Have you ever changed a character's design significantly?

UnTalAugustus 2023-05-17 17:40:37 UTC #1

Whether it's justified by the story or not.
In my case it wasn't XD

This character only appeared once before on Chapter 5 for a few pages, and now that he's going to be a little more prominent in the current storyline I wanted to upgrade his design (at least to me).

His new design is now better at portraying the principal ideas I had for him: Business man, building and turtle (It does make sense for the character, believe me).

Here are the chapters where he appears. To me, the difference is noticeable.

What about you, artists?

abigaillmartin 2023-05-17 18:08:53 UTC #2

Biggest one is Wellington

tarraxahum 2023-05-17 18:35:56 UTC #3

Oh yeah. In the developmental stage, not the comic run itself, admittedly, but still. Only the color scheme and the lip ring survived, really.

BlairFujin 2023-05-17 18:43:40 UTC #4

Well, some stuff has changed since the initial Vampire Prince I've been drawing in middle and high school...

and the current version

what growing up and figuring out what kind of designs make more sense for your story does to a person... apart from the main character, none of them look like they initially did 'xD
Ok, there is... one character who hasn't gone through pretty much any changes design-wise (but got completely different backstory and softer personality 'xD) - the other protagonist

Legendofgenii 2023-05-17 18:56:26 UTC #5

hakei 2023-05-17 20:06:58 UTC #6

Very much so haha — I scrapped the original character as I was drawing the story. Astaroth's design and his role was separated to be given to two other characters instead.

NickRowler 2023-05-17 20:26:40 UTC #7

So Frostpeak West are based off a bunch of old OCs from when I was a teenager but two of them were dramatically changed.

TAMARA

A. Is what the OC originally looked like and was called Tina
A2. shows her colors
B. Is her being reworked with darker eyes and purple hair.
C. shows a complete redesign
D. How she appears in the series

Why was she changed?
I really didn't know what to do with her as a character. Originally she had a personally way too similar to another character (Tune) where she was just sort of depressed and stoic. Her mom worked at the school but I ended up removing her mother and replacing the character with Ms. Rasa. I also changed her due to criticism about black characters in fantasy having white hair and blue eyes, and I didn't really want to cause any tension. I do still plan to have Tina appear as a BG character.

FARAH

A. Her original design with a hijah, has the name Tamara (aka Tammy)
B. An alternative design without a hijab and wearing glasses
C. The design I released for concept art
C2. A cleaned up version that appeared on the first cover
D. How she appears in the final comic

Why was she changed?
I wanted to swap their names. I also changed her design because when I first created this character (in 2009?) she was 18 and worked at the school. Because I switched her to a student and made her younger, I decided to remove the hijab.

river121693 2023-05-17 20:34:32 UTC #8

My character Ira was a girl all the way when I first thought of my story )

ButterflyEmpress 2023-05-17 21:25:57 UTC #9

I plan on rebooting my comic as a slice of life. I thought the colorful hair of the humans in my world to be obnoxious and I simplified the shape of the ears and tails so it's quicker to design and so they look like they're the same species.

Akina
Old

New

Niyu
Old

New

Nugtown 2023-05-17 21:48:09 UTC #10

I made some changes alright

stiatent 2023-05-17 22:59:27 UTC #11

yea happened a lot before publishing the current version of series on Tapas. Guess significant changes came with the switching of plot and character roles. Series Name/Link I'M ̶n̶o̶t̶ A SICK BOY!

Old versions Mr. Patchez as Mc, monsters were zombies

Evan had a more simple look and was the one spreading zombie virus

Current Version
Story changed to follow the lives of brothers Evan and Owen Moriarty and the character designs too. Instead both brothers are super-spreaders of a virus. Went for a more Shonen inspired vybe where superpowers are based on States of matter.

This is Evan now, he became a more action heavy character who uses his saliva to create an array of weapons.

Mr. Patchez is no longer a gun wielding merc and now a celebrity wrestler, Owen (the new MC) is a fan:

The infected are no longer Zombies but instead an organism that rapidly shifts through states of matter, can teleport, emit corrosive substances and combine with other organisms.

AmysGames 2023-05-18 03:57:09 UTC #12

By far the most extreme design shift I've done was this guy, who was basically scrapped and replaced with another character entirely, lol. (Left sketch is REALLY old)

abigaillmartin 2023-05-18 12:00:46 UTC #13

Sometimes you just gotta do that yah know?

GodbreakerComic 2023-05-18 14:09:07 UTC #14

Did I ever!

I was making my series a very traditional fantasy one... but I wasn't quite feeling it. It wasn't something that I felt was unique or special.

The original main crew

Left to right: Ravening, Ragna, Randy, Smoke

I told myself either I'm going to stop, or I'm going to completely reinvent the series. One massive tonal shift later and the series is now what I feel like it should have always been.

Ravening

Ragna

Randy

Smoke

powerplantanimations 2023-05-18 15:41:53 UTC #15

Yeh but for story reasons. Like Naota finding out he isn't a harem character, but more of a manwa character.

]

DasIstWunderblyat 2023-05-18 23:23:49 UTC #16

People will say "They make him a token minority."

(It's simply because I wanted to "grow out" my anime-inspired aesthetic and tried designs element I had never done before, which the changes are preserved now over time)

OneArtsyBeaver 2023-05-19 01:18:27 UTC #17

Oh yea! One of my main character's Huevo. I made him when I just started out so I didn't really know what I was doing and king of just eye balled it. But after going back over I've made some tweaks and now he looks so cute!

The current arc has him as the protagonist too! OWO

TheLemmaLlama 2023-05-20 08:25:42 UTC #18

I don't think I have, no XD It seems like when I end up putting a character to canvas, their appearance becomes solidified in my mind as part of who they are, and it becomes weird to think of them looking (too) different

(Unless you count any characters that share the same name as 'the same character', in which case yes, I have had characters in the past who I've scrapped but recycled their name for a new character XD)