"TARA (PROTOTYPE VERSION)"
A first-draft version of a character from a comic series I'm planning to make in 2025, called "CRUSADE." Look forward to it sometime soon, maybe, hopefully! I'm planning out pages, learning how to frame a comic story, drafting characters and whatnot. I may even post some more character designs here soon too!
I nearly made the same grand and sweeping statement about this piece that I did about my "first real graphic project," LIMBfromLIMB, which would've read something like "if you can believe it, this is my first real illustration I put more than thirty minutes of effort into," but then I realized that's kind of not true? All the way back in high school, I used to put a lot of effort into making full-page illustrations based off song lyrics I liked, with nothing more than a red - and a black - ballpoint pen. God, how I wish some days to have the same careless determination to create random, off-the-cuff art like that again! Of course I also realize I made those old illustrations while sitting in, and in spite of, my extremely droll classes. Ah, those weren't the times... those illustrations will probably never see the internet.
So, what of this character illustration then? I'm not one to throw around too many details if I'm planning on having this character in an actual story, but the concrete features are that Tara is a horned serpent, and is a part of a group known as "They Who Wear Their Horns Cut Loose." All other details of this design are subject to change. Let's just say it's inspired by a lot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" and "Legend of the Galactic Heroes," shall we?
A bit of a left-field admission, but I have to say this somewhere: I'm come to realize I'm my own worst critic when it comes to illustrations. A mixture of my lack of formal experience, lack of tools, lack of confidence, and lack of tact has all kept me from doing much genuine non-graphic art (or however you want to catagorize it, I dunno). This character design feels like my first original character and story design maybe... ever? Bold to say since I haven't put any trace of it anywhere yet, but now I just want to do it instead of worrying if it's going to be good or not by my standards. I've seen many, many, MANY original characters in my day that are fantastic designs by professional artists; I have a hard time feeling like I'll ever match their quality, then I feel guilty for not even trying. I'm rambling now, so I'll get to my point: I've learned from my therapist, "do what you know is feasible today (in your skillset), not what you think is possible someday." This is the first time I'm doing character designs, and they may not be my masterwork, but I now know that it's important to me that they, and their fictional lives, exist somewhere. No pressure or nothin', eh?
[17-12-2024]