#08character

Feedback- I loved how this turned out, and it really motivated me to start thinking more about this story. I learned a lot this week for sure. I looked at a bunch of keyart and found that I really like the little details that add to the world. The cat felt vital here. I wanted everything to connect, so in the back her eyes look center and center points to her, while the swoop leads the eyes to the cat and back in a circle. I like the panels falling behind her. I had trouble with lighting because I wanted her in the back to look dark and the eyes to pop. I experimented with the one sketch I showed from the block outs and I think that helped a lot. I think if I were to do this again I would move her hand to be more left.

feedback: yeah I had a really hard time doing this mainly because when I originally thought up of this character like a long time ago he was just like an accessory for the other character I had and then I decided to try giving him a real personality. he is supposed to be in a 2d game so I have like a stylized shadow over half his face most of the time. he's character who looks really serious (and is kindof serious) but also just takes a long time warming up to others. he is like the cat in a cat and mouse dynamic with another character so he needs to be a little dumb to get outsmarted somewhat often

Ruland’r is a harpy, and all harpies are exclusively born female, but through magic (or just social transition) can be transmasculine, as he is. He is 60 years old and has lived in Solaris for roughly 20 years of his life as a “civilized” harpy, retiring from adventuring to settle down and start an antique shop that specializes in the sale of occult items. While he is retired, he can still hold his own, and though he doesn’t usually go out to find his own occult items to collect or sell anymore, occasionally when no adventurers are willing, he still delves into dungeons alone.  He is the only one with a legal permit within a several hundred mile radius around Solaris, which has given him quite the ego boost, and has allowed him to set his own prices for magical items, given that you either buy and sell to him, or risk getting arrested. There are no cheap trinkets in his shop, anything he doesn’t find useful to him sold but still very much magical, so he has a lot of money and indulges in opulence often. Despite being “civilized,” he still comes from harpy culture, where things such as “clothes” and “modesty” are a foreign concept, and so most of his fashion is very open, exposing his chest. He doesn’t care to adapt to Solaris’s culture in that sense, and actually revels in watching his customers -- most of which are rich stuck up nobles looking for the latest fun trinket to buy -- squirm as they try not to say anything, given that they have nowhere else to buy occult items.  Thanks to his patronage as a warlock of the mysterious entity called “The Archivist,” he has magical powers in exchange for his constant acquisition of knowledge. He was gifted three magical skulls that aren’t of any still-living species, but he has a single favorite one, carved with three eyes on it, that he can speak to the Archivist through. It’s usually either on a podium, prominently displayed, or on his person.  As a result, he often dabbles in dangerous and occult magics for his hunt for knowledge, and his hubris knows no bounds. So far he has evaded severe consequences, but he always comes a hair’s breath away from them. He hoards the most powerful and dangerous of items, locked away in a small pocket dimension given to him by The Archivist, but other smaller trinkets that are of no interest to him are sold once he has gleaned all the knowledge he can from them.  Most of his emotions are just some shade of irritation, but around his husband he does in fact soften up. He is not very good at people, unable to pick up on social cues and not bothering to try, figuring that other people should simply deal with him or get out of his store. He has no filter, but it does at least guarantee honesty from him, even if its brutal.

I will keep working on it!!

Tools: Procreate, iPad, Apple Pencil Pro Desc: Key art for Seraphim: Burn at the Stake (idk lmao) that depicts Protagonist B (I haven't named her yet lmao) as a looming shadow that holds Lane in her hands. Feedback: My goal with this key art was to demonstrate the possessive, controlling nature of the two protagonists' relationship. In this piece, Lane is shown bent over, as if she's just finished running away from something right into her best friend's hands. The size difference and upward angle is meant to symbolize the power difference between the two. Originally, I thought a lot about NSYNC's Bye Bye Bye music video and considered making Lane a puppet, but I think the characters are bound by a love and loyalty that has become toxic and not straight up manipulation. Lane willingly comes back every time. In the future, I think this could be pushed further with more exaggerated poses and perhaps Lane shouldn't also be a shadow? I think having Lane be fully colored could help drive home the message that her friend's control is all-consuming despite not actually being present. I think more could also be done with texturing, perhaps making Protagonist B wispier like a shadow/haze. I quite liked the texturing of my second sketch and think maybe something like that could be cool for another rendition of this key art. Also, I should fix the hand size/fit them in the page better :' )

Assignment 8: Character Design (Key art) Tools: Clip studio paint, ipad Feedback: For this key art, I wanted to experiment with using poses and expressions to bring life to the character. I wanted to portray her resilient personality while struggling for survival in her world. Her expression and poses are meant to almost taunt the oppression and evilness in her society/world. Her eyes are the only part of her face that's not covered by her hands, almost showing her determination and lack of fear, while the covered portions represent her original identity that this world is trying to erase. Finally, she is supposed to be encased in this symbolic bubble, which refers back to the theme of control by the more dominant population in this universe, but also their morbid obsession with exoticism. I mainly planned for the key art to show more of her character and giving more depth to her as well, so I did have a clear vision for her purpose and certain ideas of poses or interactions. However, I found it hard to compose a background of this key art, mainly since I don't exactly have a fully fleshed out vision of the whole world/environmentally wise. I did an indoor and outdoor background/environment for my previous assignments, but I just felt like they didn't exactly fit with the poses and ideas that I was going for. So I made this key art more illustrative, which I wasn't completely satisfied with :/.

Tools: Clip studio paint, ipad Feedback: This was the character sheet I made of the protagonist of the world. She has two strands of kelp braided into her hair, representing and reminding her of her origins. Her clothes are mostly tattered and very worn-out, symbolizing her current living situations and her place in this universe. These poses and expressions gives more explanation and depth to her character. For example, the pose on the left, she's slightly amused/annoyed at her friends/family (kinda like when your younger siblings annoy you), while the middle pose shows more of the character in her neutral state when alone, relaxed and daydreaming/staring off into space. Meanwhile the pose on the right shows a more adventurous and free-spirited side of her. I enjoyed the process of this assignment, and I was able to further develop her character during this process as well.