Creating the Blacksmith Character - Part 2

After completing the initial face sketches I did, I moved on to some full scale ideas for what the character might look like. I did three designs exploring different hairstyles, outfits and facial features. I have included an image of these sketches below as well as a 30 second timelapse of the process.


I then had a look at each design and circled things I liked in green, and things I didn’t like in red. Anything I didn’t circle in green or red I felt indifferent about. This process helps me to narrow down what elements I want in the final design, the elements I would consider and the elements I definitely didn’t think worked. Below is an image of the areas I liked and didn’t like. Sometimes I also make notes here to refer back to.

Once this was done I could move on to combining these elements in a final design. I have included below a picture of this completed design and a timelapse a minute and a half long showing the process of making it.


I placed the character on a very light background with a shadow cast on the floor as a lot of other concept artists seem to present their work this way, I may come to change this but I definitely think it looks better than the grey backgrounds I usually do. I tried to put the character at a 3/4 view with a back view as well, from my conversation with 3D artist Ben Erdt, he mentioned that this is usually the most a 3D artist would need to work with. 

I tried to work fast with rendering as I know it isn’t really the focus with concept art, that said, I definitely forgot that working on the back view doesn’t really need rendering the same way the front does as it wastes time (the 3D artist will already have most of the information they need with the front view) so next time I need to remember the back doesn’t need the same detail. Using photo bashing with textures sped the process up massively, and I think using textures from images can communicate materials better. 

Overall I think I improved in a lot of areas with this design, but there is plenty of room for improvement in the next character.


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