Design of the Character's in the project: 2 Sherlock Holmes

Section 1. The Design process:

Sherlock Holmes is THE single most adapted fictional character of all time. We all know his figure. Greyish brown Inverness cape with a tartan pattern, deerstalker hat, smoking pipe and a (let's be honest) fairly useless magnifying glass.

This is the image most people associate with this iconic character when you bring him up. Even i was surprised when i dug a bit deeper and realized that most of that image was not actually how the detective was depicted on the original drawings (with the exception of the pipe).

This is when some of my first thoughts about the design and how i would change it up came to me.

First i identified the traits that this drawing in particular had.

These traits are: Something that resembles a bath robe, a smoking pipe, a curved nose, short hair and a sort of "thinking position".

Than i thought about what aspect of the character is missing that i might add to the first design. It was a smug/self assured attitude. I wanted for the viewer to be able to see the pride on Holmes's face.

An element i also added was a sort of physical fitness that is associated with more conventionally heroic characters which i ended up scrapping by the later designs.

I also implemented the tartan pattern on an inverness cape detail that is most often associated with the character.

After thinking about the design i realized that he was too heroic looking, and well put together for lack of a batter term.

So for my second design i decided to go with a more scrawny look. With one design choice in particular that i really like. In the anime series called "Yūkoku no Moriāti" or "Moriarty the patriot" in English the version of Holmes that appears in the series sports what is known as a "Messy Bun" hairstyle.

This fashion choice for Holmes makes very much sense because Holmes is so preoccupied with his work in most versions that he would likely view getting his hair cut as a waste of time but also not want his hair to get into his eyes while out in the field investigating.

This second attempt was the other extreme form the first design. I liked it but this Sherlock felt too scrawny. And the fully buttoned up inverness cape implies a closed off, protective need in the character and an overall lack of confidence that i didn't like.

There was also a subconscious choice that i only recently realized that it bugged me. In both versions Holmes has the smoking pipe in his hand and not in his mouth. This implies a kind of "control" or ability to manage his addiction that i didn't feel like the character should have when first meeting him.

This coupled with the fact that i was not experienced enough at drawing man buns makes this my least favorite of the three designs.

For the third i did a bit of research on real life messy buns. Finding this picture which helped me to conceptualize the final design.

With this new knowledge of male hairstyles and the experience I've gained from the previous attempts i drew the third and final design. And it couldn't have turned out batter!

The hands in his pocket, open inverness cape and overall laid back position together with the smirk implies the perfect blend of confidence and sense of superiority that i wanted the character to have.

And you may notice that here he has a lit cigarette in his mouth rather than an unlit pipe in his hand. This is intentional because modern viewers associate the cigarette with addiction more than the smoking pipe and the fact that its lit on this particular picture implies that Sherlock smokes often.

I also sometimes (not necessarily always) like to take inspiration from and add attributes of animals to my original designs. Sherlock in the original books is compared to a hawk (specifically in relation to the shape of his nose), however i thought that a hunting hound would fit batter with my version of the character. I took inspiration from the Agar and Pharaoh hound species in particular.

Section 2. Previous characterization:

As I've mentioned previously Sherlock Holmes is likely the single most adapted fictional character of all time (watch the video titled "Who Is Sherlock Holmes - Niel McCaw" by the youtube channel "TED-Ed" for more info). However unlike with Irene Adler i do not perceive inherent faults in the sum of his previous characterizations that I've been exposed to. So instead of identifying the flaws i tried to identify the few main aspects of Holmes that carry on to most if not all of his versions and apply my owl wisdom to them.

The two main traits that i believe are the most prevalent and iconic for the character are: His pride a lot of the time even arrogance, and his famous intellect.

Section 3. My version:

In my version Sherlock is very much at the beginning of his journey. Though still possessing great intellect he is almost completely dependent on new mysteries and cases for him to solve, as for him this is the only poupous he can think of for himself. In my version the reason for his arrogance is born from a throwaway line that i heard in The BBC "Sherlock" series when Sherlock mentions that he used to think he was an idiot when he was little due to his older brother being a genius of an even higher order. And so when a person like this finally goes out into the world and realizes that he is much smarter than everybody around him he would develop a sense of superiority. But because of the sense of inferiority that he felt in childhood this form of mild PTSD induced inferiority complex comes out when he encounters someone of equal or higher intellect.

This is important because in most versions Sherlock seems to be completely invincible in the context of the story and in some versions it turns out that even in the times where he was supposedly in danger he was actually playing everyone around him.

This not only makes him feel less human and more detached (which is good if you are trying to write a story about those themes but not optimal for me) But it also creates a form of pseudo plot armor that i want to avoid.

And by giving him an inferiority complex it not only explains things like why doesn't he ask for help from his older brother but also give him a more believable weakness and creates an interesting struggle and reason for improvement in this younger, barely starting out Sherlock Holmes.