Monday, September 22, 2008

The new fashion for Fall! Er, Autumn.



It's the first day of autumn, so it's only fitting that I get to make that gag.

I'm been drawing Autumn over and over these past couple days, and I just can't seem to get her right. Granted, *none* of my characters have looked any good recently, but she was bugging me the most. If I get a nice face, I botch the ears. If the ears work, I ruin her mouth. If the head works, I suck on the hair. If it's fine from the neck up, I fumble on the body. (Those last four lines also double as a creepy poem.)

Amid all the chaos, my focus turned to the damned... SHOULDERS! I'm still no good at shoulders on any characters, but Autumn is double touch because her standard shirt has a collar. No hiding the details in a cute puff of chest fur like the rest, AND the collar often makes me give her 80's pad-enhanced shoulders. Add to that my inability to draw short sleeves (see: Autumn, Jacob, Max...) and I'm all about the frustration. Sleeveless outfits are where it's at!

So I started playing around with other looks for Autumn. As I can't draw to save my life today, only one sketch was deemed scan-worthy. Drawing Autumn in a normal shirt and pants is easier, but she loses her feminine mystique. Solution: SCARF FOR NO REASON! I might resurrect this look down the road, once the characters are established enough that I can switch up the standard clothing.

It can also start the inevitable transition into winter clothing. While I'm so behind the current strips take place in July, the time will come when the weather turns cold and the kiddies bundle up. I'm not saying I'm going for realism by any means. If I was, I wouldn't have all my characters running around in long pants despite it being mid-summer. (I draw shorts even worse than I draw short sleeves.) Still, it's fun to have a design set.

Edit: Here's another with Autumn in her (proposed) autumn standard. It looks more smock than sporty, but whatevs.

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