DESIGN TUESDAY: 2009-ish exploratory sketches, pt.5! (Patreon)

Here are a few more of the (many) exploratory design sketches I did back circa 2009 for an ultimately abortive project related to the SSX snowboarding videogame series. At this (very) early point in said project's development, I was just playing around with various potential approaches to the game's familiar cast; the project was cancelled long before I ever figured out a final take on any of the characters.

Still, I had a surprising amount of fun playing around with varied character design work for a few weeks, which is something I'd never done on a sustained basis before (or since, TBH).

This time around, we're wrapping up my sketches for Kaori, the Japanese snowboarder for whom I tried out many, many hairstyles, as you can see.

A few words:

In the note at lower left, I was probably thinking more of the really extreme Japanese yamamba style from the early 2000s, as opposed to the milder, less confrontational fashion variations of gyaru.

Most of these styles were photoreferenced from Japanese fashion magazines I picked up on my (then-)yearly post-SDCC trip to the Kinokiniya Bookstores in San Francisco.

That note at top is no joke, by the way; I don't think I saw a single photo of a Japanese girl with regular ol'  black hair in all the fashion ref I picked up. (Lotsa auburn tones, plus almost as much of that red-strand style.)

Probably have three or so more of the SSX developmental posts to go, though I might take a break from 'em for a bit.

TOMORROW ON THIS HERE PATREON: More Distressed Damsels content for the $5+ tiers, as usual on a Wednesday.

THURSDAY ON THIS HERE PATREON: Stand by for a special Design Thursday(?) feature, as I'll be posting a bit of old hardware/ mecha design tying into the day's Empowered vol.8 webcomic page. Golly!