Character Design

I'm currently completing the comic scene at a time, and before i get started I create images as references for every character and every prop.
So when drawing characters i need to see them from multiple angles so that i can compare against them as i create the page to ensure the character never changes too dramatically.

So lets look at Grandad.

Grandad needed to be old. He was also branded as a heretic. I decided that heretics in my story are a  segregated society that dont get the same benefits as everyone else.

To illustrate this I gave him a rather extreme tattoo covering his face, a white beard and dressed him pretty much like an ancient Roman to illustrate that the clothes he has access to are largely different to that of the rest of the civilisation in the story.

As for drawing my process is simple and matches how i used to go about it on paper back in the olden days. I start out with a rough guide which i resize or stretch as necessary for the character. Next i roughly pencil over the top (usually in a light blue but sometimes i'll go over this with a black pencil to help particular components of the charcater stand out). Once this is done i create a new layer which is my inking layer. All black lines, nice and smooth if i can. 

Then using another layer I very roughly block in the base colours. I do it like this because it's easy to reference later on.

I tidy these colour layers up and then create two more layers. One for shadows and one for highlights in multiply and screen modes respectively. And thats it!

Nice and simple which is essential when taking on such a mammoth project i feel!

I have released a video of this which you can see on my facebook page, but after a few checks i'll add the functionality to the site so that you can see the time laps here!