Change of Plans

Although I'm very much interested in continuing this anatomy thing I realised yesterday that both my human characters will be mostly covered up so learning the finer details of anatomy right now isn't much of a priority. All I wanted from this one week of studies was to better ground my awareness of the human form so that I wasn't sort of winging it; which I recon I've got sorted now with regards to proportions.

The plan now is to simply get started designing my characters which I've started by breezing through some Feng Zhu videos to reaffirm what I know. My goal for this project really is to eliminate any doubts I have throughout my process; anatomy, design, modeling, texturing etc. These are things I waved over in the past due to many reasons (one being ignorance) and now its time to solidify my foundation so I can say with confidence: "I can do that."

Here's some doodles:

The wolf on the bottom right is the direction I want to take Fenrir (actual wolf above). The proportions are a little more squished and bent; I did this to make it feel more like he's growing a little erratically, as though his body is struggling to pace it's growth so its sort of bursting. Like when you look at a body-builder, the body doesn't get any taller so the only way they can grow is out and so they look fit to burst.

I mean this is only the first doodle so I shouldnt embelish it but the overall look; muscular, fierce and exagerated, is where I want to go. However, Fenrir is going to be around the same age as Thor (not fixed to an actual wolf's lifespan) so I want him to look young AND fierce. 'Cus puppies ain't fierce. 

I have some ideas on how to do this like keeping the furr fluffyish and the colours relatively saturated, so not greying.

Moving on. On the bottom of the same picture is a dude sat in a seat, chilling with a brew and a rather elaborate helmet. This is something I'm looking into for Odin. He's really up in the air at the moment because I'm undecided if I want him to look like a knight, hunter, sorcerer etc and all these will dictate his design. On this doodle he looks like a warrior, due to the helm and stacked arms; yet also elements of a hunter with regards to the animal trophies (horns). I know for sure that I really want his helmet, and general head area, to look magnificent as he is to be portrayed as a king/leader (hence the stone-circlet crown).

On top of which I'm toying between making him either a glorious, gallant hero or a weathered, wise veteran; where this picture portrays that of a weathered lord relaxing yet caught in thought... or at least it should.

Finally, I have a quick sketch of Thor, pretty much the same as I posted at the end of my design document (earlier post). I like the idea of shorts and clothes that don't seem to fit much as that shows he's still growing, or rather, not fully grown while also making his hands and feet appear larger which should help him look stronger in a sense without giving him muscles. Reason I want him to look relatively strong is because he would be slaying some beasties. Albeit smaller ones and with the help of Fenrir.

Using a suspender as a holster