SNOW WHITE CHARACTER DESIGN
This project was completed in a 2 week timeframe for a character refinement class. The brief was to pick a fairytale character to create a design based on that utilized elements from their original story to convey the characteristics visually.
Initial Sketches
I wanted Snow to have those traditional snow-white skin and dark hair, and include the apple which felt like that last crucial detail to add. I wanted to maybe have her beauty reflect more of a timely, Renaissance feel so I opted to make her a bit curvier and push her roundness through the costuming.
The thumbnails were done at the same stage as the initial character designs so the composition preceded the character. The rightmost design was made with her profile in mind, keeping a sleek and simple shape while the second two were in the interest of frontal/quarter view comps to add visual volume. For the composition I merged the dramatic lighting/indoor setting of 2 and the fluid S-curve motion of 6 to allow the eye to travel a bit more easily.
Finalized CHaracter
The middle design won out due to the dynamic/open nature of the pose and the volume of her skirt. I thought also the hemmed skirt gave her a bit more of an innocent, younger feeling. I pictured her as a young adult but imagined her time with the dwarves (10 years in most original adaptations) to have been carefree and easy. The practicality of a shorter skirt also seemed like a smart choice. Lots of feedback favored the layering of the clothes and the voluminous sleeves.
Final Illustration
The brief initially only requested a grayscale illustration, which I completed with no inclination to color it. The lighting and pose reminded me of an old black and white movie, so I really wanted to hone in on a light dreamy effect by adding gaussian blurs to the shadows and highlights. As I chipped away at the value version, I started to realize the potential it could have with color added, so I duplicated my canvas and started to add color in to the existing layers like the shadows and then revamping layers with new colored rendering. The black and white took on a bit of a noir film effect, and the colored edition ended up reminding me of a Caravaggio-inspired theme.
