More more more! I've been watching (re-watching) some high end animated features recently, as well as going through their respective 'art-of' books in an attempt to flesh out, fix and smooth designs on the cast. There was still something about Crow that just wasn't working appeal-wise. Turned out to be as simple as getting rid of hard lines and corners, letting my pencil be a lot more loosely held, making things flow. Well, not EASY but still. Some might look at the piles of drawings I've done of these guys over the years and wonder if it was all worth it, if I couldn't have got to the same point without going off on so many tangents, etc. Here's the thing; for some reason, I've decided to do this gigantic project that would probably be better done by a crew and not just one guy. When I look at all these books, I see the same thing; merely a selection of what must be piles and piles of drawings needed to get to a final version. Some of them are really wild, crazy versions that would never work, like some of the ones I've done. Each iteration of the characters has added something, however small to the versions I'll finally go with. Even when Ghiroy was a totally different story, nearly ten years ago (GAH), the character designs have bits that are still in Crow as I draw him now.

Freckles and red hair have remained. Of course in the meantime, gingers (a term from Britain we've only recently adopted) weren't often seen, were, in some countries looked down upon and were never the heroes. That was one of the reasons I made him a redhead. I was tired of the blonds always winning. Well, that part's less of a shock now, but still.

One thing I've noticed a lot and am guilty of in this case is the 'dumbing down' of main characters in these animated film. The protagonist is meant to be the character the audience identifies with, can place themselves into most easily. Because of that, there's usually a HUGE delineation between the design of that character and all those around him/her. Check any Disney, Dreamworks or other major animation company's films. "Rise of the Guardians" is probably the most blatant example.

All the other Guardians (Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Sandman) are wildly designed, have almost no basis on traditional versions of themselves and, quite honestly, don't fit with their environments. Jack Frost, on the other hand, might as well be a Disney Prince in his blandness. Watching these over and over, I see the same thing repeated. There is something to it, though it also means a weaker character, I think. So Crow will never be blandly handsome. My partner doesn't like the freckles. Too bad. He's not perfect, and I don't want him to be. The freckles can stand for the imperfections we all feel we have; imperfections that we count but others might see as an asset. Harlon had a big patch over one eye. While this is common in rabbits, it was meant to be a metaphor for acne, which I had in spades while in junior high.

Where am I going with all this ramble? Nowhere, really, just writing this down for myself, and, if somehow, somewhere, someday I actually make something of this, there's some evidence that I did indeed think a lot about this stuff. For what it's worth.