Character designs for Black Voyage

Here is the process I went through when creating my characters. Hope this is informative and not that if these don't make the final cut they may show up elsewhere in my projects.

These are the original characters I intend to use in Black Voyage. Jack the Ripper and Elizabeth are the final designs however The Captain & John are not. The Captain does appear in the 1st issue and that design is the one being used throughout the comic. John is an initial design and I didn't want to spend this time working on him so I am going to produce a final design for him over december so next semester when he will be used there will be a final design.    

This is the original design of Elizabeth. I decided to change the facial features on her alot as here she looked too average and innocent. I gave her shorter hair as it made the character more unique and stand out among the rest of the characters.

Jack the Ripper did not always look the way it did. Below are a selection of designs I produced for Jack. Some of these designs are drawn with greater detail than the final design however the overall feel of the designs didn't feel right that is why I chose the final design.

With these designs I decided to look at not including a coat. This look worked as it still looks like male clothing but they still had their female body shapes. I went for the slender body type as Jack needs to be nimble and athletic. The aspects I don't like about these designs is that they don't look right with a hat & the fact they look like female versions of sweeney Todd.  

   

The design on the right is the final design I did of Jack this design was a more profile shot of the previous design. I added a coat and I think this improves the design and it has it's own originality to it instead of looking like a reimagining of a character like the previous designs did. 

During this issue Jack interacts with two ladies of the night. The design above is one I quite like this design however I think I did her legs too short and it is out of proportion. Below are more designs I did along with the final designs.

With these designs I decided to have a curvier body type as that was more of the norm in the 1800s. I think this looked worked perfectly. I used the same face I used in my unused Jack designs to see if  it worked here, I think this design work better than that of Jack. I like the other design on the left however the face lacks any detail.

 

These are the final designs I did before I drew the final characters. I decided that with there being two characters I would change the body size on one character. I liked this approached as it differentiates the characters. I think the design on the left is good however she looks too posh and wouldn't be considered a prostitute, that is the kind of feel I want from the character but there is no hint here she is a lady of the night. I decided to do a behind view of the previous design as I liked that design and wanted to have a fuller view of the character..

                                                                     Final designs

This is the final design for Rosie. I went with the slender body type. I like this design as there is that air of mystery to this design which is what I intended. The dress design is scruffy and looks that that of a woman who is poor however it is not sultry to suggest she is anything other than a poor woman.

        

This is the design for the unnamed prostitute Jack meets. I keep the design similar to previous designs however I decided not to include any designs on the dress as that may show class and wealth which I don't want. I also went for a more sultry costume design. This was the tell the read that she is definitely a lady of the night.  

I like these designs as they are different from each other and they have meaning behind there designs.