I wanted to post an update about the short story that I’m writing, "Kitty Makes a Friend". I am currently on the 2nd draft, while also working on the illustrations. I have around 18 images I plan on illustrating, and 3 of those images are already completed. However, before I began illustrating, I started my process by sketching out and drawing the character designs for each main character. I want to show my viewers my process in designing these characters!
First, I limited the number of illustrated characters to 3: Kitty, Eli, and Mr. Nguyen. I had gone back and forth on if I should design the rest of Kitty's family as well, but I decided to limit my illustrations to 3 characters in order to keep it simple. Below is the character sheet I created for each of them. These sheets are very helpful for showing difference in appearance, body type, age, and height between the character. I was also able to draw each outfit the character would be wearing. All of them were based on late 1960s fashion.
Before drawing the character sheets, I spent a lot of time sketching the character by drawing different faces, and even some poses. The sketches for Kitty were easier since I have already designed her character, however I did need to consider that I was illustrating a much younger version of her. Eli was a little trickier, since I had never drawn him before, but it was Mr. Nguyen that was by far the most difficult, because I rarely draw old men. In fact, I mainly draw women and girls, so it was a fun change to draw more masculine or older figures.
I might post another update once I'm further into the illustrations or I will post one when I begin the publishing process. Let me know if you want to see more 'behind the scenes' work in the comment below!
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