I don't usually post sketches or WIPs, but I've been working on a larger project lately and I'd like to share a small glimpse. All summer I've been pushing around suuuper rough black and white thumbnails that make up my story about magical creatures in a forest on a bit of a journey. Really I had no clear idea of what the story was until I just started with these thumbnails and their revisions. I've been in the seriously rough, reworking, maybe only I can tell what is meant by that shape, awkward phase for awhile now, so it was exciting to carve in some crisp edges and color :)
Originally I thought I'd be creating a wordless picture book with a single character, but eventually the words arrived and also several more characters. For the character designs I'm just about happy with them. I design with abstract shapes and marks so eventually I start to feel compelled by a design, but then need to translate it into actual features, or a way to keep the marks abstract and still feel legible and at home within the artwork.
More than a bit of what is in this thumbnail I consider place-holder marks. A way to design shapes that stand for stuff and the beginning of finding precision, or more considered marks, but still a short hand language and not quite containing all that I'd imagined in my head. More than a start, a foundation I guess.