So, this was a little project I was hired to do for a friend of mine. These are tattoo designs made to represent my friend's grandparents as mythical characters.
Initially I was given very little in terms of direction; basically, I was asked to create elderly characters with one appearing as a "Santa-esque" gnome holding a ribbon while the other a fairy at a sewing table. Both were requested to be sitting in lazy boy recliners as the purple ribbons seen in both images are to represent their respective diseases they live through.
There were multiple iterations of the two individual designs, but these were the two that were chosen by my friend as her favorites.
Another element I was given as direction for these characters was to take inspiration from Don Bluth's and Gary Goldman's Thumbelina animated film from 1994. In doing so, I made sure to study the design of those characters as best as possible when crafting my own here although still taking my own liberties with the concept.
Also, I'd like to note that it was requested to not implement any shading on these characters for the final image, which is why they appear so flat and unfinished.
Obviously, the Grandpa Gnome origins began pretty rough. When I first went into drawing the gnome character, I truthfully felt fairly directionless and unsure as to where I wanted to go with his look. Luckily with each new iteration the design improved as I grew a better understanding of what I wanted to do with the gnome.
My personal favorite design for the gnome was the third seen above [the biggest one]. Even though my favorite wasn't chosen, I still want to eventually paint a more formal digital painting with this design.
Grandma Fairy clearly went through her own visual arc, possibly even more drastic than the gnome's honestly; although not starting nearly as terrible. In this particular case, however, my favorite design for the grandmother fairy was chosen. That being said, I still may proceed to do a more proper digital painting with this design as well.
After confirming which design my friend liked most, I proceeded into the line work. Making sure everything looks as crisp and clean as possible.
Sidenote: Yes, the recliner is pretty much the same with one minor modification being the actual reclining part for the legs. A process I had to retroactively work around when I moved on from Grandpa Gnome and was working on Grandma Fairy after.
Then after the line work has been approved, I moved onto the final process; color. Normally I would continue into the shading after this point, but like I mentioned, I was requested to not include any shading/lighting for this project.
