Girls out of hoods

I've been suffering from a lack of inspiration. Or, more honestly, a lack of accomplishment when trying to execute my inspiration. So I decided to get on with doing what I had been putting off: revamping old veeps. Since I've been doing witches, and the apprentice girl is one of my favourite from the pre-blog batch, I made a move on her.

There she is, on the right. The swoosh is a bit clunky and there's more lines than whitespace on the hat but all in all: woo.

I was thinking she was some kind of wind witch or apprentice that lived in the forest. A little bit red riding-hood.

Which was a nice enough idea.

I thought she'd end up completely redone, but in the end it was just small tweaks. One thing I was sorry to lose was the swoosh running from behind her legs to in front of her hand. Shame. Even tried to do it on one of the new witch girls but it just wasn't happening. I'm not displeased with the foreground swooshes now you understand, just something that might also have been cool.

So! I borrowed some leaves from a green man and that was the first variant done. Misc swooshes for the others. I'd have liked something different for the third, but I was at a loss for another way to represent a gust of wind or foresty power. I have a couple of failed experiments banked in case they're good for something else.

You know, except for #1's skirt these are pretty androgynous. #2 especially; fey but not necessarily feminine. A bit Peter Pan maybe, or a bit lost boys.

I'm happy with the level of outside-the-lines detailing on these. The shaping for the swooshes, #2's crinkled cape and #3's leaf-trous. Perhaps mushroom-head's spots would have been better as colour detail rather than linework, but that's just doubt speaking.

Things I don't like are mushroom head's cape. The shading is a bit forced, and the lines down the side are mysterious in their purpose. I reckon that'll be somewhere to pay attention if I come back for another pass.

Colour schemes came easier than I was used. I'm glad and surprised to have three coordinated and appropriate schemes here. It's been a stumbling block more times than I'm happy with.

Yeah, all in all I'm rather happy with these. Hooray!

Now, who to do next? One of the pirates would help flesh out that "tribe", or I've some knights I rather like. A woodsman archer with a novel pose that might fit with the witches. One of the early ones with plenty of room for improvement?

Undecided!