Rose Character Design Evolution

In the latest Extra Comic, we saw a slightly different design for Rose -

Rose’s Sordid Past

Her character design has gone through a lot of evolution (some subtle and some not so subtle) over the past 20+ years! This was what she looked like when I first envisioned her way back in 2002:

I was going for more of a natural redhead vibe before I realized what she really needed was the vivid red bottle-dye that became iconic for her.

I originally came up with her for a different story entirely that was set in some sort of swords-and-sorcery fantasy world. Rose was just a horny side-character who got spurned by the main character early in the story to, I guess, show how he was above casual sex? IDK, I was young and dumb.

(And yes, that’s a pregnancy test in the first drawing. I had not yet learned the art of subtlety.)

The worst thing about that original story? The main character was Trevor! I had no idea how important Rose would become to me, and I had no idea that Trevor’s true destiny was to become a dickweed. I am so glad these two switched roles.

I went through a few more early variations on Rose, but I landed pretty quickly on the design that would remain the basic template for her look.

She also evolved quite a bit during the run of the original comic, but I think most of that was just me getting better at art.

Back to the (almost) present

We’re about to see a LOT more of Rose, so I’ve been working on a design for her in my current art style.

While this is still technically an in-between design, it’s pretty close to the final version you’ll see in the comic very soon. I liked the idea of making the hair a little poofier and wilder to reflect her personality, while keeping the same overall classic bob shape.

You may also notice that Rose is now canonically bisexual. This was teased back in the original comic, but I decided to no longer pussyfoot around it. (Uh, unless she’s into that. Is she into that?)

And yes, her body has also experienced some evolution - she got shorter (I consider her around 5’ now), lost some size up top (depending on the comic, I wasn’t very consistent about it) and gained some on the bottom. The pear body-shape is an underrepresented gold mine, and it fits her well.

Speaking of bodies…

All 11 NSFW Missing Pages of Face to Face are now available on the Treading Ground Patreon! 

We had a huge launch, and I want to thank everyone who got in on the ground floor. We’re up to 54 paid Patrons now, which is outstanding, and I’m grateful so many of you want to help support the comic (and get some exclusive content of culture while you’re at it.)

I really want TG to be my main job (and I want to be able to update more than once a week!), so I’m going to work hard to keep that number going up. I have a lot more NSFW content and other stuff to share!

If you can’t join the $7 tier right now, I totally get it. There is a $3 “SFW-ish” tier that still allows you to get extra comics, early updates, and non-explicit exclusive content. Every new Patron is a huge help in getting to my goal!

See you Thursday for a new comic!

Until then, I’ll leave you with a couple more fun doodles of Poofy Hair Rose.