Big Project: Jay Demon Hunter. Feedback very welcome!

[superkip]

I have been working on a big project for some months now. However it is still on the backburner, because there is another project I wish to finish first.
So right now I am just sort of low key designing characters, creatures and environments and slowly working my way towards a first draft.
Feedback at this stage is very welcome.

The current working title is "Jay - Demon Hunter" and it is going to be a fantasy, action-adventure comic/manga about a demonhunting shapeshifting desert witch, a half-demon refugee librarian and a mysterious cloaked sword-wielding lady going on an epic quest.

I want to try pitch this to some publishers in the future. I have my eye on some Dutch, Belgian and German publishers.

Let's first introduce some characters. These are all very early stage designs, so they are still prone to changing.

Main characters
Jay

Demon hunter, living in the desert. Was taught the trade by an old
desert witch. Has the ability to see people's colours (auras) and has
very unusual colours themselves.
Very muscled and solid. Has dark features, a short Mohawk, wears a lot
of jewellery and is covered with Hindu inspired tattoos. Can shapeshift
and changes sex by will, but is gender fluid. Male and female physique
is very much alike.
Loves to be around people, but feels rather awkward interacting with them. Is a demon tracker, but has never yet killed a demon.

Mika

Male half-demon, who does not know his own heritage. Never knew his
father. Is the librarian in a small desert town. Is a refugee from the
grand city of Raniya.
Tall man with dark skin, curly hair and four arms. Has a runner’s
physique. Wears capes of wide, billowing shirts to hide his extra arms.
Is a bit uncertain about how people will react to his inhuman
appearance, so he is overly friendly and loud to compensate. Is a very
cuddly person.

Asira

Is a traveller from beyond the desert. Is an adept sword fighter. Demons
have her father trapped and she needs the jewel of Ime to free him.
Small human woman, wearing robes that cover everything but her eyes. Has dark skin, dark eyes and strong eyebrows.
Is strict and keeps her eyes on the goal. Is very clever, but can come
across as cold, distant and caclulating. Has some prejudice against
demons, because demons took her father.

Side characters
Per

Demon king of Raniya.
Very tall, all bones, has horns and large wings. Has no eyes on his face, but the rest of his skin is covered with them.

Neela

Tiny, young girl with dark skin and frizzy hair put up in buns.
Has to take care of her sick mother. Sells flowers to help support her family.

Esra

Leader of the resistance.
Red-haired, strict looking, Fae woman.

Zahrah

The old desert witch. Used to be teacher of Jay. Lived in an old shack in the desert.
Is a tiny, old, human woman covered in tattoos and jewellery. Is very
skinny, but not frail and wears old scraps for clothes. Walks around
barefoot.
Is currently deceased and “has become part of the desert”.
Creatures

Sanddemon

Small predatory, animalistic, fox-like demons, with bodies made entirely from sand.
Live in packs in the desert.

[superkip]

Here is how I came to these current character designs.

Jay

Jay is the eldest of all the characters (in their creation not their age in the story). So the first pictures above are actually from winter 2014, right up untill the "paper" turns beige.

Mika

Asira

Neela

Esra

Zahrah

[superkip]

Of course, I am also doing loads and loads of studies!

Character Studies
Jay
Expressions

Poses

Other

Mika
Expressions

Poses

Other

Asira
Expressions

Poses

Neela
Poses

Esra
Poses

Environments:
Right now, I am not very comfortable making landscapes myself, so all of these are from reference.

Desert

Desert Cities

Desert Towns

[moirae]

Whoa, that's a lot of art. Is there any area in particular you want critiquing on?

One thing that stands out to me is the expressions / character studies. Looking at Jay, it seems to me that you are using the exact same head shape over and over whilst swapping out different eyes and mouths. When someone opens their mouth the entire length of the head is increased because the jaw has moved down. In some of your images his chin stays in the same place whether his mouth is open or closed. You compensate for this by making his nose shorter to make all the features fit. Also when you smile, your cheek muscles bunch up, changing the shape of the face to some degree.
In short some real life expression studies would make your faces more interesting.

[superkip]

@moirae
Feedback on the character designs and poses (particularly of the guy with four arms) would be super helpful.

Thank you very much for the feedback. I immediatly saw what you meant: I completely neglected the squash and stretch in the faces. I will work on that. I might fix these I already made to be able to still use them in character sheets.

[Schell]

Wow, this is pretty cool so far, and a lot of work. I wish you the best of luck with this. I also just realized how old this post is, and hope I'm not jumping in too late.

I would say to keep pushing to exaggerate your character's expressions. It might be worthwhile to do pose studies for emotions and story moments too. With a sort of mainstream animation style like this, I think the emotional and character building scenes would be just as or even more important than your action scenes, and nailing the poses in these would probably be key to telling your story.

Also, don't forget to build up the world around your characters as well. You may have just not gotten to that yet, but it's just as important as the characters. Think of how boring Batman would be, if the story didn't take place in Gotham city.

Hope this helps.

[superkip]

Thank you for the feedback!

You are not too late, the development is still really early stages, so it will take quite some time before I will actually start doing something with it.

You are right. I haven't gotten to it yet, but there will be a lot more character studies, including poses for emotions.

I am working really hard on the world building as well. The areas that the first part of the story takes place in is pretty well thought out in my head, but I still have to put it on paper. I will be doing a lot of designing for the deserts and the cities in the near future.