character designs Archives - Kelci D Crawford

November 10, 2017

Witches: The Sketchbook Looking for KickStarter Funding

“Hold on a second,” you might be thinking. “You just had a KickStarter campaign, and you’re running another one so soon?”

Yes – the previous KickStarter was to get funding for Validation buttons, to have something for sale at conventions. That KickStarter ran in June for a week and raised just a little over $800 (holy banana pants!). Since that campaign was so short, the rewards were not super hard to fulfill. In fact, all the rewards for the backers are taken care of for that campaign.

I like to make sure loose ends are tied up before moving to the next KickStarter, thank you.

So, with previous campaigns taken care of, I’ve launched a new one: Witches: The Sketchbook is looking for $500 to get its first print-run going.

Witches: The Sketchbook is a compilation of sketches I made during Inktober, featuring nothing but witches. Why? Well, in promotional posts on KickStarter I say “because I love witches” and leave it at that. But there’s a little more to it than that.

The reason I drew witches is not just out of a fascination for them, but because as a Pagan person, I like seeing witches of all stripes and backgrounds. There’s not much representation of witches, Wiccas, neo-pagans, or the other branches of Paganism in art unless they’re super-sexy or the Macbeth variety of wrinkled cautionary witches.

I wanted to see something different – witches rooted in the old Gaelic traditions, witches of African descent, witches that could spring from old lore, modern-day witches, and witches of other backgrounds. And my method is usually, “Huh. I can’t seem to find anything like that. Time to draw it myself!”

There was also the desire to have a book of character designs and concept art, because I love those types of books and wanted to make one of my own. And a book of witch concepts is a good place to start, I think.

The KickStarter is still running – in fact, it has 11 days left in the campaign and ends on November 21st. Check it out and see what you would like. (Also there’s a ton of original sketches left to claim and they’re priced reasonably well, so be sure to get those before they run out).

If you can pledge, that’s fantastic! If you’re broke, please share the link with your friends. Every bit helps.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

January 27, 2015

Superhero Ladies eBook: Coming Soon

There’s no review today (I’ll have a new review for Review Day Tuesday next week).

Instead, I wanted to give you an update on my Superhero Ladies series of sketches.

I already wrote post after post about them, even one featuring Malarkey Maddie, a superheroine sketched for the series.

Well the good news is, there are now 31 sketches done, which is more than enough for the eBook!

I still have to spot check quite a few of them, but I can show you some of the finished ladies in the series.

And here are some snapshots from my camera of some of the looser, sketchier ones.

superhero ladies sketch series by kelci crawford — This one was actually named by one of my Twitter peeps. Thanks, @JN_Monk!

That last one is a trans girl because I realized towards the tail end of this project, “Crap! I could have incorporated more trans girls in this line up!” I’ll see if I can muster up at least one or two more, because I want this collection of characters to be diverse and inclusive, just like ladies IRL.

Although that reminds me of how I was going to add at least a few magical girls in this line up, as well, but in the end I really only got one. Oops.

I have to give a HUGE shout-out to the Random Superpower Generator and the Superpower Origin Generator, because without either of them I would have been so stuck on this project.

The next step with this series is to make a sketch or two more, touch them all up, and then format them into an eBook so y’all can get a copy of this awesome collection for yourself!

I’ll announce when the book is ready.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

October 17, 2014January 22, 2015

The Superhero Ladies Illustration Series (In Progress)

So a while ago, I saw the “debate” that happened when Marvel let loose the famous variant cover of SpiderWoman.

And a part of me was like, “You know, it would be great to see superhero ladies in clothes that are actually great for combat and/or aren’t form-fitting.”

Because I am aware that not every superhero lady is in charge of her sexuality or is entirely comfortable with a skin-tight outfit. Have you read the new Ms. Marvel? They talk about that in the first two issues!

Anyway, I decided to make an illustration series showing superhero ladies in outfits that weren’t sexually revealing and/or were best suited for lots of physical activity.

Right now it’s still a work in progress, but it’s been fun to create new heroes and create costumes and superpowers!

Here are some sketches of the ladies I’ve drawn so far:

Number 1 in the series. Sojourner the Mage. She has powers over wind. (Click to enlarge.)

Name unknown. Has superstrength, flight, and super speed. Click to enlarge. — Name unknown. Has superstrength, flight, and super speed. (Click to enlarge.)

PowerPat. Age 10. Super strength. (Click to enlarge).

Agent Sinclaire. Magic user that can manipulate the environment and trap opponents. (Click to enlarge).

I have enough projects on my plate to keep me busy, so right now this is on hold (just like my other illustration series, The Women Warriors Project).

I might include redesigns of Marvel/DC/etc superheroes, but I want to do more original characters in this series. If you have any ideas or suggestions, though, please leave them in comments!

Thanks and I’ll see you on Tuesday.