Working late last night, I really wanted to take the opportunity to write more on my story but, unfortunately, this was a case of people coming to my desk every ten minutes or so all night. Writing is difficult with constant interruptions. Drawing, not so much. I made the best of it and did some more character doodles. I decided to give my villain a little messier 'do. I think it makes him look more fierce and formidable. Lest the other characters feel left out, I sketched up my protagonist, Johnny Dyer. (No, he's not named after the jazz musician. His last name comes from a distant uncle of mine and his first name comes from my all-time favorite fictional character.) Unlike most of my designs, I think I nailed it the first time. This is the kid I see in my head when I'm writing.
Johnny has a circle of friends that, at the moment, are a little fuzzy, visually. I have an "impression" of them in my head but it's always difficult for me to get that on paper, particularly when it comes to female characters. I draw simply horrible women/girls and have no sense of fashion. I did some hunting on the internet today, looking for inspiration but got a little skeeved by some of the pictures that came up when Google-searching "teenage girls" and stopped that very quickly. Had a little better luck with "teenage fashion." Last week, I tried Mike's trick of using hairstyle magazines but nothing struck my fancy. Finally, the lady that served me coffee at Starbuck's tonight had the right look but I think she got the wrong idea when started studying her face and I got embarrased and left.*
I'm really dying to get back to work on this. It helps to keep my mind off things and it's fairly therapeutic in that way. Alas, tomorrow's not looking good. Work may be rough and there's a good chance my ultra-cool neighbor Michael will be coming over to watch the game on our HD setup because he doesn't get the NFL network. And he just wants to get out of the house. I only suspect this because he's hinted at it, oh, three or four times in the last week.
* This gives me an idea for a later post about using real people as models for character designs. Hmmm...
9 comments:
I understand how hard it is to write when you're getting interrupted all the time. I think writing must be one of the most isolating hobbies /avocations/ vocations there is. The sketches look good though. I love the determined expression on Johnny's face.
I lost all my original notes for my story...
Not a big, BIG deal (I had it on the mind, plus wanted to update it). Now, its a very slow crawl putting it on the pc...
All I do is study people now for character designs...figure I have to break away from the old notes of putting a character together. I too get lost watching people doing their everyday business...and I too get embarrassed when they notice...I just picked up the concept of using a mirror for facial expressions, but have difficult time keeping consistency in the same face...
My main good-guy is actually not a guy...I had a look for her a year ago, but it doesn't fit...plus another character I am re-tweaking...
Other than that, everything is peachy!
Guessing I am trying to say things are tough all over...;)
Matt -
Those sketches are looking really good.
Glad you got the "Johnny" character down.
Hope you find the look you need for the female.
It is kind of embarrassing when someone "cathes" you watching them, even if it's for the right reasons.
Try telling her what you're doing, and maybe even take a picture so you don't have to keep staring at her.
Enjoy the game with your neighbor.
Later.
Can't you use people from movies? You can pause on faces, gestures, clothes, whatever to see a certain look. Doesn't require staring:)
Using folks from movies is fine except...they look like folks you've seen in movies. :) That was the problem with my using Chris Walken and it's the problem with Sam Jackson being the inspiration for Ultimate Nick Fury. It's all anyone talks about.
As for telling folks you're using them as a model...I'll write about that in a later post. Women either think you're coming onto them or they think you're a weirdo. And you can't really blame them.
Yeah, public figure studies don't always work out so well...Mafus and I had gone to the local brew pub one afternoon to draw people, which was going fine until the waitress ratted us out. Everyone at the bar kinda got uncomfortable and kept sneaking glances back at us. We decided to play darts in the backroom at that point to avoid the stink-eyes.
Nice character sketches, too, Mafus. Looking forward to story. So get on it, sucka!
I do like the messier version of the bad guy and I think you nailed Johnny, especially the facial expression.
So, which fictional Johnny is he named after?
I do like the messier version of the bad guy and I think you nailed Johnny, especially the facial expression.
So, which fictional Johnny is he named after?
Johnny Smith, the protagonist in Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone.
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