Model and Character Sheets


I found that designing and completing the Model and Character sheets has really helped me grasp exactly what I want my character's personality and actions to be like. She is meant to be dark and chilling with a sickly grin always plastered to her face. I tried to capture these as best I could in her expressions. I also did some quick pose sketches to try and work out how my character would move or stand.

With the colouring of these drawing, I wanted them to look aged and worn, as if they had been drawn on a piece of fabric. I also didn't want another plain sketch on a page so I thought these would make them a little more eye catching. 

 

 

Colour Variations for Appearance

At the moment I am working through all the different variations of colour that could be used. This certain study is focusing on hair and eye colour. I want to make sure I pick the right colours so that it will match well with her other items of clothing. I have added the clothing design I settled on bellow to so that you can see which facial design matches best.

 

 

 

Going into detail


After completing my colour studies I wanted to go into my character's appearance a little bit more. I started working on key parts of her look which includes her hair, clothing, accessories and weapon. I did some more image research which help inspire my designs and make them as accurate as possible.

I tried out different variations of styles which I found useful as I know now I can merge pieces together if I need to, to make one full design.  

 

 

 

 

Adding Colour

After adding shading to my silhouettes I chose my favourite design which was the one of princess holding two axes and standing straight on. After looking back on my image research for a bit on inspiration I then started messing around with colouring and clothing designs, also I did a bit of hair colour variation.

Further Value Studies


After doing my first value studies I decided to focus on just one of the designs I'd completed and try adding some rough detail. I ended up with 3 new possible designs.

Designs

Value Studies


These are some quick value studies I did. I used three of the silhouettes I drew that caught my eye and started practicing some shading and giving them a bit of depth. I may go over them and give them more detail but I'm not sure if they need it or not. Personally the one in the middle is my favourite so I think I'm going to focus on that one.

 

 

Designs

50 Silhouettes

These are my 50 completed silhouettes that had to be submitted for our project. These are all designs of the princess and I hope by looking at these you are able to pick out key parts of her personality. I'll admit that I struggle with drawing anatomy and haven't really tried anything like this before but putting that aside I am pleased with how they turned out.   

Research

Weapons


I found this little article on the British Museums website about weapons and warriors in Iron Age Britain. I found this really helpful as I was able to expand my knowledge on what weapons were used during this time and what they were made of.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/w/weapons_and_warriors_in_iron_a.aspx

It said spears, hand held or javelin types for throwing and swords were the weapons of choice during this time but I believe these were mainly used by the solider so I could venture into lots of possible weapons designs for the princess. I am leaning towards giving her either an axe or dagger but when the time comes to drawing the detailed designs I plan to go through each weapon to see which one fits her the best.

Research

Clothing and Patterns

 

 

Found this brilliant piece of digital artwork of Boudicaa. Although she is wearing warrior type clothing I think this is a strong references as to what people who were higher up in society during this period might have worn as when I was researching into clothing the most popular result was poorer villagers clothing which wasn't exactly what a princess would have worn although it did give me a good base for colours and styling. I've noticed that tartan patterns were used in clothing quite a lot in the Iron Ages and were mainly mixtures of blue and green although there were other variations of this. The Celts were not just one big clan, they were split off into lots of little tribes and it is said that each clan had a different colour of clothing or tartan that they wore. This will be important to keep in mind when I am in the design process of creating my character.

Research

Iron Age Women

During the end of the Iron Age period, Britain was invaded by the Romans. The people of Britain or 'Celts' as they were known didn't give in so easily. They gathered armies of, what the romans described as 'Barbarians', to fight back. One of the most 'barbaric' of the all was a fiery red headed women called Boudicaa and she has been one of my main focuses when thinking of designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These images have helped me get an idea of the clothing they wore in the Iron Ages. I found that the clothing is all fairly simple in design and appearance with duller colours worn by the poor and more eye catching patterns for the rich. Also I found out that people who were higher up in society could afford more elaborate pieces to decorate themselves, such as jewellery. The most famous piece of jewellery found from this era were Torcs. Torcs are early forms of bracelets that were thick and made from precious metals.

 

 

 

 

 

Mainly the pieces of jewellery were made from one type of metal with engravings in but some had splashed of colour such as the ones shown above. I also researched into what a tribe leader might have worn in this time but there wasn't a lot of information on this. I did find this beautiful Greek crown that was worn by their rulers so I am thinking about working off of this for the princesses tiara.