Here is Why Character Design Teach You About Everything - Death Collector Process Video and PSD File

Hey everyone!

Here is the "Death Collector" process video, file, and brief insights. These kinds of articles are often split into two parts: the concept, where I explain the idea development, and the execution, where I explain the technical aspects of the illustration development. I hope you find this useful, as always.

Concept

The nurse idea is a concept I've found fascinating for quite a while. I just was not sure how to approach it properly. I searched for animal or prop references that shared white and red tonalities, as the references I've been saving of nurses share these two aspects. I found one particular picture of a "Dominican Red Mountain Boa" that had these characteristics and immediately thought of a character with a face full of blood. This vision helped me get that click I was looking for in a nurse context, basically a bloody scene where the nurse might be a little bit crazy.

While searching for more cloth references for the nurse, I thought of a series of props to position in the background to set the concept clearly enough, but something was missing. A long time ago, I thought about incorporating the popular concept of 'death.' This was a great opportunity since I was exploring a character related to health (life and death), so to speak. It would be interesting if he acted like a spectator of the scene, like a debt collector waiting for the nurse to do her 'job.' When you look at the final picture, it might initially seem that she is the one killing patients, mostly due to her facial expression. However, I thought the opposite could also be possible – that she's the one saving lives regardless of her dark look, with death just basically waiting for her to fail. Anyway, the list looked like this:

• Color: Red and White
• Reference: Snake
• Action: She is cutting someone and enjoying it. The death character is taking notes.
• Costume: Nurse uniform, war nurse, sneakers, doctor coat.

Here is a interesting fact about nurses, During World War II, nurses were often parachuted into war zones to treat the wounded. They were known as "Flight Nurses." These brave women would jump from aircraft, often in dangerous and combat-heavy zones, to provide medical aid to soldiers on the battlefield. This role was vital in improving the survival rates of injured soldiers, as it ensured they received prompt and efficient medical care. The courage and dedication of these flight nurses significantly contributed to the medical advancements during the war.

Execution

The original gesture I had in mind was about a nurse in the middle of action with a chainsaw in her hands, very bloody. But while exploring with shapes, I came up with a more simple yet interesting idea, which was about her taking a quick smoke break after a bloody procedure. Eventually, this initial idea opened the door for the "death character" gesture as an observer of the procedure. I thought of doing a more realistic skull design for death, but I really liked the initial sketch. It kind of had a softly surprised expression, in my opinion. This is one of those times where the sketch tends to look fine just the way it is, so instead of making corrections, I just refined the shape details but kept the big shapes intact, loyal to the initial idea.

While cleaning the shapes with lines, I started to integrate nurse costume information, but I noticed the lack of snake theme props. So, a way to balance this was by pushing the nurse's gesture and body shape a little more like an S. Ctrl-T + Warp in Photoshop is a very useful tool to try out these kinds of corrections. Additionally, on top of the nurse uniform, I explored different kinds of "slough" or "ecdysis" props, which refers to the term for the dead skin that snakes shed periodically. The way I integrated this concept was as a medical protective gown.

As for death, initially, the shape exploration suggested a more elegant approach, integrating a tie and pants, but while drawing, I often remembered the familiar look of death was a full-body cloak or robe. I thought it would be funny to keep the lab coat as a gesture of professionalism. 

Colors were simpler as I prioritized white and red for the base and added touches of blue and magenta. As for the shadows, I relied strongly on references this time because I liked how the cloth folds looked in both the doctor and nurse references. When approaching white-dressed characters, I recommend putting some time into balancing information within the cloth. I tend to push for realistic fabric, but feel free to try anything, as I think white acts as a great canvas for more ideas.

Conclusion

These characters and illustrations not only serve as a technical exercise for me but also educate me on concepts I would probably not try. Back in time, I used to focus on specific topics, but lately, I'm exploring so many random ideas that require me to do quick yet insightful research in order to grasp key aspects of the themes. I highly recommend you try this out, as the only consequence of these journeys is to enrich your perspective about the world, thus helping you build robust art.

Enjoy the PSD and Process video, and thank you for your support!