T Lyons - Character Design

2023 CHARACTERS

Happy New Year. This is an amalgamation of 2023 character production. It was a fun and interesting process. Create, listen, watch, and learn. Create happy.

"Characters 2023" 11.5 x 25 in. Giclee. December 2023

DECEMBER CHARACTER 2023

In the spirit of the season, as I was exploring interior vehicle design the thought to create a futuristic sleigh for Santa Claus came to mind. This months characters followed the idea of the initial interior sleigh design. Santa's Little Helpers are more humanistic than anything else. Enjoy the ride.

"Santa's Little Helpers" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. December 2023

"Elf Left Portrait" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. December 2023

"Futuristic Sleigh Interior". 11 x 17 in. Giclee. December 2023. Initial interior design.

NOVEMBER CHARACTER 2023

Routine enforcement guarding the palace in the clouds, this dragon warrior has taken off her helmet to identify who she is in her group. The keywords I thought of for this character were dragon warrior, knight metal armor with a futuristic feel, red head, and palace in the clouds. I created the breast plate, helmet, and floating palace in Zbrush. Using the forms I then painted them into Photoshop document. All scales, decoration, patterns, props, dragon vehicle, and forms were created from scratch from what I had in mind.

"Dragon Warrior Rider 4" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. November 2023.

"Dragon Warrior Rider 4 Portrait" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. November 2023.

OCTOBER CHARACTER 2023

This Halloween witch character was created and inspired by Inktober 2023 and personal past wtich illustrations. This witch has a futuristic upgraded broom for transport and clothing that has a bit of steampunk appeal. She is feminine and beautiful with a smile to put you at ease. She is surfing the skies with her broom and wand in hand. This design has been sketched from my mind and being constructed in Photoshop. The vehicle was created in ZBrush. All other space elements, textures, planets, clouds, and all other items in this image are original designs I created from scratch.

"Cloud Surfing" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. October 2023.

"Steampunk Witch Portrait" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. October 2023. October character portrait.

SEPTEMBER CHARACTER 2023

Septembers character is a "Female Mongrel Bot" with super powers to create any type of wave lengths, shock, sonar, sound, vibration, as well as at a micro biologic molecular level. She is feminine with long hair and lace like clothing. The metal is adorned with floral and geometric patterns with a feminine touch showing her taste and aesthetic. I wanted to juxtapose metal and lace, hard surface and textile, creature, human, and robot. She is part creature and bot with humanoid features. Her hands and fingers are elongated to wield her superpowers. She is beautiful to falsely put her targets or opponents at ease.

Every part of this image I have created from scratch and then placed in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to render this in digital form. All characters, textures, brushes, patterns, accessories, floral designs and geometric chevron patterns, female face and body, even the metal jewel boot buckle and ribbons are all generated from my mind. I enjoyed creating her and all parts to make the whole.

"Female Mongrel Bot" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. September 2023.

WIP Female Mongrel Bot screenshot September 2023

Female Mongrel Bot Screenshot September 2023

September "Female Mongrel Bot" Screenshots. September 2023.

AUGUST CHARACTER 2023

Adventure awaits. Futuristic time travelers looking to take you along for an out of this world experience. Thinking of AR-V props and characters. The portal was the focus of these August characters and humanoid options for an augmented reality experience.

"Futuristic Time Travelers" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. August 2023.

Female August Character 2023

Male and Female August Characters 2023

Work in Progress. Screenshots of August Time Traveler Characters. August 2023.

JULY CHARACTER 2023

A mermaid princess underwater with long fins and hair was this months idea. This is a quick rendering of the idea for future exploration and painting. The background was included for world building. Keywords: Long fin, mermaid, princess, long hair, feminine detail.

"Mermaid Princess" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 07.31.2023

"Mermaid Princess Dev" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 07.31.2023

Character Development

JUNE CHARACTER LINEUP 2023

June was all about the lineup. I created these characters to work together and their squad is called TEAM A6. I wanted a post apocalyptic human mutated with machine in the direction of AI bots for this futuristic lineup. Each character has their own weaponry and specialties. Keywords for this month: post-apocalyptic, machine parts, organic human parts, alien technology, elemental weaponry and power, futuristic fusion.

"Team A6" 14.413 x 18.33 in. Giclee. 06.2023

June Character Lineup.

Team A6 members in action.

Team A6 Props. Each member has their own weaponry and power. 06.2023

MAY CHARACTER 2023

My May character began with a brainstorming sketch and all the props that go with the Space fighter below. I wanted a blond male enforcement or military fighter to save those endangered by whatever comes up out of the depths of the galaxy. Located between planets in the heavens where there are still clouds and the sun, yet still necessary to gear up to protect against the entrance to space is called home. The props would include a double sword staff, single blade sword, helmet, combat protective gear and boots that propel the individual in space. A little sidekick personal multipurpose drone, a single man hover vehicle, and larger protective combat ship are included in the frame.

