Author: Micey

J. Shen or "Micey" is a Junior at Umich. She loves character design and telling stories and dabbles in making her own comics. Sketchbook Smashing is an attempt to chronicle her process in designing characters. From first concepts, hairstyle and outfit changes, or even complete shifts in design. She also hopes to map out how her own art style changes throughout the year. Her website is https://wallmouseart.weebly.com Her art Tumblr is https://wallmouse.tumblr.com

Simon Kuai: Fashion Week

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Behold! My main man! So soon after I posted his group shot I decided to redesign him. I made his face more heart-shaped. You can see my word concepts on the upper left side.

Before, I planned his causal outfit to be sweats. Now, he’s in this black short-sleeved collarbone-exposing shirt that resembles a Hawaiian shirt. It’s because he sees himself as on vacation when he starts the story. It’s the little figure on the far right side of the image. I tried to find ways to incorporate red into his outfit without it taking over. I settled on him having some bloody heels.

I also got the concept to give him some statement earrings. I in real life love wearing statement earrings; I just keep forgetting to draw them on my characters. Hopefully, I can remember with Simon.

Nagosta Outfit Stuff

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This is Nagosta Vo. They are an employee at this weird house covered in art. You can often find them playing video games in the vents and being a general menace to the rest of the employees.

I put their hair up, tucked their sweater in, and gave them knee pads for better mobility and vent-crawling.They have albinism and dye their hair, and I like my decision to show their roots. I used bright green as an accent color to signal their loud personality and love for video games.

The bottom picture was completed first. As you can see from the first image, I changed their eye shape and hairstyle when coming up with the outfit. It’s easier to draw expressions that way.

Character Mock-ups

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(Left to Right: Simon, Hima, Lily, Yim, Enola)

These are some inked and colored concepts of my characters. I already want to change their designs. Maybe it’s something about seeing them presented as if their designs are finalized that is activating the art critic part of me. Simon’s coat could be more realistic, Hima’s pink could be a darker read, Lily’s coat could be blue, Yim could look more eldritch, and Enola could use a hoodie with sleeves. I guess that means more time sketching before the actual character sheets. A shame, but it’s good that I won’t be spending a ton of time on designs I personally feel need improvement.

Guildies: The Time Vivian got Possessed

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What if Viv, from a previous post, got possessed by the fae-dragon she made a pact with? I gave her a forehead eye because it fits a dream and abstract-concept-based character like her. So would her new, messy hairstyle. I also included concepts for the main fae-dragon body in the upper right corner. I like the concept of only the middle forehead eye having a pupil, and that the new Vivian doesn’t use her old eyes. Even though she keeps old Vivian’s professional wardrobe. I added a possible disguise for her in the bottom left corner. I have no clue how the guild would react to this. Probably badly.

Phen Lemege

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This is Phen Lemege. She’s an office drone of the Mercenaries Guild’s bureaucracy. She works in the ever-backlogged dimensional travel department. There’s a 5-year waitlist!

She’s supposed to have an attractive secretary look. She has a background in Hell, like a DnD tiefling. She’s dating Tove, who wass a previous subject of Sketchbook Smashing. She has cherry-red skin, and rams horns and I don’t know if she should have a tail. I keep forgetting to add it. I’m not sure about her personality. I’m thinking since most of her clothes are black and white, maybe she could have a black-and-white morality.