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[JustLuke]

Here's two alternative concept sketches for the main character in an Arabian Nights style story. He claims to be a heroic Sinbad-like sea captain, but in reality he's just an opportunist thief and swindler; think Jack Sparrow crossed with Sinbad.

So what I'd like to know is:

If I hadn't written the above description of the character, what sort of personality do you think would best fit these two portraits?

Generally speaking, do you prefer a cartoony or more "traditional" art style?

Which portrait do you prefer and why?

Anything else you can tell me?

[JustLuke]

And here's a quick and dirty sketch of the character's body. What do you guys think?

[odnorf]

The second head fits much better with the body because the first head is too "cartoony" while the body is "traditional" handmade art.
But too tell you the truth it all depends on the story and the backgrounds. Are the backgrounds cartoon like (distorted perspective etc) or...?

[Jerrot]

Howdy.
I prefer the first one, he looks like a good old adventure main character, more comic stylish with his big eyes and somehow funny. The second head is well done, too, but - not regarding the lighting - he looks to serious to me.

Of course this depends on the story of your game, too. I'd like to see "head 1" in some funny role - a smart swindler you just have to like.

And the body perfectly fits to both of them imho. There is something about the trousers - I guess some detail is missing, but I can't say what.

Just a first impression, good work for sure!!

[JustLuke]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

It's difficult to get the balance right between detail and simplicity. I could make the character more detailed but that would make animating him too time consuming, and I'm leaning towards the cartoon-style for that veryreason.

The body that I sketched is only a (very) rough placeholder and I want to completely alter both the style (making it more cartoony to match the left head) and the clothing (because it looks too much like Aladdin). Any ideas?

Without delving into politics, do you think that an Arabian Nights style setting featuring cartoony Arab characters is acceptable to people these days? Too sensitive a theme? Unappealing due to the Iraq situation? This will potentially be a commercial project so this is important.

P.S. I really appreciate any and all critiques. I don't have any artistic ego - so be brutal. If there is something you don't like, or that looks amaturish, unappealing or that you think just plain sucks, then please let me know.

[Mnemonic]

Without delving into politics, do you think that an Arabian Nights style setting featuring cartoony Arab characters is acceptable to people these days? Too sensitive a theme? Unappealing due to the Iraq situation? This will potentially be a commercial project so this is important.

Ummm, I don't know about the U.S., but speaking from european's point of view, it wouldn't even occur to me if you didn't mention it. So... no, I don't think that would be a problem, not for me anyway.

[JustLuke]

I'm also a European, and I agree that it seems harmless enough, but, being very liberal, non-nationalistic and open-minded, I'm constantly amazed at the things people get offended about.

[SBOVIS]

The second one is the better of the two, purely because the first looks far to ARAB looking, The main character should be attractive to the majority not the minority of players, if you are going to target western people then a close look at ALLADIN (check out Disney) crossed with sinbad would be a good reference point to start with. You may try the small fez hat on the second head as turban is 1. harder to animate and  2. a sign that is not universally pleasing to all players. IMHO

I have created around 46 characters for my project from the main character to main NPC`s to background creatures.

Good luck with the project.