Fairy Tales Challenge - Candy Merchant Witch

#1

Starting a bit late oops! Its my first time trying a Flipped Normals challenge, so I’m hoping I can finish in time with a result I’m happy with, we’ll see how I go! :sweat_smile: We’ll fly through the process I hope.

The character I chose to adapt was the witch from the Hansel and Gretel fairy-tale, the one who lives in a house of sweets. I was flipping between this one and Thumbelina, but I thought that choosing the witch would give more variety, and maybe a lot of colour.

Reference Sheet:

dd
dd1463×1348 890 KB

As I was collecting ref the character changed in my head from a passive NPC to a somewhat chaotic neutral “Willy Wonka” -esque person. So I really want to lean into the eccentric old woman, and give her lots of bright colours while still sticking with a fantasy clothing type.

First Concept Sketch:

CandyWitch_01
CandyWitch_01544×1081 184 KB

[EDIT: current progress]

Illustration2
Illustration21504×817 309 KB

3 Likes
#2

Update number one! Heres a basic blockout of the witch, basically just looking at large shapes and fleshing out the clothes a bit more.

CandyWitch_02
CandyWitch_02593×715 129 KB

CandyWitch_3n4Combined
CandyWitch_3n4Combined944×692 191 KB

The eye colour and the nail paint/finger staining is mostly placeholder so I can test some colourings. Before I get into detailing I would appreciate feedback on the overall shape.

I also need to think a bit more on how to incorporate more candy into her outfit/design…

1 Like
#3

did a bit of a paintover today to help me figure out where to go next as I was struggling a bit with colours and costuming.

compare
compare1180×711 354 KB

As you may see, im still struggling :joy::joy:but she looks more like she lives in a candy house now so I’m happy for now! My next steps will be sculpting and adding some details along with those placeholder colours so I can see how it looks!

4 Likes
#4

I love this paint over! Really hits the look of the character.

1 Like
#5

Thank you! :smiley:

#6

Update!
I’m about halfway through my first modelling pass right now. I’ve been refining shapes and adding some major folds to clothes. Once more, I am 100% second guessing the colouring so that will probably change in the near future, but overall I’m happy with how the sculpt is coming along. I will be using Substance painter for a lot of the candy textures so I won’t be adding a lot of those finer details (sugar coating, etc) while sculpting.

Illustration2
Illustration21504×817 309 KB

Currently the most happy with the head, keeping the wrinkles stylized and trying not to go overboard. S/o to my friend who suggested the liquorice hairties, those are a lot of fun!

Comparess.PNG
Comparess.PNG1410×824 266 KB

I’ll be continuing my sculpting pass after I mess around in PS with some filters to see if I can fix these colours… Also will start to think about how I want to present it, will be looking for ideas for props and whatnot.

4 Likes
#7

I am really loving this she looks great!

#8

Some kind of Gibly style… Waiting for your colours tweak, pretty cool :100:

#9

Remember to submit it under the final submissions! The deadline is today and it would be a shame not to have yours included :slight_smile:

#10

Unfortunately, I’ve had to abandon this challenge as I recently got a job that’s taken up a lot of my time. I might eventually finish this character in the future (if I do that will probably be on my ArtStation).

Good Luck to everyone submitting! and hopefully I can complete another one of these challenges in the future, it was really fun!

1 Like