The first version of Josh/Knut had a huge nose. I made a small clay sculpture which seemed to be cute… but when I translated it into drawings his nose was enormous.
big-nose sculpture and sketchesYou can pick your friends......and you can pick your nose......but you can't pick your friend's nose.
His character was starting to come through here- alternately brave and afraid, with his faithful Viking dog Wolverine by his side. But the nose had to go, it’s far too big for a young boy.
Character design tip- Did you know that our ears and noses continue to grow for our whole lives? Babies and kids have small ears and noses compared to their head size, but older people have much bigger noses and ears. If you draw a character with big ears and a big nose, it will make them seem older. Unless of course your character is a baby elephant. In this case I’d recommend making their eyes much bigger than usual. The babies of all animals have bigger eyes than the adults, compared to their head size. Except those blind cave fish, they don’t have any eyes. And tadpoles, they’ve got tiny eyes. And… sorry where was I?
Right, yes, I was getting rid of Knut’s big nose.
The next version of Knut is the ‘pointy-chin’ version, you can see his nose is much smaller:
I’ll show you some more of this version next week, including an early watercolour sample.
James makes books for courageous kids. He’s the author/illustrator of the S.Tinker Inc graphic novel series for middle primary: Brobot (2016), Dungzilla (2017) and Gastronauts (2018) star Sally Tinker, the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve, and Joe Tinker, her stinky baby brother. The fourth in the series, Chickensaurus, is out in late 2020. He is also the illustrator of the Toffle Towers series written by Tim Harris. James’ earlier books My Dead Bunny (2015), In The Lion (2012), The Last Viking (2011) and The Last Viking Returns (2014) have all scored several honours, including children’s choice awards, shortlistings in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards, and selection to the International Youth Library’s White Raven list. The sequel to My dead Bunny - There's Something Weird About Lena - is out in late 2020. James comes from a long line of queuing enthusiasts. Follow him on FB/twitter/insta/youtube @jamesfoleybooks, or at www.jamesfoley.com.au .
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2 thoughts on “Creating the character of Knut- part 2”
Hi James, just wondering, do you always make a clay model for your characters? Philippa, Bencubbin
I tend to these days, for main characters at least. I haven’t done any models for the parents or grandparents or Gods in the story, only Knut. I will do one of Wolverine though. Really it’s a chance for me to fuss over ‘getting a character right’ and be all perfectionist 🙂
Hi James, just wondering, do you always make a clay model for your characters? Philippa, Bencubbin
Hi Philippa,
I tend to these days, for main characters at least. I haven’t done any models for the parents or grandparents or Gods in the story, only Knut. I will do one of Wolverine though. Really it’s a chance for me to fuss over ‘getting a character right’ and be all perfectionist 🙂