Meet the Cast of Fitting Indian - Part 1
designing characters for my first graphic novel
In exactly a month, Fitting Indian will be hitting shelves in the US! I owe a lot to this project because the manuscript having come across my to-be agent’s desk just a little before he had a portfolio review with me is what led to me working on books at all. It’s the longest project I’ve ever worked on and the first thing I started working on after I graduated. I’m excited to introduce you to the characters and places that make up this world!
If you’re in the US, the author
and (sometimes) I will be at a bookstore near you! Info and tickets here but here’s the schedule! I'll be at the NYC, Philly, Atlanta, and Chicago dates!
I was so apprehensive about sharing these early character sketches with you because they’re sketchier than much of what makes it on this substack and they’re from long enough ago that I can’t look at them without feeling physical pain so I’ve also thrown in some images of what the characters ended up looking like in the actual book!
Nitasha
Our narrator and main character. I had a sense of what I wanted her to look like as early as when I was doing sample pages for the project. She had a long braid in these early samples which was cut for a more trendy, mid-length hairstyle. I also have only a faint idea of what a stylish but realistic teenager would wear so many of these early concepts play it safe with a t-shirt. Other than that, her facial features have remained essentially the same. So much of the story is inspired by the author’s own experiences so I wanted Nitasha to have a little bit of a resemblance to Jyoti herself. She’s always had a nose that looks a little like Jyoti’s and I was so excited when Jyoti showed me a review pointing this out!
Later character sketches with some more expressions/outfits. This was a weird 2-3 month phase where I was giving everyone the most prominent facial bone structure. Nitasha’s face became more obviously long with a strong chin.
A constraint that was introduced in the final manuscript was that Nitasha had to be wearing long sleeves at all times. It was interesting imagining what a crafty teenager might throw on that covered her arms fully but also met conservative parents’ modesty requirements. An off-shoulder neckline that can be yanked up, a top with a square neckline that’s a bit scooped but not quite enough for mom to note.
Mom and Dad
These too were characters I had a decent sense of from day 1. I knew I wanted Nitasha’s mum to resemble her so they share the nose, mouth, and thin, arched. eyebrows. Nitasha’s mum is described as a large woman so her face is round whereas Nitasha’s is long but one could imagine that they would have looked quite alike when mum was younger.
Shan
You already know about this one, no creativity was used here. Shan just semi-accidentally is exactly my boyfriend Shantanu. Full credit for the character design to his parents.
Part 2 will include Nitasha’s friends + love interests and Part 3 will include side characters that I loved to design!
Shan hot af wowza