Suko: Concepting

I'm seeing how much of the concepting I can get done in this time before Christmas.

The first thing I did was do some quick thumbnail sketches to get a feel for the character. I looked at my traditional outfit moodboards mainly, to try and get the onna-bugeisha feel. I tried line sketches, posed gestural silhouettes, and more detailed silhouettes. Looking at the development work from the "The Skillful Huntsman"[1] book really helped me make sense of how to go about the silhouettes as well.

Thumbnails

These 2 were the best as they fit the feel of a younger woman, and myself and my supervisor liked the design; specifically, the wide skirt and thin legs of the left sketch.

Face Exploration

I then moved onto the face, I started with a base with simple facial planes, and added more details, and tweaked as I went along. It was a bit difficult to keep her looking Japanese and I had to go over the design a few times, or go back some steps, to keep her true to her origin.

While I wanted her to have a somewhat pleasing face, I didn't want her to look too cute or glam; she's supposed to be a seasoned warrior.

Hair Exploration

Suko has to have a practical hairstyle because she fights, but I didn't want it to be boring either. The main aspect of my designs was trying to balance practical vs. interesting design.

Make-up Exploration

Initially this was the hairstyle I chose, I liked the mix of tied up her with a nicely framed face. I then moved onto what makeup I wanted to have. I considered a mix of traditional kabuki-style makeup and modern/light makeup. I didn't want her makeup to look too heavy or harsh, so I settled for a plain face with strong eyes; it gives her a youthful but intense feel.

Outfit

I compared the new design to the old one, and I'd lost something from the original design. I ended up making her eyes larger, removing the eyebrows/drastically down-playing them, adjusted the proportions, and fully revamped the hair to better match the thumbnail.

I did change the weapon the pole sword though, because it grounded the design well, and added balance.

Value & Detail

I'm currently doing some value exploration, and adding more detail. I've added:

• Hair accessory

• Shoulder guard

• Kimono patterns

• I made some decals (top of image) and made them into designs, because they're varied the pieces fit together into cool patterns.

• Feathers

• Weapon accessories

• 2 Wakazashi

I still have to decide what I'm doing with the shoes, add any more details elsewhere, and make the values cleaner. After that I can finally move onto adding colour, which I already have plenty of beautiful colour combinations for, so that'll be really fun.

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Bibliography

[1] LE, K. and YAMADA, Y. and YOON, F. and ROBERTSON, S. (2011) The Skillful Huntsman. California: Design Studio Press.

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