This project was really open in terms of what boundaries we could push. Our only rules were that it had to be realistic. This is to say, it had to be somebody, a person, who would conceivably live on earth. Taking into consideration that this is pretty much your only boundary, you could invent pretty much, well, anyone.
I started off by going out and drawing interesting people that I saw. In parts this was quite difficult, and I had never realised how difficult it was to pinpoint what makes a person interesting. I think it's not so much how people look, but more how they act. For instance, I ended up watching one man walk hurriedly up and down the street past the window I was looking out. He didn't only pass once, and I think that's why he caught my attention. He was hurriedly walking back and forth, his eyes darting about, looking behind him every so often, covering his mouth. Or maybe he was biting his nails or something? Either way, that right there is a character! If a bit of a nervous, suspicious one.
I went home for one of the weekends, and decided to try and find more 'interesting' characters. It turned out on that particular day, there were musicians and buskers.. everywhere. There was an amazing group of jazz musicians, with people dancing all around them which was just fantastic.
I was still stuck for an idea for my character though, so I decided to look through my drawings so far, at the key elements that struck out to me. The jazz instruments and massive oversized coats of the musicians reminded me distinctly of the Swing era. This filled me with excitement, as I rushed to my dvd shelf to find one of my favourite films, Swing Kids, and to the internet for research. Swing Kids is an excellent about German youth rebellion in Nazi Germany, with some fantastic music in it. Here is a clip from the movie.
Also, at this point I'd already kind of mapped out what my idea was. I enjoy creating the back story for my characters, although they're usually not happy ones. I wanted my character to be this nomadic, emotionally exhausted old man, who having lost his family many years previously, (perhaps in the war?) wanders from town to town, donning his threadbare swing clothes and spectator shoes, clutching an old saxophone or something.
From here I did a few silhouette studies of some of the dancers in the film and drew up some quick costume studies. I then drew up some concepts of what I thought the character would look like young, so I could progress and turn him into an older man.
From here, I drew more silhouette type sketches focusing on outfit, and when I'd decided, went on to think about colour etc.
From here, I was actually happy with my character. I then drew some orthographical views of my character, then a final presented one. If I were to go back to this or re do it though, I would have definitely done another piece, focusing on the character in a specific environment, making him more part of the real world.
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