Character Design - Action Poses and Creating a Maquette

Once I had done some facial expression sketches and worked out my character design, I needed to draw her in some action poses to understand how her body works in different situations and how I can express a variety of emotions with her face and body. Again,I struggle with action poses, so I searched for some references on Pinterest, which helped me understand how to play with the line of action and the form of the body. 

At this point I still didn't have a clear backstory mapped out, so I drew my character in a lot of different poses to see which ones stood out as expressions she would do based on her personality. I knew she was very confident and defensive, but with a humble side, so I did a mixture of fighting, sitting, and standing poses which explored lots of different emotions.

Even though I found this a challenge, I did find it very fun and rewarding. I loved putting my character in lots of situations, and working out how she would react and stand in them. By doing this exercise, I was beginning to have more ideas for her backstory. I wanted her to be from the Renaissance, or to be very passionate about it, but I struggled with the fact that if she was from the Renaissance, then her outfit would be too modern. If she was from the present, then would she try to travel back to the Renaissance? Where would she get a time machine from?? There were a lot of plot holes with each backstory I came up with, which made it clear that I should've written the complete backstory before I designed my character.

However, I hit a breakthrough when sketching these action poses: what is she is from the Renaissance, but she's in a painting and she comes to life from the painting into Present Day? I love this concept a lot, and I'm using the more modern elements of her clothing to highlight her rebel personality. I still have to bulk out the story, but it works a lot better with my character and I have found ways to make the audience to connect to the story and my character - e.g having a small girl love the painting my character is in and wishing it comes to life. A dream I think many of us have had as a child.

Acton Poses

After having a clear character design, and fixing all the holes in my backstory, I was ready to start creating a maquette of my character. To make this maquette, I used thick and thin wire as the base, which was then nailed onto a wood board, and then I applied Mod Roc on top to bulk it out and to strengthen the structure. Next week I will be putting clay on top so add all the details, which I'm super excited for! 3D is a big weak point for me, but I actually had a lot of fun making the maquette, and I'd love to do it again! I think the base could've gone better (it needs to be bulked out a lot), but it's good for a first try. Oh, and here's a photo of me making my maquette! (foreground on the left)

 Maquette Making

So here's my maquette after doing the wire frame and Mod Roc base. It was very difficult to construct the correct proportions and shapes, but I think it's an alright attempt. I may have to go back in and add some elements with Mod Roc, such as the nose. I chose one of my action poses (2nd on the top row) because I think it shows my character's personality well - 'done', confident, and grumpy.

My Maquette