The Self-Negotiated Brief – Part Ten: “Nash” Facial Variations

One of my tutors, during a one-on-one discussion, suggested that I draw up a “before and after” image of “Nash” (before being possessed, and afterwards), so: here is the result! I’m pretty proud of myself for getting the two faces looking incredibly similar on one page. It seems all of this constant and never-ending doodling is paying off, finally! I used an image I found online for reference. It is an image of “Godsmack” lead singer: Sully Erna, on whom “Nash” is partially based. He has the perfect look for the character, spare a few tweaks and differences that I intend to make over the course of this project.

Translating the above image into colour wasn’t too difficult, as this was only a basic image done in order to get a rough idea of how he will eventually look – should everything go to plan! I have (what may be considered) a bad habit, of using the same three colours for skintone in absolutely every “causcasian” drawing that I create: Copic Markers “E00” / “E21” / “E33”. Whatever the opinion on that is, it works for me, so I’ll stick to it for now, before moving onto experimenting with other colours for skintone variation.

COLOURS USED:

• E00 – Skin White
• E21 – Baby Skin Pink
• E33 – Sand
• BV00 – Mauve Shadow
• RV42 – Salmon Pink
• E04 – Lipstick Natural
• E37 – Sepia

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NOTES:

• *PRE-DEAL
• Decent complexion.
• Skin has a slight tan to it from touring in hot weather (America)

• FACIAL DIFFERENCES
• Robert “Nash” Johnson
• Adept musician
• Knows hardship
• Poor
• Easilly influenced

• *POST DEAL
• Most notably, eyes are sunken / inflamed / sleep deprived / corrupted.

The Self-Negotiated Brief – Part Nine: Brody Reference Photos

Here are the aforementioned reference photographs which I use for creating images of “Brody”. Getting them in a typical stance of his was key in getting across the characters personality and demeanor. Luckilly, Craig had the required outfit which I had pre-designed for the character, so that helped massively with the creative process. I am going to use these photographs in the future in order to create an accompanying character sheet, which will be for presentation and display purposes.

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The Self-Negotiated Brief – Part Eight: Brody Concept Sketches

This is the character I am having the most fun with creating and nurturing at the moment. He is a multitude of things! Examples being: Suave, cheeky, clever, witty, dashingly handsome, and a little bit insane when you get him at the right moment. I have done the most sketches of this character, thus far. This is for several reasons, but mostly because of the fact that I have a ready model to use for reference with “Brody”. He is based physically around a friend of mine, and I have managed to stock up on a decent amount of reference photographs which I can use whenever required (I will make a separate post displaying some of these reference images).

“Brody” considers himself a master of “slight-of-hand” tricks, and subsequently feels the need to dress to impress, and use his charms and influences on all of those around him: people he meets, people he knows, and those he feels the need to victimize (playfully or otherwise). Part of the inspiration for this character came from a particular episode of the hit U.S. TV series: “Supernatural”, in which an Irish, male witch, uses games of cards in order to barter deals with people. Oh yes, incidentally, I’m thinking of giving Brody a habit of changing accents throughout the story, so at one point, he will indeed adopt an Irish tone.

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NOTES:

• General Celtic / Gaelic sort of look (features-wise)
• “Quiff” hair
• With / without hat
• Darkened eye-sockets
• Rolled up white shirt sleeves
• There are secrets underneath his hat!
• *SMUG SMILE*
• Broad in the shoulders but he looks generally “thin” from sideways on.
• Strong arms (been in a few bar brawls in his time)
• Waistcoat is black (possibly pinstriped)
• Chain belt
• Black and / or grey trousers
• Cowboy boots
• Has a large sense of showmanship~
• Trilby
• Cards
• Slight of hands
• “Tits and teeth”
• Can recount tales from Barnum & Bailey, Ziegfeld Follies, Rome, etc, so on and so forth.
• Stocky legs
• *Flamboyant
• Spirit Cabinet
• Brody / Brady
• “Witch”
• Magician
• Automatic writing (seance)

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NOTES:

• Rough Front Idea.
• Quiff
• Smug
• Hairy chest
• Two ear cuffs
• Facial Features.
• Diamond studded earring
• Milky eyes.
• (He has the eyes, surely enough, of a man many times his own age)

1. Slicked back hair
2. Thick brows
3. Loose strands of hair
4. Pointed nose
5. Plump lips
6. Scraggly beard

The Self-Negotiated Brief – Part Seven: “Nash” Sketches & Notes

Following on from the general layout of the previous “female” character sketch, I decided that I would do one in a similar style to the stories “Protagonist”. These are very rough, quick, basic sketches of how I originally wanted him to look. In all honesty, I absolutely loathe how he looks in these – definitely not what I was intending it to look like whilst I was drawing it. For one thing, “Nash” is supposed to have a much more muscled frame (but not too drastically). For another thing, his hair just would not look the way I wanted it to – no matter how many times I went back and re-did it. Next to hands and feet, I find hair can be one of those difficult things to get right / make it look convincing.

I did, however, in these sketches, get the chance to test out what my “demonic eye” designs would look like on an actual character, and I am still loving them very much! His facial expressions are suitably warped, considering his awful possession. I want his actions and expressions to become much more emphasized and ludicrous as the story plays out, and his possession gets exceedingly worse. I am aiming to make it resemble something along the lines of a canine or feline when they display fits of anger.

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NOTES:

• Voices – Disturbed
• Nobody – Skindred
• I Stand Alone – Godsmack
• Redneck – Lamb of God
• Eat You Alive – Limp Bizkit
• Until Then – Sully Erna
• Mystery of Time – Axxis
• Aerials – System of a Down
• Cold – Static X
• Walk – Pantera
• My Last Serenade – Killswitch Engage
• Invisible Wounds – Fear Factory
• A nameless being inhabits his body after the Faustian deal is struck and comes and goes at random intervals
• Nahash
• Colour of eyes inverts (Black, white, white with black pupils)
• Sinister head tilt
• Toothy grin
• Moppy hair
• Shaggy stubble beard
• Broad(ish) shoulders
• Strong, prominent neck muscles
• Strong arms
• Various trinkets on arms
• Dark shadows on face
• Hair sometimes brushed back
• Snake pupil
• White iris
• Black eyeball
• Heavy bags under eyes
• Boy is pure EVIL!

The Self-Negotiated Brief – Part Six: Female Character Concept

This character, as it stands, is only an concept that I had right at the beginning of the project. She has no back story or place in the narrative (yet?) but I intend to try and find one for her which will fit in with the rest of the goings on. The notion for this character came to me whilst listening to the song “Who You Gonna Call?” by the band “Dr Acula” – most notably the opening of the song.

I envisioned several aspects about her in my mind, and proceeded to sketch down what few ideas that I had at that moment in time. In all fairness, this is a very indulgent character – if one at all. She is your typical goth / alternative chick / wields a weapon / acts seductive, like you see as the generic formula for female bad-ass characters in a multitude of comics.

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NOTES:

• (Listening to “Who You Gonna Call?” by Dr Acula)
• Confident walk
• Pose ideas for random goth chick I thought of on the way to uni this morning 18/03/2012
• Fluent movement
• Comfortable with own sexuality
• Might draw in a more stylized style than I am used to drawing…
• I will make a base drawing of the nude figure, and draw various clothing style and other subsequent ideas over them.
• Like a paper doll!
• Has to wield some sort of weapon!

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