Beauty and beast character lineups from new introduction to character design class- looking for feedback

[Coley]

I’m working through @AnnaDaviscourt new Introduction to character design class With the assigned beauty and the beast characters. If anyone has any feedback on where I am now, I would appreciate it. Struggling a bit with Belle and Maurice. I chose from left to right, Gaston, Beast, Belle, Maurice, and Philippe (the horse). He wasn’t one of the typical characters but I wanted to start doing horses again seeing as I drew thousands upon thousands of them in my youth! I chose keywords for him - loyal, Hardworking, and brave in face of danger. I think I want to add in mrs Potts and lumiere at some point!

Top lineup I developed too much, it was supposed to be only basic shapes but I was having trouble with that concept at the time! Next time I think I’ll understand the process better and that details come later.

Middle lineup I got more basic with my shapes as pushed the proportions ( only a little though- next time I think I’ll understand that a bit more too!0

Bottom lineup they have their basic costumes. I tried adding a bridle etc to Philippe but I liked him better with just roses in his mane! I’m pretty happy with Gaston and Beast. Belle and Maurice I’m struggling a bit with faces and hair. And actually with Belle I initially had her with just dots for eyes, but she looked too young for a romance perhaps?! It didn’t;t feel right. Or it could also be that she didn’t fit in with the big eyes of beast and Maurice any more, I was going for simple eyes but these more complicated bigger ones just sort of happened. I. Haven’t done much character design so I don’t have a process for faces or eyes or anything I typically do. Basically my. Process is just suffer it out and draw and redraw and erase etc until something feels right for whatever illustration I’m working on. I’ll attach pics of both Belle’s.

[baileyvidler]

Oh my gosh, I did the same thing and put way too much detail in the first round of shapes. I just watched the proportions lesson and realized that I have to rein them back to basic shapes. Haha.

These look really nice! I love how you incorporated the roses into Phillipe's and Belle's designs. I also like how Belle's dress looks very historically accurate. I think I like Belle with more detailed eyes. She seems more expressive and it does seem more cohesive with the other character's eyes.

I do really like dot eyes. But, for some reason, it seems like some character designs are better with dot eyes and some are better with more detailed eyes. But I haven't quite been able to figure out why that is...

I think my only suggestion would be to maybe exaggerate the height differences between the characters? Belle and Maurice are about the same height. And Gaston, Beast, and Phillipe are also about the same height. I think it could be pushed a little further.

[Coley]

@baileymvidler thanks Bailey! Good point on the heights. Will consider that as I move into"final for now" renders lol. Funny we made that same mistake on first assignment shapes. It's really hard to not put all the detail in straight away. But it really makes a lot of sense as you move forward in the course. Yahoo for our improving understanding of these concepts! Yahoo! Lol

And the eyes thing... I like both too and it's hard to figure out what's right and when. I suppose that is something else we'll eventually figure out after lots of practice. I'm still not totally in love with her face but I'll get there I hope thanks for commenting and have a great day

[TessaW]

Omg, Belle is so cute! I like the more detailed eyes as well in this case, but that may be due to the little tweaks you made to the actual expression. The dot eye one is a more general friendly expression, the detailed eyes has a little more nuance because of the eyebrows, the shape of the bottom of the eye, and the placement of the mouth. It would be nice to see more angles/expressions for her in both styles to make sure of the design choice. Or not! I think either design choice is a good one.

I wonder at the placement/shape of Beast's coat collar. It kind of looks like he has a permanent shrug. I wonder if it would be better to lower it slightly of have it slope more?

This is so fun!

[Coley]

@TessaW thanks for your input! Good advice on Belle. I kept reworking her face today and not done yet but getting there.

Beast I wanted hunched sort of, good to know it looks like shoulder shrugging not hunched, I'll work on figuring that out too