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[Tumetsu]

So when streamlining my RPG I have also made some changes to the premise and storyline and are about to change the main character to little girl. However, I'm having some problems on designing her looks.

Game is a light RPG with card based battles. Story wise it isn't very serious and I'm trying to make something in vein of Mother or perhaps a bit like Space Funeral (thought not that surreal). The main character is a l 9-12 year old little girl from an old assassin family where pretty all of the members are either assassin or other warriors. Setting of the game is closer to medieval times, though there may be pretty much anything more modern stuff thrown in, like girl's father being a secret agent style guy with fedora etc.

Noting this background I'd like the girl be some kind of mix of childish innocence with determination and hints to her family's profession while not really putting knives everywhere and thousand guns on her back :D So basically she would look like a common girl with some gear which may be a bit "out of place".

In this my first doodle I drew hear a fedora (could be from his dad) and coat. I'm not really satisfied to this and think that the coat at least makes her look more like little detective than anything else:


And here is a screenshot of the game's current battle to see how battles look right now:


I'm looking any ideas, sketches, color schemes, comments to improve or invent whole different designs to make the main character design as good as possible

[QOG]

This looks quite nice in its current incarnation, actually. The only thing I really think you should change is the HUD and the font, since they don't mesh well with the hand-drawn look of the rest of the graphics.
(BTW, this should probably go in workshop)

[Tumetsu]

Thanks for critique even though I was looking more inspiration on the char design Things you said are going to be changed.

Strangely I forgot the Workshops subforum. Any mod going by can move this there if they see it fit.

[laserghost]

I couldn't help but think of Gaz from Invader Zim for some reason.

[Kyron]

You could maybe place a small scar on her somewhere visible to hint at some of the rough training she might have undergone being a member of such a family. Or even an asymmetrical item of clothing she would use to hide a scar, like a glove or scarf tied to one side.

[iffi]

Right now to me she looks more like a guy with long hair than a girl. It's probably the face that gives that impression to me, but I'm no artist so I don't have any ideas on how to improve it. :\

[P-Flute]

Without going hog wild just yet, I'd say if you want people to evaluate the design, you'll probably need a bigger sketch.   I'd say you should experiment with some outfit parts that are more traditional for little girls in that time period and mix and match things with the "agent" elements you're talking about. And as for those; try and find more definite visual examples of these renaissance/medieval assassins you have in mind.  That said, don't be afraid to use image searches heavily as well. 

I'd like to post more, or illustrate some things, but it's late as sin.  Good luck.

[Tumetsu]

The picture is small since I wanted to resize it to roughly same size as it would appear in game. I like the idea of something like scarf etc. and about assassin thing, I don't have anything definite in mind as this is purely fictional and style at least partially done tongue in cheek though your suggestion of research is always good advice. Thing is that the game isn't strictly speaking placed in any definite time frame, though it has swords, magic and stuff like that commonly in medieval settings. But that doesn't rule out possible firearms (though old ones and fictive, not AK47s )

[wednesday]

I feel like all she needs is a nice pair of legs

[stephanduq]

So far all that you have written about her is what she looks. This is just one small part of character design. What you need to is make her breath, and let her life inspire your design.

Ask yourself questions like: What is her greatest fear? What does she want to archieve in life? Does she know of herself what she wants to archieve? Is she loved? Does she like that?

When you ask questions like this you get to know her, and when you know her you can start asking about what kind of clothes would she wear? What kind of cultural symbols does she use on her clothes? Is  there a dresscode in her world, and is she fighting that?

Good design comes from knowing your character and imagining them in stories. The actual designing and drawing will become easy, because you would be drawing something that already excists.

edit:

Just a quicky. For example I imagined her to have lost her father, and desperatly want to get into his footsteps, even though she isnt ready for it. Her insecurity led to her wearing her fathers clothing, hoping to come off as big and intimidating as he did.

While thinking about this you can't help yourself from drawing this young girl running around in a way too big overcoat

[JWK5]

Messing around...

[Tumetsu]

Ah I had forgotten this whole topic. Sorry for everyone who posted after my last reply  
I managed to develop something fitting for my purposes already which you can see in devlog of the game. Also I like the illustration very much Not really what I had in my mind, but still very nice I might draw some inspiration from that for design of girl's mother.

Aside from that I really liked your post stephanduq. Some interesting points there, some of them already familiar and which I also used with my design and some new things to me which I should keep in mind when designing father and mother for girl who you encounter in game

I love those illustrations JWK5! You really have talent with drawing interesting characters with seemingly easiness