So as some folks around here know, I run a tech blog called ThinkBoxly which over the past year or two has been sort of shifting from a blog to more of a portfolio. As I work towards becoming an indie game developer myself, I have even published the dev tools I'm creating for other indie developers to use (and help fund my projects in the process) under the ThinkBoxly brand with the name Edge Engine. One of my most successful tools, Edge VN, a visual novel creation system, is about to hit the magic version 2.0, and for that I wanted to really create something special. After all, if I'm taking the time to revamp my code from the ground up, I also want to give my presentation an overhaul. Nothing says shiny and new like a change of appearance, and this being a visual novel engine, I decided I wanted to create not just new demo assets, but an original mascot character that could motivate me as I program and generate enthusiasm in others who might be interested in the finished product.
Meet Miki Tokimiya (aka Miki-Toki, since Japan likes abbreviations). She's my first totally original character that I've drawn, and what you see above represents about 8 hours of work so far. There's still a few things about the body and costume that need to be tweaked, but overall it's coming along quite well! Miki will also have a twin sister too, Mei Tokimiya, who will have a slightly different pose and color scheme when all's said and done.
But since this thread is supposed to be something of an art journal for this project, let's go back to the beginning.
For anyone who's curious, I'm doing this on an Asus T300 Chi tablet/laptop using Manga Studio (aka Clip Studio Paint). The Asus is actually pretty handy for this sort of thing, as not only does it support active styluses, but the keyboard itself is wireless, so I can keep it on my lap while the tablet is flat on my desk and hooked up to an external monitor on which I keep references while drawing.
With that said, onto the pics:
On day 1 I didn't actually do very much. I played around with hair and costume designs, most of which didn't even get kept on paper. I knew I wanted a simple hairstyle to spare myself as much pain as possible while also keeping it stylish and feminine and also a bit outlandish in the wonderful way anime hair tends to be. This ultimately didn't change a whole lot from my original concepts and I'm quite happy with the results.
Costume, on the other hand, has been toned down quite a bit. While I had originally envisioned something more sci-fi, it eventually simplified into pretty much your typical anime school uniform look. But this is all subject to change--I do have some plans to make things a little more interesting once I've settled on a final design.
After letting the ideas sit for a while, on Day 2 came the body. I will admit I don't really have the knowledge to construct a full body pose on my own, so this is actually the result of about 10 references which I kept up on my main monitor and ultimately combined into a single pose. There are still bits of it that don't feel quite right, but on the whole for something so foreign to me I'm surprised it turned out at all. I even completely freestyled the hands, which took me a couple hours to really feel happy with. Definitely need more tutorials to fix that sort of ignorance in the future so my times will improve.
Next came the face. I spent a while on this making sure the expression and style were just right. As a mascot character, Miki needs to be cute and enthusiastic and also of more or less indiscernable age/maturity. In the end I think I erred on the side of making her look rather young (which does go with the school getup of course) but I'd like to think she's still generic enough in the positive sense that she doesn't generate any of the wrong preconceived notions. This is the kind of character you want everyone to be able to love, after all.
After that I tried out hair again and found that by some stroke of luck the hair concept I drew the night before was exactly the right perspective for the body model I ended up with. A few tweaks later and it was relatively easily done.
But then came the longer and harder part: the headphones. On top of saving me from having to draw ears (which incidentally would be much easier), I felt headphones would lend the impression that Miki is a bit of a techie person, which adds to her function as a mascot for a program. Headphones also imply music, so she and her sister could be thought of as virtual idols in a sense, not unlike Hatsune Miku or Super Sonico.
Lastly we have the costume, and this brings us back to where we started. About 8 hours in and I've done far more than I expected I'd be able to in that time frame, but the most critical work still lies ahead. While the sailor top and skirt were major hurdles to get over neither is final and I still have yet to decide what to do for her hands and feet. And of course once the costume is figured out I still have to fine-line the finished drawing, and then color and shade...and then do it all over again with Mei. But I look forward to all of it!
Well, I hope you enjoyed this little look into one of my projects. If so, I'll be sure to keep this thread updated with my progress as I go! Comments/critiques are welcome!
Meet Miki Tokimiya (aka Miki-Toki, since Japan likes abbreviations). She's my first totally original character that I've drawn, and what you see above represents about 8 hours of work so far. There's still a few things about the body and costume that need to be tweaked, but overall it's coming along quite well! Miki will also have a twin sister too, Mei Tokimiya, who will have a slightly different pose and color scheme when all's said and done.
But since this thread is supposed to be something of an art journal for this project, let's go back to the beginning.
For anyone who's curious, I'm doing this on an Asus T300 Chi tablet/laptop using Manga Studio (aka Clip Studio Paint). The Asus is actually pretty handy for this sort of thing, as not only does it support active styluses, but the keyboard itself is wireless, so I can keep it on my lap while the tablet is flat on my desk and hooked up to an external monitor on which I keep references while drawing.
With that said, onto the pics:
On day 1 I didn't actually do very much. I played around with hair and costume designs, most of which didn't even get kept on paper. I knew I wanted a simple hairstyle to spare myself as much pain as possible while also keeping it stylish and feminine and also a bit outlandish in the wonderful way anime hair tends to be. This ultimately didn't change a whole lot from my original concepts and I'm quite happy with the results.
Costume, on the other hand, has been toned down quite a bit. While I had originally envisioned something more sci-fi, it eventually simplified into pretty much your typical anime school uniform look. But this is all subject to change--I do have some plans to make things a little more interesting once I've settled on a final design.
After letting the ideas sit for a while, on Day 2 came the body. I will admit I don't really have the knowledge to construct a full body pose on my own, so this is actually the result of about 10 references which I kept up on my main monitor and ultimately combined into a single pose. There are still bits of it that don't feel quite right, but on the whole for something so foreign to me I'm surprised it turned out at all. I even completely freestyled the hands, which took me a couple hours to really feel happy with. Definitely need more tutorials to fix that sort of ignorance in the future so my times will improve.
Next came the face. I spent a while on this making sure the expression and style were just right. As a mascot character, Miki needs to be cute and enthusiastic and also of more or less indiscernable age/maturity. In the end I think I erred on the side of making her look rather young (which does go with the school getup of course) but I'd like to think she's still generic enough in the positive sense that she doesn't generate any of the wrong preconceived notions. This is the kind of character you want everyone to be able to love, after all.
After that I tried out hair again and found that by some stroke of luck the hair concept I drew the night before was exactly the right perspective for the body model I ended up with. A few tweaks later and it was relatively easily done.
But then came the longer and harder part: the headphones. On top of saving me from having to draw ears (which incidentally would be much easier), I felt headphones would lend the impression that Miki is a bit of a techie person, which adds to her function as a mascot for a program. Headphones also imply music, so she and her sister could be thought of as virtual idols in a sense, not unlike Hatsune Miku or Super Sonico.
Lastly we have the costume, and this brings us back to where we started. About 8 hours in and I've done far more than I expected I'd be able to in that time frame, but the most critical work still lies ahead. While the sailor top and skirt were major hurdles to get over neither is final and I still have yet to decide what to do for her hands and feet. And of course once the costume is figured out I still have to fine-line the finished drawing, and then color and shade...and then do it all over again with Mei. But I look forward to all of it!
Well, I hope you enjoyed this little look into one of my projects. If so, I'll be sure to keep this thread updated with my progress as I go! Comments/critiques are welcome!
Much better than what I could do, too. 