The final frame includes a vehicle hanger and spaceship platform located away from the main planet grouping for deployment against attack. An attacking alienoid is trying to eliminate Union Junction that has put up the defense barrier to ward off annihilation. Fighters are on their way to defend against the attack. Attack in the Clouds is a collection of elements all created from my mind eye. This is the first edition. Future elements would include elements of humor and human emotions and gestural interactions. All elements were created using Adobe Photoshop and ZBrush. Finished all in Photoshop.

May Character 2023

"Attack in the Clouds" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 05.2023

May Character 2023. "Attack in the Clouds" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 05.2023

Included above is the development of the ideas in my head, which include a single man hover vehicle, personal scout multipurpose scout drone, single and double blade swords, combat ship, monster alienoid angle exploration, character turnabout, and closeup. All elements developed and finished in ZBrush, Adobe Dimension and Photoshop.

APRIL CHARACTER(S) 2023

The world of Faye. I am in the process of building this IP around Faye. April has two fairy bubble gun fighters. I wanted to have floral elements and props, border realistic female heroine fairies along with a male masculine king. A quick background and different female fairies were drawn to get an idea of the social makeup of these fairies in their environment.

April Character 1

"Fancy Dancer Fairy Fighter 1" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 04.2023

Forest fairy keywords: chrysanthemum flower costume, iridescent, light, movement, feminine, bubble revolvers, long hair, and butterfly wings.

April Character 2

"Lily Fairy Fighter 2" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 04.2023

Fairy keywords: dragonfly wings, lily shape clothing, floral accessories, floral tattoos, bubble guns, philodendron background, dark values, and movement.

Initial sketch character development, setup, exploration, and world building. I developed Faye characters for my personal IP development. Currently in early development stages.

MARCH CHARACTER 2023

The heroine and theme created for this month was based off of select keywords including futuristic, princess, charging station, elemental sword, feminine, and vintage leather accessories. The environment, props (sword, orb scout drone, patterns, and textures) were inspired by keywords. Images of process, color studies, character refining, playing card template setup, sword, drone, and asset development are included below.

March Character

"Electrifying Serin" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 03.2023

All assets were created and finished using ZBrush and Adobe Photoshop.

"Electrifying Serin" keywords, orb scout drone exploration, character sketches, vehicle, crown, elemental sword and trading card template creation process images.

FEBRUARY CHARACTERS 2023

My February characters were created as a set of male and female. Different themes and styles were used for ideas and exploration. Several spinoffs were mostly inspired by my handsome futuristic male humanoid character.

"Move" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 02.2023

Another spinoff from my February Character set. In this space themed setting, my male bot was placed next to a space craft in deep thought before stepping off to explore. The key words used are futuristic, android bot, space craft and Mars color hue variants. My favorite.

"Maintenance" 11 x 17 in. Giclee. 02.2023

This spinoff was inspired by what it would take to maintain a droid. Several themes came to mind. Using the liquid chrome and metal theme from several months ago, I placed the male bot in liquid and captured the bot starting to emerge all bright, shiny, and renewed.

February Character Design

"Lovers" 11 x 17 in. and 12 x 12.5 in. Different versions. Giclee. February 2023

"Lovers" inspired multiple versions. The design began at top left and then morphed into different colors, variations and theme designed heart background. Characters began in Zbrush and finished in Adobe Photoshop. Background and assets created in Photoshop.

JANUARY CHARACTERS 2023

A goal this year is to create at least one monthly character using different styles, techniques, themes, and key words. Spinoffs will be added as time allows. See below.

January heroine 2023.

"Nordic Fem Retro" 8.64 x 9.59 in. v. 13/14 Giclee. January 2023

Nordic Fem began as a character heroine digital painting with an environment background. Working on different projects at one time, I began adding elements and effects to the file like adding a ZBrush element for a futuristic feel. Through this process of creating different elements and combining them to get the feel of this character there was an enjoyable background and media evolution that morphed into graphic design and ultimately became more of an exploration and experimentation with flat and dimensional versions.

"Nordic Fem Retro" 8.64 x 9.59 in. v. 13/14.2. "Nordic Fem" 8.64 x 9.59 in. v. 13/14.2. "Nordic Fem Effect" 12 x 17 in. Digital painting. January 2023

"Chromatic Aberration" 32/56. 18 x 24 inch. Giclee. January 2023.

"Chromatic Aberration" was created beginning with a sculpted ZBrush female character form and then finished in Adobe Photoshop. All elements in the background were created in Photoshop. Keywords: fluidity, emblem design, transparency, rhythm, color manipulation, aged and layered texture, digital painting, and focus on the female human form. Play on words. January 2023.

"Chromatic Aberration" - Artistic variations and manipulations of the same digital file.

("Chromatic Aberration" v. 54/56, 56/56, 53/56) January 2023.