Character Growth
Have you ever flipped through an old high-school year book and laughed at how you and your friends used to look like?
I did the same thing today, with the cast page of Terence N. Tijuana. Duuuude!
The characters looked so different (and ridiculous) back then.
This made me compile some pics to show how they’ve grown over the months (’grown’ being a respectful cover-up term for ‘inconsistency’).
Take a look:
The dudes:
Ace Pilot: Terence N. Tijuana’s defacto main character is easily the face I draw the most frequent, and it’s also the most flexible in terms of expressiveness. In the beginning, though, he was seriously the hardest to draw consistently. I’ve filled pages with sketches of Ace, because I just couldn’t get the shape of his hair right.
General: The General looks less kid-like nowadays, although I always intended to inject a certain childish quality into his design to reflect his blundering personality. He’s also relatively easy to draw from all angles.
Helmsman: Formerly known as ‘Main Pilot’ until I renamed him, he’s made very few appearances so far. I don’t know why I don’t draw this dude more often, his spiky hair requires no effort. His design hasn’t changed much from the original.
Rookie Pilot: Rookie’s design was an adaptation of the main character (Trent) from my previous comic, t-n-t. Since I’d had lots of practice with his predecessor, he wasn’t hard to draw and I’ve managed to maintain consistency (ergo, no growth).
The ladies:
Captain: This fine lady has certainly morphed drastically from her original design. She’s the most mature character (although she acts silly occasionally) and the original design was just too… cartoonish for me. Of all the cast members, her eyes give me the most trouble because I can’t distort them much (for expressions) or she’ll look like another person. Her hair is the most fun to draw. It’s CRAZY!
Chief Engineer: She’s another character who’s undergone a fair amount of transformation. I found the original unappealing: small eyes spaced wide apart, squarish jaw, huge mouth. I must’ve been drunk when I designed her 
. Her most challenging angle is her side profile.
Doctor: Formerly known as ‘Medical Officer’, this character has been very quiet lately. She’s supposed to be the youngest and smallest, hence her large, manga-esque eyes. I haven’t had much opportunity to give her wild expressions, so I’m still ‘getting to know her’.
General’s Wife: The General’s Wife, like her spouse, has ‘grown-up’ quite a bit. She’s also pretty easy to draw.
Trivia!
(Because trivia is uncomplicated and requires no cohesive planning)
The General and his wife basically share the same face, with different hair slapped on.
Other than the couple, all the characters have different eye designs.
Helmsman and Rookie Pilot share the same ear design.
Ace Pilot is the only character with no ears or eyebrows. (Some of the ladies’ ears are covered by hair)
The married couple share the same nose, but all the other characters have unique nose designs. Chief Engineer’s is close to the couple’s, but lacks the extra ’stroke’ across the top. Rookie Pilot’s and Doctor’s are similar, but his is curved whereas hers is angular.
All the female characters have double-coloured pupils except Chief Engineer. All the male characters have single-coloured pupils except the General.
Captain is the only character with lips.
