SIMON ARDOIN
Unhinged Character Designs (Summer 2020)
Unhinged Designs (2020)
As stated in the other character design page, I was takes with creating a lineup of four characters for my SEQA 272 class, which was one of the final classes for my storyboarding minor. All things considered, I wasn't actually aware that we were going to be using these characters the entire quarter. If I could go back, I would probably make Juno's design a bit more interesting, but I enjoyed drawing her when it came to the storyboards.
If you want to see the storyboard, click here.
Art done in Paint Tool SAI.
Early Development
Before I got to actually designing the lineup for the characters, I drew up a bunch of possible character sketches, which I would later change up a little bit. Fluorosick more or less stayed the same from his original sketch, though I ended up taking away his piercings and simplifying his costume, giving the jumper less straps and giving him bags on the side. I wish I had be able to include that mask, as I'm still quite fond of it. Kiume stayed more or less the same, and the fox girl - whose name was going to be Inari - was cut in favor of Juno's more simple design, as it fit the story a bit better. Igneous's design was a gun one, but the hair in the sketches was far from final. Not to mention the watercolor made the colors look quote strange, though I think I fixed this in the final design.
Sketches were done in pencil, ink, and watercolor.
Kiume Turnaround
While this was fun, doing the dreadlocks and tail at different angles was an absolute pain. At least I know I can do it, though. The platelets on the arms weren't exactly easy either. Looking back, I probably could have done better, but I'm not going to knock it too hard.
Igneous Turnaround
While nowhere near as difficult as Kiume, the hair was rather difficult. I still really enjoy the design on the back of his head, though.
Expressions and Poses Sketches
The next assignment for the class was to take the two characters we had done turnarounds for and draw up expression sheets and action posts for them. The sketches were drawn up relatively quickly in pencil, but once bringing them online, I made sure everything was on model, proportions were correct, changed up some expressions, and so forth.
Igneous Expressions and Action Posts
As a professional hero, Igneous is able to hide his more sinister intentions than those who aren't trained to be in the public eye, and this includes controlling his emotions. Due to this, most of his expressions are subtle, such as his surprise and sadness, while his smiling face has been honed to put others at ease. Away from the public eye, however, Igneous is an angry, vengeful individual who doesn't care about getting his hands dirty to make sure his interests are protected. He's arrogant and looks down on others.
As a hero, he's a very mobile individual, as can be seen in his action poses. He has a huge soft spot for dogs in particular, so during his time on shift, he'll often take time to pet any dogs who cross his path when there aren't any criminals around.
Kiume Expressions and Action Poses
Unlike Igneous, Kiume can't hide his emotions and feelings very well. He's an obvious read, but he always has a slightly angry look on his face even when he's angry, and that's primarily due to the plating on his head that slants downwards. Even so, he's not near as angry as he looks most of the time, though he is more of the "strong but silent" type.
Kiume is a hard working individual, working as a car mechanic and taking other odd jobs, which words great for him due to his height. Due to being a civilian, he's less dynamic than a hero would be, which is coupled even more by his bulky, brick-like body. A small problem arose as I was doing his action poses, and this was that my computer kept dying and erasing the plating on his tail, lower arms, and legs. While I was able to turn in the assignment, I wasn't able to get the plating done. I did get a new computer though.