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khimru In reply to IronHead78 [2014-05-19 05:43:08 +0000 UTC]

Does Squish have some kind of reference chart or something like this? Because I'm somewhat confused by these pictures:

   

All three are looking great, but it's hard for me to find features which are supposed to tie them together and show that it's one character…

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joncomms In reply to khimru [2014-05-20 05:19:01 +0000 UTC]

she certainly does not have a ref sheet

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IronHead78 In reply to joncomms [2014-05-20 05:30:55 +0000 UTC]

She does, it's just very outdated.

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BalloonPrincess In reply to khimru [2014-05-19 11:10:33 +0000 UTC]

The colored images look fairly consistent, especially since you have two other artists doing the work.  Purple hair with widow's peaks, medium to dark tanned flesh, and the similar bikini.

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khimru In reply to BalloonPrincess [2014-05-19 11:28:44 +0000 UTC]

Well, you got me there. Color scheme is pretty consistent. But there are hundreds of characters with purple eyes and hair. And only one picture uses bikini Zdemian's one is one-piece.

I guess she lacks some well-defined “anchors” which could immediately define her as such: if you'll study her pictures you'll find enough similarities to agree that yes, it's probably the same character, but there is nothing to jump in your head on the first glance and say “hey, that's Squish or someone who's cosplaying Squish”.

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IronHead78 In reply to khimru [2014-05-19 23:14:31 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for pointing this out, I'll try to think of some "anchors" for her.

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BalloonPrincess In reply to khimru [2014-05-19 11:41:04 +0000 UTC]

No, I gotcha there.  I'm used to seeing the character and to me, I knew that was her right away.  She does need some more "character features" or "anchors" as you call them ... which is pretty good.  One such anchor is the blue hearts which are over the tops of the breasts which can often be seen around the top.

Mm ... I sort of blame myself.  I said that I would do a version of Squish in a model sheet, but I have been so busy with so much else these days.

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IronHead78 In reply to BalloonPrincess [2014-05-19 23:15:47 +0000 UTC]

Think we could do a brain-storming session on coming up with some "anchors" for her? Also, "medium to dark tanned flesh" she's supposed to be black, remember?

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BalloonPrincess In reply to IronHead78 [2014-05-20 11:43:36 +0000 UTC]

Sure.  Just note me.

From what I've seen it's been medium to dark flesh.  I haven't seen any that's black.  I've been going with what I have seen in Shopping Trip.  I'm also not sure that black would work ... she's already got purple to black hair which makes showing the details of her form tricky to say the least.  Even drawing Keco is an interesting trick in making sure you can make the audience understand that he's a cat of some sort.

The hearts and the costume are the best changes we can make for more "anchors" in her recognition without changing too much of her original concept.

Keep in mind when you have other artist drawing the character, they are going to make changes within her that fit to how they see her and within their own values.  Take for example the Princess.  She's supposed to be a short, foul tempered bitch.  Many have made her taller and have changed her outfit many times ... one of the reasons when defining the Meta-suit (which is what I called it before) is that it can look like anything that she can wear, just within the realm of colors ... purple and green.  Trust me, this has made it interesting when dealing with artists.  There have been a few where I have had to go back in and make some changes ... thank goodness these were often inked images only.

The trick with a character designer is you have to be willing to compromise in a few cases with the artists who are working on your vision.  That's why it's often better if you do your work yourself to keep the character as consistent as possible first.  A solid model sheet is always good and helps.

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IronHead78 In reply to khimru [2014-05-19 05:54:34 +0000 UTC]

I know, I really need to update her ref sheet. It's very outdated so I usually use a string of other refs when I commission a artist but they tend to leave out a detail or altar something to make it easier on them. As a result, I have pictures of Squish, where no two look the same. So far, Zdemian is the first to follow every exact detail of her. Maybe one of these days when I have the cash for it, I'll commission Zdemian to make a new ref sheet of her.

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