Rex

Here is my final character called 'Rex', from the traditional 'Werewolf' character. I really wanted Rex to be the rebellious looking one, that looks as if he is very self righteous and proud, like that of a wolf as the leader of the pack. Keeping this frame in mind, i wanted to make him more muscular and threatening that the other characters, but still to be careful and keep that cartoon and funny element within the drawings. To make him look more superior, i added studded bracelets, a tattoo and some camouflage shorts to make him stand out from the others. However, to keep that 'funny' side to him, i stuck true to my traditional method of styling the faces. This really made the difference, and although he looks tougher he still looks fun. To further highlight his tougher physique, i added more muscular qualities and also made his stance one in which he is flexing his biceps. In expressing these ideas, i believe i am constantly giving my figures more and more personality. From his pose, clothing and personal style you can determine that Rex is a tougher character more so than the rest, or at least you are led to believe he is ;].

Once i was happy with the sketch, i followed the same Photoshop procedure. however, this time i wanted to add the camouflage pattern other shorts. When i did this, i noticed the pattern didn't fold around the creases in the clothing at all. it is then i learned how to use the displacement tool within the Photoshop software. To do this, i had to make two separate layers, one for colour and the other for shading. Once i completed those two layers, i had to merge them and copy the selection into a new channel. I then copied that channel into a separate image and labeled it 'shorts'. Once that was complete, i selected the shorts layer on the original image and painted the pattern over the top. To make the pattern look more realistic, i used he free transform tool and changed the perspective of the pattern so it flowed in the correct way. once that was completed, i then made the selection, went into the tool bar and made the displacement happen. I had to then select the previously saved 'shorts' image to overlap on the top of the original layer, i then made the selection, inversed it and cut the remaining away. The final touch was to swap both 'shorts' layers around and make them overlay using the filter menu. It was then the clothing successfully creased around the folds i had shadowed. This was the perfect and finishing touch i was looking for, and made me feel achieved to have learned something new whilst drawing out the design. Overall i enjoyed doing Rex because of his new, definitive structure that gave him his personality.