Yesterday I finished off creating a history for my character, giving me an idea of what and who he is. My starting point is that he is a smith, not in the best of places, at war with the Elves and is among others of his race. With these ideas (and others in the history) I had started getting an idea of what he would look like. I decided to start off by coming up with clothing first. I was quite happy with the ideas I came up to start with. My initial sketch of a top seemed too much of an unnecessary piece of clothing, something a poor community at war would not use. I redesigned it as something similar to an apron, something with functionality and purpose. I wanted to give him some sleeves as well so I gave him an undershirt too. Boots wise I wanted something heavy and quite elaborate as a smith would need hard boots anyway so they may as well be nice! I came up with boots that have layers on them which I though looked good. I then came up with a rough design for his hammer as every smith would need one.
Next I decided to stay with the same design and try to take it forward, give it more of a finished look. I gave the apron a belt to keep it tight to the body, keeping it out of the way of my characters work. I also added pockets onto the legs and the chest for tools to sit in. I decided to make trousers and shirt out of the same material, something light like cotton so that it would be breathable. The apron was also extended to cover the top of Dwarfs legs, stopping burns. I kept the same boot design as originally drawn. I then drew the costume in a pose that would be commonly seen in a smithy. I quite like how it sits on a worker but would like to add something to the upper apron but I do not know yet. Once I am happy with the apron I will probably start to work on faces and facial hair.
