Character Design
Backstory
This character design is of the main character in a story I am writing. This character’s name is Adara and she lives on the planet Megnoc. In the Ogan solar system, where she lives, there are also five other planets, Argi, Lungini, Preveran, Vonten, and Capenti. She is the first born daughter of the ruler of her planet, her father, Ashoko. He plans on waging war against them for power and plans on using Adara as his weapon. She is by far the most powerful warrior that has been trained and he has kept her from ever visiting the other planets, meaning she only knows what he tells her about them. Adara is under the presumption that they have intentions to harm the people of Megnoc and it is her responsibility to stop them.
Final Design
The Process
To create this character design, I use the drawing app, Procreate, on my iPad, for each step of the process. I started out the design with a quick portrait sketch of her face shape and hairstyle. I wanted her to be the main focal point of her character and capturing her long curls was an important goal. I then chose the head height that I wanted her body to be and followed that up by sketching in a quick image of what her body would be shaped like. I filled that sketch in with some colors to bring a bit more life to the sketch and show what my ideas could look like.
Body POV and Proportions
I then created more carefully crafted sketches of her body proportions and did so from different points of view, so that there is a comprehensive understanding of how her body looks. I made these sketches with a dark background because I knew the final image would also have a dark background and it would be helpful to have that going into the drawings, as I draw on top of the sketches I make.
Adding Detail
Next, I added more detail to the sketches to have an even better understanding of her body. To make this, I turned down the opacity of the proportional sketches to 25% and drew these on top of them. These sketches prepare the drawing for the next step of adding the linework. Without a good sketch underneath to experiment and change things with, the linework will not be as clean as it needs to be.
Creating Linework
To create the linework I drew black lines on top of my detailed sketches, The lines vary in weight to help with the dimension of the figure. These lines will be in the final version, so it is important that they are clean.
Finishing with Color
To finish these drawings, I added color. I used the colors to create shadows and highlights to add detail and depth to the drawings.
Power Pose
For her power pose, I used MagicPoser to create a model that was in the pose I was looking for. From there, I imported the image into Procreate and used it as a reference for drawing the proportions of this pose. I wanted this to be more of an action pose since she will only look like this form in action scenarios.
Detail and Linework
Next, I drew a more detailed sketch on top of the previous sketch. From that, I drew over top to create the black outline for her figure. I blocked out where the flames of her hair will be, but did not include them in the linework, because I wanted the flames to stand on their own and appear more organic and uncontained.
Final Design
For her power form, I used the same colors for her outfit but changed her hair and skin. Her skin is hard as a rock and her body is so heated it is like lava. the top of her hair is normal but fades down into flames. I, again, used color to create the shadows and highlights on her body to add depth and dimension to her figure.
