Postcard development (ish)

I'm thinking back to the simplifying task we did at the beginning of this brief - how can I convey the genre and city in the simplest way (and make it easier for myself!)?

I did a little bit of figuring things out in my sketchbook:

Trying to simplify the hair and trousers a bit more so they're still recognisable but simple and easy to do with Illustrator, as I've never used vectors before (eep).

I'm still focusing primarily on character for this brief - it's what I'm most interested in drawing and considering that I've had problems with motivation over the last couple of months, it's making it easier to WANT to draw the postcards!

Considering simple forms again, I'm not sure I should have too much (or any) detail in the face. Kinda relating to what I'm doing in CoP, just looking at the clothing/hair/pose in simple shape in order to convey meaning.

I've been roughing out a few pose ideas for each character, trying to consider the mood of the music and connotations of the genre (punk: anarchic and tough, grunge: moody and depressed, hip hop: gang-like (? - a stereotype!), Britpop/Madchester: ravers and drugs). Also using different viewpoints from high or low angles to give the characters power (or take it away), like they do in filmssss: