BONUS CONTENT: Sketchbook: Keyla
I talked a little bit about designing the Ulon Dosi females in the Commentary for The Big Snow Job #4, Page 6. Here we have the sketches I did to flesh out Keyla, especially her outfit. Obviously I wanted to make her clothing similar in “language” to the other Ulon Dosi, but it needed to be a slightly more feminine version of the standard hide tunics. And as I mentioned in the other Commentary, the yellow color of her outfit was to make it a bit “softer” visually than the tan and natural tones of the other Ulon Dosi.
Keyla’s cloak also needed to stand out, since in many of her earlier panels, only a small portion of her would be showing and I needed the look to be, more or less, instantly and easily recognizable. I liked the patchwork enough that it eventually made it into Clem’s outfit as well. As for the white fuzzy fur, I also incorporated that into Goshen’s look to visually connect them since they’re related as father and daughter.
Do you make color studies or do you just go with your feeling? Because all the color choices seem to work quite well.
Yeah, I’m actually pretty surprised that the colors have turned out as well as they have since I don’t really have much color theory background. So I pretty much just go with my gut. In rare cases, I have a color in mind when designing something, but most times, I spend a good chunk of time swapping colors in and out and playing with different combinations on the first actual page of art that the character appears on. For me, the trick is to make things colorful (since I lean towards visuals that aren’t murky, desaturated, and drab) while not making the colors so flashy and all over the map that they become an assault on the eyes.
Except for Cember. If any character were to wear something that would be an assault on the eyes, it’d probably be him. 🙂