Bringing A Look To Life: Tips

For my first ever collaboration, our theme is HellBoy: The Golden Army, which features a superb amount of creatures and special effects to bring them to life. When trying to mimic one of these creatures, a particular character, or maybe even something of your own design, it helps to use a process. I'm not trying to knock on people who just wing it, I did that with makeup for years, but conceptualizing and planning definitely does help. I was tasked with bringing HellBoy (which I gender swapped to HellGirl) to life, and this is what I used:

Reference Photos:
Trying to get several angles and views of your character is really important in terms of being consistent and (if authenticity is your aim) getting all the little details. My reference photos were of several different interpretations of the character so I could pick elements that I liked from each one.

 

Face Chart:

I would recommend filling out a face chart if the look is really complex. Those are always great to make side notes on as well, since they're a physical representation of what you want. For this look, I thought out the face chart in my mind, and if you can do that, that's great! But sometimes a physical thing you can hold in your hands and look at definitely helps with the overall direction of the look.  

Execution:
In this stage, if you're a perfectionist like me, just remember that if you mess up, you can start over and try again. This stage is always a learning process anyway.

Final Look:
Honestly, I love how this one came out the first time. However, sometimes it isn't always that simple, and that's to be expected. Remember, practice actually does make perfect.

-ACertainGemini