Jim Romer’s blog: character designs, writing picture books, and random thoughts!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Elph
Another kid's book character named Elph, the Tiniest Elephant.
I feel there's not enough personality or something lacking with Elph's look. Its important that Elph look uniquely different, to stand out from other elephants in the story. Yet, I want to keep him very simple. His body shape may be what's bothering me, because he is very limited in ranges of motion with this type of body shape. So I will put him aside for a later time -- hopefully something I see or do will inspire a new idea.
Monday, June 25, 2012
B-Day Bee
This was a little character I made for my wife's Birthday Card last year.
It's always interesting how slight corrections and subtle adjustments are subconsciously made when re-doing an image a second (or third) time.
You can easily see the shoulders/arms have been adjusted - compared to the bee's right arm in the sketch (which seems to be too short and stiff.)
The flattening of the feet to show more body weight on a flat surface. The slightly longer balloon which gives more of a feeling of it pulling away.
Pencil details are lost when converting any image to ink. Pencil sketches keep all the scribbles and marks of the hand shaping and creating the image. For this reason, I often find I enjoy looking at an artist's pencil sketches - since it gives me an idea of the artist's thinking/creative process.
Side-by-Side: Pencil vs Ink
I've recently had several people ask me to show my pencils, wanting to compare to difference between the inking lines and the pencil lines. Below is a simple side-by-side, showing the sketch and then the finalized image of the right.You can easily see the shoulders/arms have been adjusted - compared to the bee's right arm in the sketch (which seems to be too short and stiff.)
The flattening of the feet to show more body weight on a flat surface. The slightly longer balloon which gives more of a feeling of it pulling away.
Pencil details are lost when converting any image to ink. Pencil sketches keep all the scribbles and marks of the hand shaping and creating the image. For this reason, I often find I enjoy looking at an artist's pencil sketches - since it gives me an idea of the artist's thinking/creative process.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Balancing Bobby
Color Pencils on Dura-lar.
Dura-lar is a treated film that really picks up and holds a pencil line. The very smooth surface allows the pencil to glide. I find I have an easier time keeping the surface clean of pencil smudges too . . . don't know if it's because I'm more subconscious about not smudging or if it's the material itself.
Dura-lar is a treated film that really picks up and holds a pencil line. The very smooth surface allows the pencil to glide. I find I have an easier time keeping the surface clean of pencil smudges too . . . don't know if it's because I'm more subconscious about not smudging or if it's the material itself.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Hairy
One of my long time characters. He's a major supporting character in a series of kid's stories I wrote many years ago. He doesn't speak, but he does express his emotions quite frequently (often bitter.)
Hairy is actually a mix of several animals . . . bear, hamster and squirrel. Took quite a few revisions to get him to look this way. I'll try to gather the various sketches of him over the years and post them together showing the development of his character.
Hairy is actually a mix of several animals . . . bear, hamster and squirrel. Took quite a few revisions to get him to look this way. I'll try to gather the various sketches of him over the years and post them together showing the development of his character.
Little Vader Bubble
Below is a little promotional image I drew in hopes to drum up some KickStarter support for Bobby's Biggest Bubble. Seeing this now, I kinda wish I made the subtle details of the "Death Star" bubble a bit more apparent.
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