I will have some concept art, references, and other various pictures of my characters on here later on but for now. I did some group pictures in my "practice" moleskine sketchbook. These are only inked versions straight from my sketchbook. I will definitely have fully colored versions of the two group shots below and maybe one of this first one here.
Starting from the left: Nix is a female (yes..female) rottweiler/lab mix. She is tough and mischevious and gets a kick out of making anyone's life more interesting..and by interesting. I mean a living hell. Next to her is Trip, a laid back, nonchalant pit bull (mix?) who takes on a rather "surfer" like personality. Nothing really bothers him and he's usually pretty content with life. Next up is Niko, the first one I created. She's a young border collie who is simply there to be sweet, cute and charming. She acts as a motherly figure at times, but she is also naturally curious and energetic. Last but not least is Trey, a German Shepherd. Due to an injury, he was retired early from his job as a K9 officer. This contributes his stiff and grumpy personality, but deep down he is actually very caring and fatherly. He just hates showing it.
I have been developing my canine characters, affectionately called "The Misfits" for about 2 years and I am thinking about using them for my final animation thesis. This is one of the most recent drawings of the four of them. They were loosely influenced by the animated band, the Gorillaz, believe it or not, and partly based off of people I know. They have really changed and developed a great deal over time in both personality and design. Trip was going to be a drug addict (after escaping a drug testing lab). That was toned down a lot and I am still debating if that should still be the case. Trey was the complete opposite of who he was today when I first had him in mind. Originally, he was supposed to be a bit slow and, well..a bit of an airhead. The butt of everyone's jokes. He still is the butt of the jokes in Nix's case, but he became more intelligent and took on the role of the leader.
Starting from the left: Aidan, shown here at 17 years old, is a bit more minor than the rest, but is slowly becoming more developed and important as time goes on. He was born in Waxhaw, North Carolina, so he's got a pretty thick southern accent. He works in his dad's garage and can fix just about anything..except a problem with his latest ex girlfriend, Pepper (who isn't shown here yet). Next to him is Ali (17 here). She was also born in North Carolina but her accent isn't quite as strong...but it's still there. As a kid she is adventurous and fun loving but she becomes the exact opposite when her best friend, Kit (to the right), moves away. Still, she manages to be her same, sweet self to Kit and Aidan. Kit (16 here) is also born in North Carolina, accent and all, however, she has to move to New York and has difficulty adjusting. She, in a way, is the first main character of the story while Ali is the second. Kit meets two new friends, Christian and Hannah (to the left) in New York and things seem to go better for her, until she and Christian fall in love...then she faces a hard decision as she gets older. Next to her is Christian (16 here). Yes he looks emo...but he isn't really. Just quiet...and a bit misunderstood. But he's actually real sweet and soft spoken. He takes Kit under his wing and finds he has someone he can talk to and be himself as well. Finally, there's his friend, Hannah (15 here). She is the youngest, but second tallest, character. She is confident and energetic...opposite of silent Christian. How they became friends is beyond anyone but thanks to her, she and Christian met Kit.
My human characters are in a whole story of their own. They were created only late last year so they still have some developing to go. I do have a story in the making though. Most of the characters are based on my own experiences and people I know. Some are made up though, Pepper and Christian specifically. Christian was actually first drawn as a bit of a joke. My friends and I, for fun, drew ourselves as men. I drew myself as an emo guy because sometimes...that is how I can be, I'll admit. I loved the design so I played around with it...surely enough he became a character. Originally, though, Kit was not going to end up together with Christian. I was going to pair Aidan and Kit up. But I drew Kit and Christian together once...and it just clicked. What also worked was it gave the story more conflict (I will get into that later though).
Wow...I did not expect this to be so long. Guess that's what happens when I let ideas sit untold for so long. And this isn't even half of the ideas I have! I will be sharing them though as they develop more.
