Grayson Nullington Process

This was my first iteration of Grayson while I was still figuring out his personality.

As you can also guess, I was still figuring out how the heck armor worked. I was roasted pretty badly by my character design/worldbuilding professor for this one. But it lit a fire under me that day. I would understand how the heck armor worked.

I don't think this portrait was a bad drawing, I just wasn't satisfied with the persona I wanted to convey vs his outward appearance. I was going for a prince charming-golden-boy-pretty-boy vibe, and he looks angry and cocky, not pompous and snooty.

Here I used actual armor references, which was a good start. But the design was even further off from his design, it made him look too angular and competent, and less pathetic like I wanted.

For complete fun I drew him in a dress, but his facial features, hair style, and demeanor were actually way closer to how I was picturing him in my mind.

This is a reference sheet I made of him. There are parts that I like about it, but it still didn't look like him.

After wallowing in self-pity and taking a long break from drawing Grayson, I stumbled across some Instagram reels with guys who looked really similar to how I was picturing him.

Again, somehow I forgot my earlier lesson that references are super useful!

Not too long later I painted over his portrait to try to rearrange his features. I was so close I could taste it.

Here is the new version I came up with based on that doodle:

It's crazy how far he's come. It looks like he's giving the stink eye to his new design. I'm super happy with it!

(And I'm happy to report that I learned how the heck armor works in his newest version)

Watch him in his animatic here!