Creating Vanilla {Process Post}

Hello, today I will like to share some of the process of creating this month's pin theme. I had a lot of love and a lot of indecisions going through this creation and spent much time sketching her design, even though I am only going to use her for one month! But because I drew so much and saved the sketches, I thought it will be neat to share some quick thoughts as I was working through it. ^^ 

Part 1: Concept 

I knew for this month I wanted to do a Vanilla themed character. At first, my idea was to do a gijinka for Vanilla ice cream. She is going to be a dark skin character with lovely creamy vanilla color hair. So I started with sketching how she will look. 

The very first sketch on the left was based on the idea of vanilla ice cream. She will wear a modern kimono style outfit (I don't know why...) with accents of vanilla flower. 

I think after that sketch I felt that the vanilla ice cream part won't work out and she will now represent the vanilla flower plant. So I went with a more greenhouse theme and started playing with more of a modern wear with a clear coat. 

After that sketch was done I pretty much got a feel for the character and moved on.

Part 2: Refining

Normally, I only try a few similar outfits for designs but in this case, I wanted her to look really cool so I did a few outfit styles. I don't know why I suddenly added a bun to her hair but when I did, it makes sense for me since, vanilla ice cream cone! So I stick with it. 

Her first outfit was the one I chose to go with in the end. I thought it felt really greenhouse and easy to make as a pin. (note that because I drew the pin after the outfit, I had to make some changes to the pin outfit color and some pin design restrictions). I basically copy and paste her three times to quickly sketch her clothes. 

Her second outfit was my backup and I almost went with it. I ended up not going with it because it was a bit hard for me to draw actually haha. But it was a oversize looking raincoat that is half canvas and half transparency with a clear hood. I thought it looks really cool but it was heavy looking in the end. I want to keep it and say that it is her outfit while it's really rainy.

Her third outfit was more of a boyish look and I think the reason why I didn't go for it was because she looks like an officer and not a gardener. 

Thoughts on Color

For this theme, I went with the colors of the vanilla plant so yellows (flower) and greens (leaf) with hints of black (dried vanilla bean). I didn't change the color that much because after I color in my first outfit, my thought was: THIS IS IT and pretty much didn't try other color combinations. It really helps a lot when you do a theme and the colors are already there for you u v u;;

Part 3: Character Sheet

I drew this yesterday (so after everything is done) while thinking that it will be cool to start making sheets of my character designs. This is sorta a test character concept sheet so I am still working on it and it is just a simple one (no back/side view). So I picked up my sketch, relined it and fixed it up and add some design elements onto it. 

Now that I think about it, it's sad that I never got to draw her shoes because I put some thought into it. It's pretty fun to put all my thoughts about the character into one page and actually wrote done notes of ideas that were just floating around in my head while working on her. 

The character sheet is a bit hard to read so I uploaded an attached file underneath this post. 

Thanks so much for reading this! It's a bit of a ramble so I am glad that I am able to share my thoughts on this because when I post on Twitter I can only write so much!