Character Designs

Character Designs!

The process I went through when designing all of the recurring characters in my story. For the three main characters I produced a three turn view sheet, whilst the less used characters only have one front view. These will mainly be used for clothing reference, as I wont be drawing them repeatedly much, unlike for the main characters.

Next up is how i am going to go about designing my characters.

Characters needed:

Ronin

Akue

Juno

Head Monk

Orphans

I have decided to go for the manga style however I am looking into specific styling to what I want them to appear like continuously through the comic. After thorough research, I compiled some of my favourite coloured digital art which can be used for the character bases and cover.

From this I can reference what I like and dislike and help develop my own style ready for the manga itself.

First up is Ronin's design. He is an orphan, roughly around 13/14 years, who has a history of living on the streets and scavenging for both food and clothes. This means he wont be very well built in terms of nourishment, but quite athletic toned muscles developed from being constantly on the run. I want him to be an average height, with quite rough spikey hair. His personality is very soft, nurturing and playful, but easily has a focused/serious side. He is less concerned with self preservation, concentrating more on the survival of the other children in the orphanage. His clothing needs to be almost mismatched and torn, maybe even patch work mended. Also I want to create a styled shoe which can just be slightly altered per character, that are widely used. For his colour scheme, I want to keep hair colour's reasonably realistic, and for him to have a red/ blue colour scheme.

He will be a brawler, and capable fighter, but not a swordsman yet. As he belongs to no known group, his clothing wont have any meaningful insignias or markings. He will also not be very clean, but will always try to keep a smile on his face.

Here is what I ended up designing. I went with a half dishevelled looking Yukata (classically worn by villagers in Edo Japan) with tattered black trousers and a basic white of the shoulder sleeved top. His hair is a hazel nut brown with a purple highlight at the front. I tried to give him a sympathetic face, and kind eyes. His build was kept very slim, but well built, not filled out. As for his shoes, all three climates of the areas I have looked into where reasonably warm and dusty, to I kept the toes enclosed to keep them dirt free, but kept it open top to allow heat and air to be able to circulate. Fastening his particular shoe with a plain silver buckle at the back on each shoe.


Next is Akue's design. She is a young girl around 13/14 who was kidnapped by the corrupt underbelly of the Vermillion Bloom only a couple days after Ronin first arrived at the orphanage. She was a very pretty but nervous girl, easy pickings for the Vermillion Ataxia. She original would wear a simple plain dress, in quite earthy colours, similar to her grounded down to earth personality. When she is at the Shrine/ Monastery she will be dressed in quite  traditional clothing, much more elegant than those who currently reside at the orphanage. Her hair will be quite long, tied back simply, maybe having the addition of a couple of hair pins.

I researched into area's such as traditional Korean and Chinese attire as well as robes that a priestess would wear. Trying to maintain quite similar colours. Below is what I came up with for her design. Keeping to the earthy colours, I added floral patterns to the skirt and panelled material to give it a more elaborate feel. Keeping her hair muted too, with a slight pink highlighting. As for her face, I chose for her to have reddish orange eyes, quite the unnatural, to show she is no longer just a human girl. She has been artificially modified and enhanced to be able to contain a demon inside of her, lock a prison cage for it. The clothe over her face is part of the sealing process, keeping it under control so she can lead a semi normal life. She wraps herself in  bandages to hide the scarring that the experiment and black alchemy left on her body, as well as the demons marks that plague her body.

Next up is the good monk, Juno, who complies with the true beliefs of the Vermillion Bloom and has been trying to save Akue from the Dark branch of the Religion Vermillion Ataxia. He however does not entirely succeed. I want him to be quite tanned and well built, 7 ft in height and very peaceful, not talking without meaning and highly observant. His clothing should resemble that of a priest/ monk. His ability is centred towards alchemy and magic sealing. He has self tattooed over most of his body different circles for incantations which can be used at any time with a drop of his blood and the right worlds spoken. He will also receive scarring on his face from where he tries to interrupt the sealing process with Akue.
Below is both his moodboard and final design.

Finally I have the Lead Monk of the underground Ataxia branch, and the orphanage children. As they aren't main characters i haven't done a full turn around, just a one full body to establish their designs. Using Juno's moodboard i created the head monk's deign, and the children where based of Ronin's mood board.