CASE STUDY: Angeline
How do you make a sweet, innocent child into a vicious killer?
Project
Character design for Two Graves comic
Date
June 2020
Method
Photoshop
Project Goal
Create a believable red herring in the shape of a little girl. History remembers Angeline as a victim of her murderous sister, but the truth is quite the reverse.
Goal: Portray Angeline as history remembers her, and as how she truly was/is.
First, I had to find a period-accurate reference for Angeline’s costume. I chose the little girl in the far right corner because her dress was the closest I could come to what I envisioned Angeline wearing.
Next, I had to nail down Angeline’s design. I focused on the version of her that history remembered – the sweet little girl – because that was the design that would be most used in the comics.
Note that even her “innocent” design has clues to her true nature in the flowers she holds.
Now for the fun part – designing Evil Angeline, a.k.a. Angeline’s true self. Her design is almost identical to “Good” Angeline, with a few subtle differences – her ribbons and hairdo hang down instead of pointing up, her clothes are red-toned instead of pink, and Evil Angeline has a sickly greenish-blue overlay while “Good” Angeline has a sunny yellow one.
And of course, Evil Angeline has scissors instead of flowers.
And there she is, in all her split-persona glory.
Of course, no murderous ghost is complete without a few smears of blood…
This looks cool! Can I have one?
Absolutely! Let’s do this! Click on the button below to start the ball rolling.