Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Resurfacing

After much heckling from friends, I'm finally getting off my butt and posting! Here is my most recent work from my character design class, starting from concept to the (more or less) final design in the turnaround.

Before creating the characters, I quickly patched together some very rough story ideas. I wanted the setting to be somewhere in an ancient, pre-Islam, Middle Eastern civilization, such as Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Canaan or Phoenicia (I'm leaning more towards Canaan). Reigning the specific region in this story is a cruel, land and power-hungry tryant, making life increasingly difficult for the people under his rule. One victim of his reign is a boy orphaned by the recent war, who tries his best to survive in the rough alleys of the royal city. Although he is resilient and street-wise, his attitude toward life and distrust towards people are inversely tied. For him, both could not possibly be more terrible. That is, until he meets a mysterious old woman, and his life is changed forever.

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King






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Boy







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Old Woman









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Illustrations
(1. gouache, 2. color pencil, 3. marker and color pencil)





Studies:





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P.S. I'm taking a break from digital for an indefinite time. Not only to give my wrist a break, but also to get better at & experiment with traditional media. It's pretty rewarding, but also frustrating! :)

15 Comments:

Blogger Jacob Marvin Rossi said...

I WILL BE THE FIRST TO POST! love the old woman, you're working some really appealing shapes into her garb. makes you just want to peel back the layers!

good to see you post, always

9:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah I got to say it.....the boy and the old woman - it almost looks like you doing sketches of Hanna's film. All that's missing is the camera and the rubber tree.

Awesome sketches none the less. Far better than my crap. Your characters have far more life in them than mine.

Great job Rosie!

12:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow!! Nice to see a new post from you! Really nice drawings and very expressive characters, really look professional. Traditional media is inimitable.

greetings

3:47 PM  
Blogger Rosie said...

Thanks a lot you guys!

Scott >> I'm glad you brought that up, because I knew people who know Hanna's piece would start thinking that way. I was not trying to rip off his work. I started with the design of the old woman, and the next assignment was to design a male character. Originally I was going with the king, and was going to make the child a girl (hence the first page of sketches for the boy). However, I knew I would have more fun drawing a kid character, which would better contrast her design than the king. While designing the boy, I was conscious of the fact that Hanna's film also had similar characters, so I tried to the push my designs as far away as possible. I don't regret the decision to make an old woman and boy the principle characters, as I thought it a better decision for the story.

I hope people understand that. But oh well...

7:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Awesome.

1:14 AM  
Blogger KJ said...

I'm glad to see you post new stuffs. They are nice! Keep on!

10:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ahhh, I am SOLD! Those shaaaaaaapes, those gestureeees. Man that's really good. I love the colored pencil one. Should'a told me about this blog sooner.

Keep at it, Rose!

10:16 PM  
Blogger Uli Meyer said...

Wohoo, very nice work here. Glad I found your blog :-)

2:48 PM  
Blogger Fabian Molina said...

Keep em coming Rosie! I love waiting for posts! as always Great stuff. The posing is what i really like.

9:32 PM  
Blogger C.B. Canga said...

these are awesome rosie. you have mad skills. i'm glad your friends got you posting again.

love the designs. keep it up. looking forward to the next post.

9:32 AM  
Blogger Steven Wayne Howard said...

Crazy cool! I love the characterization you pull off with the styles of your characters! Awesome!- Steven

10:09 PM  
Blogger Eunjung June Kim said...

Rosie....this is awesome!! I love these!!! even if it's a still drawing for me it feels like moving!! So cool!!!

3:06 PM  
Blogger Hanna S. Abi-Hanna said...

Rosie, these are amazing!!
I love the ones in gouache and colored pencil...really beautiful shapes!

...Hot Damn!

11:37 AM  
Blogger Sonia said...

'Wow' is all I can say!

2:23 PM  
Blogger Craig Phillips said...

this work is all so great! its so warm. The old lady cupping the childs face. so much feeling in that. wow! You make it look easy!

2:41 AM  

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