Retroband concepts

So in my previous post I said that phone doodling can sometimes be a starting point for a character design project I'm assigned to. When doodling, I'm rarely thinking about the end result - I'm just enjoying the process of drawing loosely. By keeping things free, the results remain simple and focussed on the essence of the character's personality. The bare minimum. I find that more conducive to the ideas process (see phone doodles 01, 02 & 03).

Subsequent refinement of these ideas is really the design process, where I shape out the specifics a little further:





With this first pass at the design stage I end up adding a few more ideas but try not to get too carried away with superfluous details - because at this stage it's all about finding the personalities and how their different designs work together.

Working loose and keeping the designs simple at the start, allows me to not get too attached to anything that doesn't work for the character. It also means exploring alternate ideas doesn't take long.