For me, character design is either very easy or very difficult - there’s never any in-between. A great, appealing chacater will slide off my pencil or pen instantly fully realized, or else I doodle and sketch for days/weeks and finally get there - or not. Coming up with characters for The Boids has been a mix, mostly because I’ve been unsure on the “look and feel” I want.

My first thought was for something that would be quick and energetic to produce. I’ve always enjoyed the strip Mutts by Patrick McDonnell for it’s energy and easy humor, but I’m just not THAT loose when I draw. I briefly thought of pencil sketching along the lines of Lackadaisy, which is gorgeous, but I’d go nuts trying to draw that much detail for each strip! So I’ve been trying to find my way…

I want all of the birds in Boids to at least resemble the actual species they represent, so no over-the-top caricatures. It might make it difficult to show individuality amongst species, but I’ll work on some distinct looks to match personalities as I go along. Here’s a couple sketches of what I’ve been doing thus far… Enjoy!

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