Character Concept Sketch
So where did the idea of Danger Darrel come from? When I came up with the game concept, I wanted to shape the game around the story and character.
I knew that I needed to represent a retired pilot living somewhere off the grid. He only lives for his planes and will therefore not care too much about his social life. Living off the grid, also means that you have to be somewhat tough. He also has a deep focus on planes and doesn't give a damn if he is trained or fashionable. In advance I wanted my character to fulfil a bit of a stereotype.
These are some of the thoughts that led me to the next step, how does someone with these circumstances look like? One thing I knew for sure is that he needs a mustash! To fulfil the image of an old school pilot, he obiously needs pilot glasses, a pilot hat and a pilot jacket.
The above sketch was created using an iPad Pro and using the Sketchbook Pro. An iPad is an amazing tool for digital sketching in my opinion due to the great portability and comprehensive software tools. Below you will find video of the speed run sketching on ipad.
Having set the outlines, I started filling in the basic colors and working myself to the shading aspect.
Sketching is a great tool to shape and form the idea and bring it down to paper, eventhough I already had a fairly strong image in my head. During the process, I became aware of little details that could be implemented. If I would have headed directly into 3D modelling it would have taken longer to achieve the proportions, but also I might have missed out on some details.
The sketch below by the way was my very first quick sketch when Danger Darrel came into my mind :)
I would love hear about your methods and process on the character development process! Feel free to drop a comment or message!