Redesigning The Seven Samurai: Gorobei

Gorobei

Gorobei was not the first to be recruited but he was a cheerful sort and was happy to help people if only to see what Kambei was up to. He did not take as much persuasion as some of the others because he was happy to help the villagers and only saw working with other samurai as a bonus and for a chance to have good laughs. He recruited Haihachi very early on and always had a laugh to match his smile.

I think I resonated the most with this character. He has overall goodwill toward others and is satisfied with being a part of the crew in order to make others laugh. He was given a lot of trust because out of all the samurai, he was the only one who spotted the trap Kambei had laid as a test. Quick-witted and kind, he is overall a jolly guinea pig.

sketch

This sketch was so loose that I actually changed it up a bit during the painting. I had a lot of images of guinea pigs up while I was sketching this character and after I started to paint, I realized that I had been too true to the short stubby arms of the animal and it just didn't look right on the character.

flats

After laying in the flats I was able to adjust the arms to more closely match what looked natural. I originally had a one-color face but decided to vary the color after looking at my guinea pig references and seeing lots of color variations.

more detail and some shadows

Because he was one of the more respected and seasoned samurai he had more adornment and his clothing was more intricate than some of the others. I took this step to again refine shadows and add some of the detail to his vest and kimono.

more work to kimono and vest details and starting to paint the head

Gradually I moved up toward the face. Again paying close attention to the details on his vest and kimono. At this point I'm starting to get pretty tight in the details.

tightening up on the face and finishing off any shadows needed to refine the painting

After all the work to the wonderfully intricate kimono and the whiskers on his face I'm finally at the point where I can bump in that juicy lighting. I think I may have spent the most time with this character because I like joy so much. If a character or situation makes me smile I feel like it has some special power to make others happier in life. This is for some reason important to me and looking at this image at the end makes me smile. So smile achieved!

Juicy lighting and a finished painting or Gorobei

Well that pretty much wraps it up! I love adding those sweet lights from each side and it really pops the character out from the background.

I'll be doing a hero line up with these characters tonight so I can share my finished work. It's on to the environments for this place now, so if you're into environments and backgrounds, stay tuned!

I hope you enjoyed and thanks for looking!

Check out the other samurai!
https://steemit.com/art/@fumansiu/redesigning-the-seven-samurai-kikuchiyo
https://steemit.com/art/@fumansiu/redesigning-the-seven-samurai-haihachi-hayashida
https://steemit.com/art/@fumansiu/redesigning-the-seven-samurai-shichiroji
https://steemit.com/art/@fumansiu/redesigning-the-seven-samurai-kambei-shimada
https://steemit.com/art/@fumansiu/redesigning-the-seven-samurai-katsushiro-okamoto
https://steemit.com/art/@fumansiu/redesigning-the-seven-samurai-kyuzo