Like every other aspect of story-telling, characters have to come from a place "you know". Either within or without... So I started back tracking my memory for stories I new well that had strong characters to create visually...
First stop: The Great Brain book series. There are seven of these gems, written by John D. Fitgerald. They are about a boy Tom and his self-proclaimed "Great Brain" and his coniving money-loving heart's exploits in 1890's southwest Utah. The stories are told from the first person perspective of Tom's admiring younger brother John with a Mark Twain style. It's hands down my favorite series of books. The covers and interior illustrations are handled by the legendary Mercer Mayer...
And there in lies the challenge. While there aren't a lot of illustrations in the book. The ones that exist are iconic in terms of visualizing the main characters... so my goal is to pay a certain homage to Mercer Mayer without completely copping his style. I started by working on some of the child characters who have little if any visual depiction, but had great potential and verbal description. Next I started on some of the adult characters including my favorite - the outlaw "Cal Roberts"!
Here's the first line up of shapes...
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