Kiyoko Katsuhiro

 This is an OC for a (technically "period") future noir I've had sitting in my head for years. When I drafted the character, I envisioned her to be a Carrie Kelly type, a plucky junior protagonist in a story full of hardboiled young men. 

In all, her "load out" would include a corduroy blazer and a flat cap but this was such a huge jump for me as is-- in terms of line art, clothing folds--pushing the eye quality to make her look more "asian" than any character I've done--for the first teenaged character* I've ever drawn--with all that to juggle I just didn't care to add another layer of fabric. 

 I'll probably use these lines for cell-shading practice next week. 

*I used a reference for the face, some K pop star (not dropping any names). Her lips are a bit plumper, because Yoko is spunky, but an introverted space cadet and I find that goby lips just accent that. Also I like big lips, I think they give a woman more sass when she sneers or smirks. 

 The process: 
I used liquify (a lot!) to pare down her hips and bust from the original model, the hips especially, because an animated teenager requires exaggeration to look petite like a normal one. The model's long-ass legs I kept, because they made her look athletic without making her look "fit". I also used transform and liquify to keep pushing the elbow to make it more dynamic. 

As for the clothing folds, I took my cues from Mikey Mega Mega www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0HrVv… and Winged Canvas www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1O1OQ… . Winged Canvas, I think, will be the more informative of the two, in the long run; but, for this lineart, Mikey's triangle method for folds was hugely instructive. 

To kill the pressure of fucking up all of my structure work, I sketched out her outfit on a throw away layer.