didn't really convey anything about the character. Creating silhouettes is not a method I'm very familiar with, and was something I only briefly did in my first year as an undergraduate, mainly for projects focused on environment rather than character. 

Attempting Silhouettes

In order to help with this, I did some silhouette studies, picking poses and angles that kept the silhouette readable but also suggested the kind of the person the character might be. Stances that involved holding a weapon or other object helped a lot with readability and making a pose more dynamic. I decided it would help to work on a "bare" body silhouette, building clothing on top, instead of trying to incorporate the clothing into the silhouette shape.

Silhouette Studies

With this in mind, I began rough ideas for the monarch + theatre + hook character. While these designs are a good jumping off point, I think they need to be made to look more mismatched and damaged to suit the character I have in mind. The first two look more like period costumes, and the last is a little too flat. This may be a character I would need to explore silhouette with a lot more.

Monarch Sketches

 The witch was more successful, most likely thanks to having a lot more reference material to work with, and a better idea of where I wanted to take the design. My plan is to create a series of plain designs, before taking those forward and mixing and matching aspects to create more detailed and refined concepts.

Witch/Cowboy Sketches