September Prompt Critique
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Hi Guys, I am trying to come up with some characters for the September art prompt about Inktober. I have never managed to do Inktober before, but have always wanted to. I am very excited to get to give it a shot this year.
I want to give a bit of the story behind these guys just for context.
These are characters from a middle grade novel I am working on. I chose them because A) I really need to flesh them out a bit so I can write them better, and
the illustrations inside this book are going to be black and white anyway so it seemed appropriate to use them for this prompt.The book is called 'Captain Jack and the Frost Pirates'. It is about a boy named Jack who finds himself on a magical flying airship belonging to the Frost Pirates. The frost pirates role in the world is basically the same as the traditional story of Jack Frost. They sail around in the sky in their ship made of ice. The pirates dive down to earth and use magic to make everything cold and frosty... just like Jack Frost. I won't get into rest of the story because it is too much. I will say however that they spend most of the book under a hypnotic spell that controls their minds. (I want to know if this comes across in the illustration.)
I am attaching a pic of the black and white line work (with no values yet), as well as the same one with a bit of color so you can see they are 'frosty' which is hard to show in the black and white illustrations.
Please let me know what you think about he character designs. I am going for Pirate-ish, with a bit of viking, and some warm clothes because they live at the north pole. Any ideas to improve are welcome. I want them to be kind of fun, but also be able to come across as threatening before Jack gets to know them.
Thanks!
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Omg I loooovve these characters!! They have really fun shapes and are full of personality! To give them more of a "frosty" feel maybe you can incorporate some icicles dangling from their facial hair? Or have snowflake patterns on their clothing? I do love the snowflake tattoo on the first character. It's not immediately apparent that they're being mind controlled (but maybe that's what you're going for?). Perhaps they could all have a snowflake tattoo visible somewhere that symbolizes their hypnotism? I think you nailed the balance between having the characters look fun and maybe threatening. The round shapes are inviting but their weapons signal "danger". Love the work you've done and good luck on your book!
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@aprilshin Thank you! I was thinking of having a spiral design in their eyes so show they are under a spell...but i was planning to make it red and that won't work in a black and white image. Maybe I can do it in a lighter grey.
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@jenithornhill Ah yes, the lighter grey is a good idea!
