ROODY DOODY, My Hoodies.

Check out the new page here, then come back and peep some secrets below.

How’d He Howdy Dowdy Do That?

No new characters or environments to share any dev stuff on for this week’s page, but since there’s more that we missed from earlier I thought we’d jump back.

Let’s start with the character the script calls the “Western Wanderer.”

This guy.

Well, more specifically THIS guy. Ol’ Titular Line himself.

One of the things I’ll sometimes try when approaching a new character design is do a little “study” of an artist I like. It helps me kinda reset my brain a little and helps give the ol’ house style flowin’ free-form from me mitts a little jolt.

I don’t know if that makes any sense. It’s sort of like how a sportman might try to favor a non-dominant hand to get more…sporty? That’s a thing, right? Basically, what I’m saying is I’m an athlete. In all seriousness, the process helps me think outside the box in ways I may not be able to otherwise. I’m able to work in ideas for basic shape communication that I wouldn’t have thought of in various ways.

Anyway, for this western fella, I tried feeling out the designs of Dustin Harbin. Check out his stuff here: (https://dharbin.com/work/)

His work doesn’t jump out as “cowboyish” right away, but it does have an old timey feel. Plus, I didn’t want to necessary go with anything too cliche, so that helped. Below are drawings I did that were based on illustrations of his to get me started. Oh, except for the little drawing of Kleo sticking her little paw out of her house. That’s from life.

From there I started trying find some good shapes. I’m always worried that I’m falling back too much on old, easy shapes (especially for heads). These early attempts feel like I’m still not there yet.

Finally, we find a direction I like and start honing it in. Looks like I preferred the head shape of one attempt, but the hat on another. Did I try them again together? Nope. Straight to the page after that. It’s were the finals get worked out anyway.

That happens with characters you draw over and over in a project. Eventually you start to hone it down. Trim away the fat. Lose unnecessary fluff. Without even thinking about it.

I only drew this guy in the comic twice though. Not sure why I’m mentioning it.

Anyway…

BYE!

That’s all for this week. Goodbye.