thinking about joining artfight got me thinking about my (negligible amount of) OCs.... bro personal projects. they’re good
(also if you’ve never read the comic where these guys are from, it’s free or pay-what-you-can here: https://gumroad.com/l/into-the-woods)
[ID: colored drawings of a young black boy (jerome) and a young girl (kajri) from western asia. jerome wears a navy winter coat with a fuzzy trim, grey pants, boots. he has short dark dreads and a friendly smile, and wears matching blue mittens and a toque. in one drawing, he holds up an orange snowboard. in another, he smiles brightly with his eyes closed. kajri wears a bright purple ski coat and pink gloves. her hair is half-up in a bun, and she has yellow ski goggles on her forehead. she looks off-screen, mildly surprised, with one hand raised.]
grouped em all together because their combined color schemes make them look like the cast of a power rangers episode. regardless!
if you haven’t read it yet, my 20+ page comic “Into the Woods” is out now! its free or PWYC on gumroad, and here’s a secret; ALL FOUR of these dork are in it.
do you like comics? missing siblings, mysterious disappearances, and chunky winter coats? then you’ll like Into the Woods--and you’ll definitely like this post, where I talk about how I designed the cast!Â
these sketches are from my first day in class working on this project! i was bored and i drew myself all bundled up like i’d come to school that day, and really liked the chunky aspect of it. (i’ve been told a lot of my characters are like that, haha) the rest was just doodling people in winter outfits doing winter sports!
sample page! this was supposed to give a sense of how i’d be treating the comic--materially, spatially, etc. in the end it didn’t do much of that, other than springboard designs for some of the cast.
the dialogue here is just me spitballing, but it got the ball rolling re: figuring out where everyone stood on the central issue of the story: was Owen taken by the woods? that belief, + their beliefs writ large, determine how they respond (to the situation, to each other).
and here’s how the cast developed! (though i couldn’t find any sketches of jerome). i think originally there were 6 characters in the crew (and some side characters and a whole other location), but short stories are all about economy and efficiency, so they got the cut.
i also tried to narrow down personalities further here. owen and clive’s relationship is really interesting even if we never really see it--Owen is the charming golden boy who gets away with anything, and Clive goes along with it, and maybe takes things too far. that kind of dynamic becomes super dramatic when the stakes are as high as they are in ITW.
i was also trying to make no one particularly likeable, since i think that’s the crux of the story: people making mistakes, having to reckon with something out of their control, and dealing with it in all the wrong ways. highlights from that last page:
Tasha: thinks Clive deserves what’s coming to him
Owen: always gets away with stuff
Clive: pushover
Kajri: ineffectual mediator
(also by the time i realized where i was remembering the names “clive” and “owen” from, i couldn’t stop thinking about it. apologies to the man himself, though really it’s his fault for having two names that are first names!!)
and here was the finalized lineup! in terms of final visual design, it ended up being a combination of outfits i thought looked cool + worked with their personalities. tiny tasha, perpetual younger sister, is small, chunky, and bundled up. kajri is outgoing and energetic, and wears bright 90′s ski clothing. clive’s a bit of a stoner and wears a work jumpsuit. jerome is more practical, with a navy coat and fuzzy hood.
tldr;Â my process was:
visual aesthetics >Â
figuring out key dynamics (how they each react to the central issue) >
 fleshing out personalities (how does that key reaction is a reflection of the way they react to other things, the way they behave in general) >Â
