The Desert Sumo Toad
This was self given exercise to work on a creature inspiration I got at a Japanese festival and to work on perspective. I also wanted to learn how I could make a character feel big to the viewer. Finally with this exercise I also wanted to work on my cel shading.
Thought Process
After spending some time at a Japanese festival and watching several matches of sumo wrestling up close I was absolutely amazed at the power and force that these 600lbs wrestlers could conjure. I then thought how terrifying yet awesome it would be if the Sumo wrestlers had the powerful kicking legs of a frog. The thought of how much more force these wrestlers would have would be crazy.
Design Process
When it came to the overall look I wanted to work on my own style while also taking major inspiration from Studio Ghibli and how they do their character work as well as their cel shading. When it came to the overall composition I really wanted to focus on the size of the Desert Sumo Toad so I worked on my horizon line placement until I got the low camera angle shot that I wanted. I then read a few chapters of Marvel's Book "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" by Stan Lee and John Buscema, so I could better understand how to draw and work on big rounder characters. I then started by reducing the features that make up a toad and studied what people really look for when they see a frog or toad.
Left: Early design without Perspective lines Right: Early design with Perspective lines
Once I figured out that people mostly look at the feet and the bulging eyes I made sure to keep them as very dominant visual features. I also wanted to give the Desert Sumo Toad extra visual heft as well to better give the idea of weight and to also look closer to a Sumo wrestler than just a large Toad.
Skills Learned
When it comes to the skills that I learned when making this project was Figure and Portrait, Perspective, Composition, Composition Feel, Cel Shading, Studio Ghibli Style as well as working off of a color palette.
