Haru Ichiban's Blog - Posts Tagged "character-design"
Let me introduce you a new hot guy...
Today it's my new book release,
and we have a main character to introduce.
Haru: Ladies and gentlemen, the new Forbidden hero, Soren Ellsworth, sees the light today. Say hello to your future fans, Soren!
Soren: ... *moves slightly to warm up, back to Haru*
Haru: Never mind, he's always like that. At least I'm looking at his very nice back.
My first attempt at drawing him:
I'll be drawing and painting him for quite a while, so I began designing his looks with this picture. He kind of could be the younger and cuter brother of Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, and that was quite the look I was going for. Only that... I look at him and see a girl, I don't know why. Unlike the spunky and temperamental Lei, who has a baby face, Soren is supposed to be much more handsome (manly) than cute, so I had to find a way to fix him.
On a side note, I've been told his eyes look alive in this picture, like they were actually looking at you. I've also been told he looks 20 here, and that's about the age I was aiming for too.
Second try:
Here I made some adjustments. Longer face, smaller eyes, and also a hairdo with less strands. I'm not fully satisfied with this result either, so I kept trying.
Soren often keeps an inscrutable face, and his intentions are just as mysterious. Don't expect big expressions from him.
PS If you think the blending is horrible, I did this with scholastic pencils (yes, the ones for kids to make doodles) and photocopy paper.
Third try:
Actually, I was not only trying to design him but also trying different shading techniques at this time, and I went for one full of light in this pic. It came out fantastically! In person, that is. For some reason, what in person is a slight yellow tone gets blown out of all proportion when scanned. Taking note of that "quirk" to not repeat it again and go for another kind of yellow tone in the next. I wish I could take a photo with a high end camera to show how this looks in real life. Ah well.
Soren looks pretty dark, but his features are transparent, just like Sween. During the day he has dark brown hair that reflects all kinds of colors in its highlights, and dark gray eyes with silver flashes. At night his eyes and hair are pure black.
Here he does look like a guy, but I found another problem: he also appears younger than what I was going for. I've been told he seems 17 in this picture, and like I said, he needs to look like he's in his twenties. More attempts needed then.
Fourth try:
I didn't bother much with this one (you can tell, lack of background and all), because all I made for was to try drawing him like in last pic but without the yellow lighting that made him look so juvenile. Here I went for pomegranate clothing I was sure he could pull off (and I was right) and a fiercer look on his face.
This will not be revealed in the new book but much later, but I'll spoil it now: Soren is a Cancerian, so no fireworks for him in the emotional department. He IS quite emotional like the typical Cancerian, but he won't show it like the feisty Leo hero we're used to in the Forbidden books. Soren is normally VERY calm and lets almost everything slide--but beware if you happen to see him with a scowl like in this picture. It's a bad thing. Trust me, it is a REALLY bad thing.
I think I got him quite right in this picture, though. I still want one more try.
I think I quite got him this time. Still, I think I'll go with the spiky hair for the definitive look. Here I was also trying new shading techniques, since I want my semirealistic art a bit more 3D than it is now, and I gave it this "celestial" theme. He looks a bit lighter than he is here, but once again, it's because of this technique and theme. His skin is depicted in the novel as "light beige that could never be called milky". But despite this pallor, this is pretty much how he's supposed to look.
Look forward to more art about this beauty!
and we have a main character to introduce.Haru: Ladies and gentlemen, the new Forbidden hero, Soren Ellsworth, sees the light today. Say hello to your future fans, Soren!
Soren: ... *moves slightly to warm up, back to Haru*
Haru: Never mind, he's always like that. At least I'm looking at his very nice back.
My first attempt at drawing him:
I'll be drawing and painting him for quite a while, so I began designing his looks with this picture. He kind of could be the younger and cuter brother of Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, and that was quite the look I was going for. Only that... I look at him and see a girl, I don't know why. Unlike the spunky and temperamental Lei, who has a baby face, Soren is supposed to be much more handsome (manly) than cute, so I had to find a way to fix him.
On a side note, I've been told his eyes look alive in this picture, like they were actually looking at you. I've also been told he looks 20 here, and that's about the age I was aiming for too.
Second try:
Here I made some adjustments. Longer face, smaller eyes, and also a hairdo with less strands. I'm not fully satisfied with this result either, so I kept trying.
Soren often keeps an inscrutable face, and his intentions are just as mysterious. Don't expect big expressions from him.
PS If you think the blending is horrible, I did this with scholastic pencils (yes, the ones for kids to make doodles) and photocopy paper.
Third try:
Actually, I was not only trying to design him but also trying different shading techniques at this time, and I went for one full of light in this pic. It came out fantastically! In person, that is. For some reason, what in person is a slight yellow tone gets blown out of all proportion when scanned. Taking note of that "quirk" to not repeat it again and go for another kind of yellow tone in the next. I wish I could take a photo with a high end camera to show how this looks in real life. Ah well.
Soren looks pretty dark, but his features are transparent, just like Sween. During the day he has dark brown hair that reflects all kinds of colors in its highlights, and dark gray eyes with silver flashes. At night his eyes and hair are pure black.
Here he does look like a guy, but I found another problem: he also appears younger than what I was going for. I've been told he seems 17 in this picture, and like I said, he needs to look like he's in his twenties. More attempts needed then.
Fourth try:
I didn't bother much with this one (you can tell, lack of background and all), because all I made for was to try drawing him like in last pic but without the yellow lighting that made him look so juvenile. Here I went for pomegranate clothing I was sure he could pull off (and I was right) and a fiercer look on his face.
This will not be revealed in the new book but much later, but I'll spoil it now: Soren is a Cancerian, so no fireworks for him in the emotional department. He IS quite emotional like the typical Cancerian, but he won't show it like the feisty Leo hero we're used to in the Forbidden books. Soren is normally VERY calm and lets almost everything slide--but beware if you happen to see him with a scowl like in this picture. It's a bad thing. Trust me, it is a REALLY bad thing.
I think I got him quite right in this picture, though. I still want one more try.
I think I quite got him this time. Still, I think I'll go with the spiky hair for the definitive look. Here I was also trying new shading techniques, since I want my semirealistic art a bit more 3D than it is now, and I gave it this "celestial" theme. He looks a bit lighter than he is here, but once again, it's because of this technique and theme. His skin is depicted in the novel as "light beige that could never be called milky". But despite this pallor, this is pretty much how he's supposed to look.
Look forward to more art about this beauty!
