‘Magical Girl Support Group’ comic - Protagonist Character Design Process
Character design process for Nova Lovelace, the protagonist of my WIP webcomic ‘Magical Girl Support Group’.
As the overall tone of the story shifted, it was only natural that Nova’s design went through a similar shift into drier accent colours, expressions, and costume designs. She still holds some of the lighter aspects, such as the puff sleeves and coral pink bow, but these seek to ensure the design doesn’t beer too far into the gothic.
Rough sketch, early designs were heavy in pastel tones and softer star motifs, and the anime-heavy style also changed
A turn around sheet, before the tone shift/style change
Expression and style experimentation, again before the tone shift, though this can be seen in the more grim sketches and expressions on this sheet.
An atte,pt at mimicking the noise and fuzz of old 90’s anime VHS tapes, with Nova’s old design.
This rough illustration was actually the turning point for the tonal shift- I actually enjoyed the grittier more serious vibe of this piece and began making changes to the story line
An overall view of how Nova’s design shifted
A mood test comic
A closer view at Nova’s new design, and rough weapon designs (shield and staff)
Final costume and character design.