Gawain Sketchdump (1 of 2)
Sunday, 20 March 2011 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
siguneIn my previous entry, I mentioned that I have been doing lots of sketches lately. I thought I'd share some of them :-). This is fairly image-heavy, so I'll put the sketches below an LJ-cut. Do have a look if you want to have a preview of some characters you'll meet later in the story... Some are not fixed yet.
On a side note, I find that I really have to make character sheets, especially with costume details and possibly with colours as well. I haven't made it very far into my definitive pages yet, but I'm already noticing that I need some reference for each character that I can stick to in order to ensure consistency. I looked at my first page again and noticed, for example, that I have not given Uther a sword belt of any kind, whereas he's holding a sword in his hand. That's just stupid. And when I draw Morgana, I usually forget her crucifix, which is, like, the major element that identifies her as a nun -_-.
I need to make reference sheet for each character and each costume.
Anyway, on to the sketchies :-)...
One of the things I need to work on (among sooooooooooooo many others) is drawing action. My story is about a knight, and though fighting is not the core of my tale, there will have to be warriors kicking each other's behinds from time to time. You know me: I'm mostly interested in faces, expressions and pretty hair. Those are what I do best. So those are not what I should be focussing on when sketching. So, Gawain + swords. I like swords, mind you. Of course I do! They're just more trouble than hair.
You know the lady on the left (Ygraine) and the lady on the right (Morgana). I was experimenting with Morgana, trying to make her look more cartoony, but I'm not entirely convinced by the results and not sure I could keep it up with all the characters.
In the lower middle of the page, you can find Cai (Kay), a character I'm really struggling with, and Gwenhwyfar, who looks totally different from the last time you saw her. That's because she is close to making her first appearance in the comic and her role in the story asks for another look (or so I think).
Cai is also due to appear soon, which has me a little worried :p.
On the left, Gawain before his costume change. He is wearing some kind of leather curass that didn't please me at all :P. So I got rid of it. The dark-haired boy with sleek hair is Owain, Gawain's cousin, and the boy with curly dark hair is Gawain's younger brother Agravain.
There are two tentative Nimue designs on this page - one with sleek hair, and one with curls. Neither is convincing :(.
The largest face on the page is Morgana's, for once with her hair showing; on her right, plenty of Morgauses.
Left half of the page: full of Morgause :-). I'm particularly happy with the sketch in the middle, which is rather close to the image I want for Morgause. She is quite unlike her impish sister - regal and serious-looking.
On the right, Gawain is fighting Morholt, brother of the Irish High King. The fight looks particularly ridiculous and made me realise that the angle at which I draw confrontations is going to be particularly important. Ugh. My favourite mangaka make fight scenes look so easy -_-...
Also, Morholt's design is not final. He looks to much like Lot. I need to find him another hairdo. Mind you, in my first Morholt design, he looked to much like Bedwyr (Bedivere), so clearly my resources are limited ;_;.
The fight with Morholt occurs during Gawain's second adventure as a knight of the Round Table. We're not there yet...
I think I'll start posting comic pages again next weekend. I'm nine pages (or three updates) into the story; let's hope that's enough...
On a side note, I find that I really have to make character sheets, especially with costume details and possibly with colours as well. I haven't made it very far into my definitive pages yet, but I'm already noticing that I need some reference for each character that I can stick to in order to ensure consistency. I looked at my first page again and noticed, for example, that I have not given Uther a sword belt of any kind, whereas he's holding a sword in his hand. That's just stupid. And when I draw Morgana, I usually forget her crucifix, which is, like, the major element that identifies her as a nun -_-.
I need to make reference sheet for each character and each costume.
Anyway, on to the sketchies :-)...
One of the things I need to work on (among sooooooooooooo many others) is drawing action. My story is about a knight, and though fighting is not the core of my tale, there will have to be warriors kicking each other's behinds from time to time. You know me: I'm mostly interested in faces, expressions and pretty hair. Those are what I do best. So those are not what I should be focussing on when sketching. So, Gawain + swords. I like swords, mind you. Of course I do! They're just more trouble than hair.
You know the lady on the left (Ygraine) and the lady on the right (Morgana). I was experimenting with Morgana, trying to make her look more cartoony, but I'm not entirely convinced by the results and not sure I could keep it up with all the characters.
In the lower middle of the page, you can find Cai (Kay), a character I'm really struggling with, and Gwenhwyfar, who looks totally different from the last time you saw her. That's because she is close to making her first appearance in the comic and her role in the story asks for another look (or so I think).
Cai is also due to appear soon, which has me a little worried :p.
On the left, Gawain before his costume change. He is wearing some kind of leather curass that didn't please me at all :P. So I got rid of it. The dark-haired boy with sleek hair is Owain, Gawain's cousin, and the boy with curly dark hair is Gawain's younger brother Agravain.
There are two tentative Nimue designs on this page - one with sleek hair, and one with curls. Neither is convincing :(.
The largest face on the page is Morgana's, for once with her hair showing; on her right, plenty of Morgauses.
Left half of the page: full of Morgause :-). I'm particularly happy with the sketch in the middle, which is rather close to the image I want for Morgause. She is quite unlike her impish sister - regal and serious-looking.
On the right, Gawain is fighting Morholt, brother of the Irish High King. The fight looks particularly ridiculous and made me realise that the angle at which I draw confrontations is going to be particularly important. Ugh. My favourite mangaka make fight scenes look so easy -_-...
Also, Morholt's design is not final. He looks to much like Lot. I need to find him another hairdo. Mind you, in my first Morholt design, he looked to much like Bedwyr (Bedivere), so clearly my resources are limited ;_;.
The fight with Morholt occurs during Gawain's second adventure as a knight of the Round Table. We're not there yet...
I think I'll start posting comic pages again next weekend. I'm nine pages (or three updates) into the story; let's hope that's enough...
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no subject
Date: Sunday, 20 March 2011 08:51 pm (UTC)My favourite sketches are on page three. I especially like Owain (he reminds me of my own characters ;) and - below Owain, in the bottom centre of page 3, is that Morgause? I think that is my very favourite drawing in this batch.
Drawing fights is a good step toward hell. Not easy at all, and really, people who criticise battle comics should reconsider the amount of work authors put in them.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 20 March 2011 09:30 pm (UTC)*sigh*
I'm reading Blade of the Immortal now and I'm in complete and utter awe of the fight scenes -_-. I don't know how I'm ever going to pull those off. I'm thinking I'll try to copy a few Blade moves to see if I can figure out anything at all...
The sleek-haired woman under Owain is a Nimue. But I think she looks too serious.
no subject
Date: Sunday, 20 March 2011 09:42 pm (UTC)However, I'd said that Blade of Immortal was too violent for your taste ;)
I told you I love Nimue. Hehe. I spotted her without knowing. She's beautiful.
no subject
Date: Monday, 21 March 2011 12:39 am (UTC)Loved seeing these sketches, thank you for sharing them!
no subject
Date: Monday, 21 March 2011 03:42 pm (UTC)I do find it difficult to individualise a large number of characters. It's very easy to get into a habit of drawing 'stock faces' - they'll have the traits you feel most comfortable with. On the one hand, that's not so bad, because after all, when you draw comics, the charactares are supposed to look the same from one page to the next. But on the other hand, if you have a large cast, readers should still be able to identify all the characters by their looks. That can be a bit augh :P.