Beth Redesign

Character expression sheet for Beth's redesign.

As artistic skill improves, so occasionally must the design of one's cartoon characters.

I've pretty much drawn Beth the same way since the day I finally figured out the significance of construction drawing (a very nice tutorial on that here by the way).  For a while I drew her head as an egg-shape, but the trouble was always how long to make her nose.  It was never consistent.

I've changed Beth's head to be two separate circles for the head and the muzzle, which has several benefits:

1. A circle looks the same from all directions, so it's much easier to think of it in 3D.  
2. It helps establish the placement and boundaries of her mouth and prevents me from drawing her nose too big (which has been an issue in the past).
3. Beth's a hamster.  Have you seen a hamster's muzzle?  Hold that thought...

Pocket-sized adorableness.

They got the round nose thing going on, so it fits with her species.  (btw, the hamster in the photo is the real-life Beth the hamster.)

The final bit of the redesign is her hair (er... headfur?).  I've always drawn her with no hairstyle whatsoever, but most of my other important characters had some suggestion of a hairstyle. Beth looked  like an extra in her own cartoon.

I decided on a half-way point between her parents' hairstyles with a lot of extra bed-head thrown in.  Three lines facing forward and two facing back over the base of the closest ear.  This lends itself to more expressiveness, like standing on end when scared or drooping when tired.

Earworm of the day: have we done Raver's Fantasy yet?  We have now.