Akut Character Design Process

So, here are the steps taken to get where I wanted the design of Akut to be.

I started out experimenting with body shapes. I was happy with the face and think that I should have kept it skinnier, as shown here.

Originally, I was going to have Akut hanging from the war canoe, while making his way on board, but upon further investigation, these canoes didn't seem to sit high in the water. They were big, just not high, like this. I did like the idea of him hanging, though.

I was satisfied with this layout and instead of inking right over the colored pencils, I did that with a projector, which the final version before coloring, is below.

Akut

So, I've decided to have some fun with character designs, using protagonists and probably antagonists from books recently or currently reading. I'm kind of taking the approach of showing them how they could look for an animated film or picture book, or something.

This is Akut from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs at that moment when he makes the proverbial step from one world into another. 

Tomorrow, I'll show the process of getting to this point.