Churchy Lady

A coworker had an early breakfast with his church-going friend. I don't know what the lady in question looks like, but the words "churchy lady" conjured up that in my head.

I usually dislike inking intensely, so I used a 'carving' method, I suppose is the best way of calling it: I picked a brush much thicker than required, and carved out necessary thinness with my eraser. Still not sure how I feel about the long straight lines of the legs. I never know how to make them look appealing enough to suit my tastes.

Old Wounds

Miri's suit revision after seeing Tron: Legacy. Also, that was probably the most complicated turnaround I've attempted. D:

Third pose was a mother-loving nightmare. So was the fourth, but I paved at least part of the way with the third drawing... still, I never thought it's possible to have your hand cramp up from the effort.

Bible and Irene

A revival of a couple of old characters, Bible and Irene. They were created roughly six years ago, part of some epic story that I never lifted off the ground. Bible is a demon and Irene is a mage, specialising in illusions and summoning creatures.

Predictably, his race ages a lot slower than us mere mortals, so these doodles are a couple of 'what ifs'. What if the two lovers became separated for a long time and Bible eventually came back for Irene? She's wearing a somewhat less slutty garb from her original design she sported in her late teens, and I imagine she's a part of some temple or other magical institution instead of the wild adventurer type she was when she met Bible. Here's Bible's original design, by the way. Holy tight pants, Batman.

The progression of the argument was insanely fun to draw. But I don't like leaving them completely unhappy, so there's a doodle of the two during their happier times at the bottom. :]

La cuisine!

Some sketches of Vivienne's kitchen. . . I was playing around with the outside, starting out with the way out there Candyland, hey-look-at-me-I'm-so-obviously-a-pastry kind of look.

However, since Vivi inherited the property, it can't very well start out looking like a canelé. It morphed into a corner three-story property with the general store-turned-pastry shop on the bottom level, kitchen on the 2nd floor, and a cleaned out attic apartment that was used mostly for storage on the third floor. The plan of the kitchen changed dozens of times, finally solidifying into the Maya screenshot with all parts labeled.

The "thinking" page. I was playing around with various designs for the doors for the pastry oven - an otherwise boring stainless steel box on four legs. I was inspired by pastries with slices of baked apples on them:

Another 'thinking' page:

Three shots of the kitchen from various angles. I was unable to wedge a camera into the room modeled in Maya without getting crazy 3-point perspective, so I had to approximate the angles on my own. I tried not to use a ruler too often so it wouldn't have the look of a dead Drawing-101-look-at-me-practicing-perspective-shots feel to it. . . free-handing the staircase was a bit of a challenge, though. Thank goodness for good erasers. :]

Vivienne and Claude

Early stages of Vivi's design, trying to capture the confidence, the shrillness, etc.

Some possible interactions between the two:

Claude is a classy gent. . . or a clueless giant, as I honestly suspect he doesn't know what to do after giving a girl flowers. I'm sure he'll attempt some sort of romantic dinner, but either mess up a reservation if it's at a restaurant, or burn the home-cooked meal. . . all the while blushing furiously.

Claude Durand, Evolution of

Various progress sketches of Claude. It was difficult to pin down the exact combination of "strong, yet dumb and very kind" without making him look too stupid or too smart, or too middle-aged, etc.

More Claude, this time, closer to the target:

Vivienne Fournier

Vivienne, a verily vivacious virtuoso of vibrant ...pastries.

Vivi is a pastry chef, with quite a lot of talent yet not enough spine to take a risk and try and make it in a bigger city than the seaside village of N. . . Her ego isn't easily shattered by failures, but she still feels quite intimidated by the thought of going outside her small community she's spent her entire life in. She's inherited a general store from her great aunt some years ago, converting it into a pastry shop with a kitchen and living quarters above it.

Just as most women of N. . ., she adores Claude deeply for his well-toned gardener arse.

Le Claude

Turnaround of Claude Durand, a very strong, yet not very bright gardener in the seaside town of N. . ., France. What he lacks in intellect he makes up in sheer kind-heartedness and goodwill towards everybody. This makes him a reliable shoulder to cry on for his friends and an all-too-easy target for anyone willing to take advantage of him. However, to this day the biggest prank that's been pulled on him is his friends daring him to do stupid things when he was back in grade school.

So, our big, fluffy, kind-souled Claude loves Vivienne to no end. . . though the poor sod is too shy, or perhaps, too ignorant of the way love works to really make a move.