The Skinned Lady

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I’ve finally come up with a final villain for my story! She shall be referred to as Ilona. She’s this witch from the early 19th century who was murdered. In her death, she sent out a curse that manifested as these deadly thorned vines I refer to as ‘Kudzu Rose’. Flash forward to the mid-2010s, a cult took the magic left in Ilona’s vines and shoved it back into her modified body, ‘resurrecting’ her.

Ilona’s design’s based off Julia Cotton’s skinned form from Hellraiser 2. As you can see, some of the designs are directly lifted from the movie. I love the contrast between her classy 19th-century design and the bareness of her current one.

My current goals are to simplify the facial muscles, find a fullbody design, and hopefully make her look less like a carbon copy of Julia.

Hima’s new character sheet

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Hima’s old, July 2023 character sheet

Once I finish redoing a character, I like to make a new character sheet. There should be additional sketches coming the following weeks.

My goals for Hima’s new design were: make her look her age of 21, her colors more cohesive, and her clothing better reflective of her personality. The process involved giving her a jaw, changing her eyes, and replacing her veins with stitches, but I’m proud to say that Hima looks much more like a confused young adult, which she is. Her techwear-inspired clothes reflect the futuristic setting of her world and shows how she prioritizes simplicity and comfort over fashion, unlike Simon. Her giant red parka is a big part of her character, so I tried to give it the weight and heft it deserves. The pale orange was a last-minute choice; her shirt was supposed to be a light grey. She looks warmer now.

Environmental Design

This isn’t character work this time! Or at least, on paper. Last year I got a book called “The Field Guide to Witches”, where artists reimagine different types of witches from sketch to full illustration. One of those steps was to design and imagine where the witch would live. I thought that was interesting, so I decided to apply that step to my character Sigi, who is a Volva, or the Viking version of a witch.

Sigi lives in a Nordic-inspired, urban, poor, factory-and-unemployment-heavy area with a lot of waterways and heavy winters. She also works at a lace factory. I imagine her living area to have a heavy gilded-age aesthetic – lots of industrialization and income inequality. I referenced bay cities like Montreal and Copenhagen, as well as industrial-era factories and environments. I wanted to get across that Sigi lives in an area with lots of struggle, and that struggle makes people party harder.

Wonky Star-Possessed Yim

This started as a page of concepts for my character Yim when they get possessed by a very powerful star-themed Fae-Dragon. I had the general outfit mapped out and I think I could push the design more, make everything more eldritch and godlike. I also wondered if I should give Yim’s new form horns instead of a halo of stars. So far, I think horns would be harder to draw.

My real character design breakthrough with this page was Yim’s hair. I made their hairstyle side-parted jumbo braids with an undercut. I watched a video explaining how to achieve that hairstyle, and I think I stylized it rather well. There’s a lot of great reference images online.

Aside from that, I also added some character doodles.

I guess even more Enola

This colored Enola page had a little bit of everything from my previous Enola submissions. Character interactions, formal wear, hats. I added scenes referenced from pictures of a Bear Grylls show, camping, and etymologists in the field. I spent a lot of time on formal wear, and I referenced those colors out of a dragonfly color scheme. I think she looks nice. I drew her in a hunched posture for her reclusive nature, and in nature scenes for well, her love of nature.

More Xhaska

Here’s yet another update to my DnD character! I simplified Xhaska’s eyes to make her easier to draw. I also experimented with giving her a 1960s flair. I just wasn’t feeling her knitted vest right now, but I’ve decided it was the best option for her character design. I made the skirt too short and even in the middle outfit. The rip is more of a diagnonal.