Character design and problems that follow

 Few days ago I was reading Rod Hart's post about naming characters. It was an interesting read (as most things that he writes are, so I do recommend going over and having a read) and it got me wondering about how I normally go about naming the characters.

I have never had the problem with accidentally naming two people the same name. I have done something else though, equally silly. After conceiving Malin and all of her back story, future story, current affairs and a dozen of supporting characters I have moved on to halfheartedly working on another story. The main character was also a girlie, similar age, going by the name Rose. It was an entirely different setting (Malin's world was urban fantasy, Rose was a more of an epic fantasy - I had to look these up, honest). The backstories were different. Everything about them was different, apart from one - the way they looked. If you removed all of the surrounds you ended up with two black haired chicks with a bob. I spent a lot of time trying to make them look different. Rose as the newer one was bound to be the one that got redesigned. And I played around with this a lot, but in the end in my head she had BLACK HAIR. And there was nothing I could do about this apart from set this aside and come back later (unfortunately, similar fate has later met Malin. Perhaps the time to dig them back up is approaching?)

And here is just the faces in black and white. I suppose, the removal of all surrounds takes place here.

At the moment I am just lost. Are they really that similar? I can't tell anymore.

Help! ;)

(For real. What do YOU think?)

Suspend

Eelcat hanging in there for Illustration Friday! :) I seem to be going through phases of drawing dark black and white images and colorful cheery eelcat ones. This does not reflect my mood in the slightest though!

refresh

Malin is not so refreshed... Eelcat certainly is!

And on a side note, I am not refreshed at all either. I had the pleasure of waking up at the middle-of-the-night o'clock, courtesy of a little mousie. I think I could really benefit from an eelcat's company! (Or any other cat for that matter).

heights

Malin and the Eelcat make a grand return.
For IF :)

swarm

...of cats. Poor Malin!

Recycled Saloon Canvas Bags!

This is going to be a fairly long post, prepare yourselves! I present...


This is a set of canvas bags I did a long while ago for a specific saloon/recycling event, which was organised by Alchemy Arts. (The Fi's sister :)). I have sold quite a few of them since on various occassions, but now that I finally got myself together and made the etsy store, they are all available on Etsy! I just really wanted to put a post together with all of them and have them all exhibited in one place - both ones I no longer have and ones that are still for sale. So, here we go!

Here's the first one of them - Malin and the Eelcat! Or to be more precise, Malin and Linda dressed as cowgirls. (If you click on the name it will take to to more photos).












Next one in line is the slightly shy Red Lady (number one, as there is another red beauty).















This one here is the Green Girl! Nature loving cutie.
















Then there is the Pretty Purple!






























And the Red Lady number two! (She's out of stock)


And finally, the Blue Bimbo... Or is it?!
















Model is obviously Riennahera :)


One last thing I'd like to say is that Malin and the Eelcat were finally updated (and I am intending to do it on more regular basis now - yes, again...)

Eelcat on facebook

You can now become a fan of Eelcat on Facebook!

Eelcat painting

...This and some more Eelcat related pictures are in the art section of Malin and the Eelcat. :)

Eelcat update

I have updated today the layout of Malin and the Eelcat site. It is now miles better looking (I think). I also scrapped old subsections and made completely new ones (characters, art and about), but still need to fill those in. EDIT 15/04/10 - did the subsections. But hey still aren't absolutely what I would want them to be...

I think the next steps are going to be updating the main page and finally doing the portfolio site.

Also, I don't really like this layout on the blog anymore, so will probably change it soon too...

Apologies for a boring post ;)

Riennahera

Marta was kind enough to pose for me couple of days ago. I really enjoy doing stuff from life and a good conversation, so this was good fun :). As much as it might not really look like her that much (that was my first lifeportrait in a while, so need warming up and stuff - yes, excuses) I still quite like it.

Click to zoom.

There also is 2 new pages of eelcat published!

New Year & Christmas :P

It's a bit late, but I've been pretty busy lately.

This is a Christmasy artwork based on Riennahera's request:

Other things that have been happening are that I have been ill most of the time and still am. It is pretty annoying, I hate feeling not 100% well.

I also updated the Malin and the eelcat comic, entire 3 pages at once! Which I never do. Also a short statement can be found there.