Overview

The goal of this assignment was to envision the look of Captain Compassion  and her companion Kid Kinder. One of the main objectives was to assure that Kid Kinder’s design reflected his African American heritage while also maintaining elements of the original design.

Design Influences

Looking at the reference images supplied for this project I could tell the original artist took a lot of influence from Akira Toriyama. A popular manga artist known for his work on the DrgaonBall Z series. Manga and anime have had a dramatic impact on children’s media in the last 10 years, but this style is very distinctive and does not easily translate features associated with folks of African heritage. My designs were primarily influenced by the work of Shiyoon Kim, Spiderman Into the Spiderverse, and Rebecca Sugar, Steven Universe. Though subtle, both artists have derived elements of their work from anime and manga.

Sketch Studies

To find the look and feel I went back to the source. Sketching from images that I felt matched the aesthetic I was trying to achieve. Trying to first find the balance between current style and client preferences. I ultimately referenced images of myself at the approximate age of Kid Kinder between 8 to 10 years of age.

Style

I settled on this style which I felt lay somewhere between cartoonie and realistic.

Full Body Style Application

When I initially applied the established style to full body sketches of the characters it was angular and straight edge, closer to a traditional comic. The design moved further away from the caricature initially settled upon.

Refinement

After establishing an initial look and feel I wanted to make sure that I was not deviating too much from the original design.

• Hair: The first refinement was to incorporate the previous hairstyle design.
• Balancing: Then I thought rounding out the design would get me closer to the original design and maintain more ethnically correct aspects.