Children's Book Main Character Design
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Working on a character design. It´s 6 year old (human years) African Love Bird. Still in the design phase, may remove or color line work for final design. I have settled on these key features as essential for the look I am after. Added eyebrows for expression and "whites" of eyes to alllow for iris movement.
My background is realism (attached example) so sometimes I struggle with being too literal, even when cartooning/illustrating. Sorry moderators, I attached a "non illustration" just to show what I am used to doing.
It took tons of iterations to keep chopping features to get to the most crucial ones and simplify them. I plan to remove the pupils. This will allow me to vary the size of the iris/pupil as one unit for a greater range of expression w/o concern over separate pupil.
Thoughts?
Oh, the book is about a lil bird that gets separated from its fam and rescued by an explorer and now has adventures in the big city.
www.chrisdudleyart.com
@artdud
Instagram: @chrisdudleyart -
@art-dud Thank you for posting!
My biggest suggestion is to treat the wings as one continuous shape rather than three separate and equal sections. Your wing feels inflated - like a raft rather than a wing shape. The character is really fun and I think you're going to enjoy working with him!
SVS Instructor
http://willterry.com/ -
@will-terry Thanks, I made those tweaks. I think I was thinking too far ahead of him being able to point and grab things, and thus made his wings too "finger-like". Your simple suggesting made a huge difference. How is this?
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@art-dud your "non illustration" takes my breath away...
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@bichonbistro Thanks...it's almost easier for me than illustration.
