Works in Progress

There are some characters that I have tried designing over and over and over and just haven't been able to get right. For those of you who'd like to see the "creative process," this page is for you. And let me tell you, it's more like repeated, self-inflicted frustration anxiety than the romanticised "creative process." But anyway. You want to see pictures.

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Lots of people have asked me to draw her. I've tried.

The problem I have with trying to draw McGonagall is that I have a very clear impression of her character, but when I try to draw her character, I end up with someone who doesn't look like how I picture her looking. I think most of the problem is with her hair, not being very angular. So I tried going really angular (the middle one) and it just looked silly, so I made it look even sillier with some silly features.

Another problem is that since I've read the books, Chicken Run has come out, and Mrs. Tweedy looks almost exactly like McGonagall would had she been designed by the folks at Aardman, she's got the looks and the visual character. The one on the end is, so far, the one I like best, but it's still not really what I want.

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody

. . . has been the hardest of any character I've tried designing so far.

Those last three small ones were done in extremely light blue pencil which I hadn't bothered to put a black line on, because I disliked the drawings so much. I made them as legible as possible on the computer but couldn't get them too high in contrast without making it look like an explosion at a charcoal factory.

I'd say probably the closest I've gotten is the one to the left of the three grey sketches, and that's still not even close to how I picture him.

Back to the Main Art Page with you, now...