My charcter art and analysis (9/11/2012)

Clothes for Characters: 

Having decided to shift my theme to a space pilot I first drew a number of different clothes and styles so as to decide what I wanted to portray in my final piece. 

As you can see below I came up with both armour and material clothing for my character to wear. Most of which were deliberately circular so as to look similar to a modern space suit. This can be seen on many of the helmets and many of the bodies I have drawn.

I also decided to work on a range of helmet styles as I particularly wanted to make sure that my final choice of helmet was the most significant thing about the design. 

Full Uniforms:

For my drawings of the full uniforms I started with sketches A and B which both contained sweater style, cable knit material jumpsuits to go along side the more sci-fi type armour. After thinking about it I decided against using so much armour on just the torso as it made the rest of the character's body look bare.     

Sketches C and D have a more retro look as I decided to take the uniforms of old World War fighter pilots and then adapt them for a futuristic appeal. The World War style was more to do with adding a certain patriotic and 'dashing' heroism to the uniform by the use of the open neck and unnecessary, but cool looking flowing neck tie. I wanted to give the impression of the pilot showing off the greatness of the war effort, as seen in old World War posters or cheesy movies.

The stars on the uniforms are not only to further convey that stars are involved in the game as it is set in space, but also to show a link to one of the many symbols used by the American military.

Learning that pilots who spend many hours in the air are at risk of blood circulation problems I decided to modify my sketches in A and C to include mechanical legs which would stop blood from rushing to the lower body. This would visually show that the pilot is genetically man made. I also wanted this to be a reference to sacrifices made by soldiers in times of war. At the same time I wanted to maintain as much humanity as possible as the more human a character the more likeable they are for a gamer. Therefore, even though their legs and hands would be mechanical as well as the helmets, the rest of them would still be organic.

Refined Sketch:
 

For my refined sketch I decided to incorporate elements from sketches C and D as I felt that those two would make my piece of art stand out the most. This is thanks to the old world war pilot type uniforms being mixed with mechanical and therefore sci-fi hands, feet and helmet.

I decided to make the hands visibly mechanical alongside the legs as I felt they made the image stand out more. Also, in case it isn't obvious the helmet would split open in the middle in order for the pilot's head to go in and when it closes holograms would be projected inside the helmet in order to allow the pilot to see. Also when being worn the helmet would have a orange light emanating from the opening in order to make the image look even better.     

I imagine that the colour scheme would be red for the uniform's material and gold for the metal as those are not only bright and stand out colours, but also reference the colours seen in the American Civil War. 

Final Piece:

Overall I am incredibly pleased with my overall character design as not only does he, in my view stand out from other characters I have seen in games, but the colour scheme is also a perfect blend of my chosen colours as I made sure I kept a colour palette that mixed well together.

Talking of colours, I wanted the armour to look golden and therefore started with just a yellow colour before relishing that the program I was using (Photoshop) had the gradient tool that would allow me to stretch a gold texture over the spaces I wanted it to. I made sure I did this to each individual layer so as to give the final piece a three dimensional appearance.

Using Photoshop also allowed me to make certain areas of the piece glow with an orange haze which I am very happy with as I never thought I would be able to do that. Also, I am glad that I originally made a mistake on his legs in pen which forced me to add extra pieces to the top of his legs and actually these help to add something to what would have otherwise been rather bland.

One small thing I really like is his scarf as not only does it stand out as it is the lightest colour in the piece, but it also looks as if it is correctly flowing in the wind. 

I especially love the fact that every class mate of mine told  me that he he looked as if he belonged in and looked like a cartoon character. This is great news as although I drew him with a video game in mind it goes to show that my artistic style stands out enough to be recongised for other medias.

Had I had more time I might have added:

• The same shading that he has on his arms to his legs by using the gradient tool.   
• Experimented with different textures and layers for his hair. 
• Made his hands and lower legs more visibly machine like.

Below is the final piece for you to enjoy.

Hours Spent on the drawing:

Tuesday: 9:30 - 12:00

Wednesday: 18:00 - 18:30

Thursday: 16:00 - 16:30, 17:00 - 17:10

Friday: 13:00 - 14:30, 14:35 - 14:55

Saturday: 17:15 - 18:00, 18:30 - 19:30
Sunday: 16:20 - 17:50, 18:35 - 19:25
Tuesday: 9:10 - 12:35, 16:35 - 17:00