APW: First Drafts

After looking through my research some more and thinking over ideas, I thought that I might benefit a lot more from trying to draw more types of characters that I have never drawn before which lead me to the idea of drawing an older woman type of character. It would give me a chance to look at different types of face detail and maybe even body shape compared to some of the the work I have done earlier, and will give me something a little different for my portfolio.

I started off just with some faces at the start, since that's what would probably be the most different compared to what I usually draw. I thought that collecting images of a diverse group of women including different ethnic groups would give me a much wider range of ideas, and many more possibilities.

I had a lot of fun drawing different features and finding ways to exaggerate the faces more - I especially love the contrast between the long face on the bottom left and the shorter more squished face on the right - if I had time to do two characters I would consider using them as a starting point for a very interesting duo.

I also wanted to try to do a few more poses as I designed my characters for added personality, and I found that it helped a lot more than just stationary poses, even if they can sometimes be easier to portray body shape/size with. I thought that dressing the characters up with silly stereotypical outfits would be fun and maybe give me a few more ideas for the characters and their personalities.

I immediately liked the figure on the right - her face has a lot more personality than some of the others, and I could practically smell the extreme amount of floral perfume she would wear and the raspy smoker's voice. I tried another character with similar styled features bit with slightly different shapes on the bottom right, which I also like. I don't feel like she works quite as well as the previous though - maybe it's that she doesn't feel as extreme, although she is another I would consider developing if time allowed.

I tried a few more subcultures including 'cool hipster granny' which I feel like would be an entertaining idea - definitely a case of "I liked it before it was cool" but it doesn't work quite so well. I pinned down sort of face she has though, so I can concentrate on other parts of the character's design afterwards. I really like how the face has ended up - it's definitely one of my more exaggerated face designs, and something I will consider for my portfolio if the rest of the project goes as planned.