This one single character design has been a source of very much frustration to me. Here's a thought; the top 4 shows of the past 20 years (The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and King Of The Hill) are all horribly designed. Just goes to show that how important good character design is in a show; which is to say, not very much. The most important aspects of a show are excellent writing, clearly defined characters, strong direction, a clear vision, and good stories with good dialog. And of course it has to be FUNNY!!
What is NOT important, and a waste of time, money, and energy; is when you worry about unimportant, nit-picking details in the design. No body is going to care if Homer Simpson has 2 hairs on his head or 3 or 4. No one is going to stop watching Family Guy if Meg Griffin was designed with square glasses instead of round glasses. No one is going think South Park is any less funny if Cartman's double chin line was removed.
Not to say all shows can get away with bad designs. But you need to know what is important in each specific show you work on.
Step 1- Scan the drawing. This was drawn on newsprint paper, with a B pencil. Just a loose sketch, that was what I was going for.
Step 2- The original scan was not dark enough, so I darkened it by duplicating the layer and making the new duplicated layer a "multiply" layer.
Step 3- I added some white highlight areas with a photoshop brush on a new "lighten" layer.
Step 4- I added some dark shaded areas with a photoshop brush on a new "darken" layer.
Step 5- FINISHED. I added a texture layer on a"multiply" layer. There was already a bit of texture in the original scan from the natural texture of the newsprint, but I wanted it to look old and worn at the edges.
