New blog.

I'm having my name changed by deed poll. Due to being transgender, the name I have attributted to this blog, and being regarded as the gender it suggests, makes me uncomfortable.

So, my new blog is as such:

http://reese-procter-bagdy1.blogspot.co.uk/

I'm in the middle of sprucing it up and copying posts over, but this is the kick I need to update more.

DD1101 - Scar Night character design

For the task of designing a character from Alan Campbell's 'Scar Night', I was given the assassin Rachel Hael.



I began with some rough sketches and silhouettes to get the feel of various aspects of her appearence. She is described as being gaunt, and other Spine assassins earlier in the book are similarly compared to cadavers. It made sense to me to play on this, to make this character wholly unattractive and tired. It wouldn't have made sense to give a character like this any kind of sex appeal due to that, and from how standoffish and aggressive she can be(from how much I read of the book, anyway).



Here's the finished lineart derived from the concept sketches.

It was nice to step away and draw a different body type for once, but this really isn't my genre and my armour designing could use some work.

Scar Night character notes (in progress)

Truthfully, I'm not very far in 'Scar Night' by Alan Campbell. I am finding this book very hard to get into, or find myself attached to any characters, so reading is very slow and sometimes frustrating as the characters, I find, are immensely unlikeable. So here are, briefly, some notes on characters I've been making as I've read.

I'm bordering on just finishing Part One. I will finish this, but I'm finding that very difficult.


Presbyter Scrimlock
-- a priest
-- wears sandals, and a (black?) cassock
-- carried a lantern?
-- very much faith-driven
-- hates needless risk


Carnival(?)
-- angel
-- body riddled with scars--face, lips, arms, hands
-- dressed in ‘ancient leathers mottled with mould’
-- small and lithe
-- wings shimmer darkly, like smoke
-- eyes the colour of storm clouds
-- wears ribbons and flowers in her lank, tangled hair
-- held in a watchtower kept by chains

Dill
-- a young boy (11-13?)
-- thin white arms (bony all over)
-- tufts of hair behind ears
-- pink ears
-- tattered nightshirt
-- quick, nervous eyes
-- he was filthy
-- feathered wings
-- whip scars on back
-- calloused feet
-- generally timid, but very rebellious, short-tempered, and aggressive
-- uneven teeth
-- “archon of the church of Ulcis, warden of the hoarder of souls”
-- “mortal blood of his herald, callis”
-- naturally grey/white eyes (can turn purple, pink, orange, etc., depending on mood)
-- snail trails on jacket, silver button missing; shirt (both accommodated for his wings); boots loose and scuffed, trousers with wisps of cobweb; sword belt

Presbyter Willard Sypes
-- ‘ageing ten years for every one that passed’
-- ‘fingers were wasted, ink-stained, curled into claws, as if still clutching his quill’
-- requires a walking stick
-- black cassock
-- hunched back

Mr Nettle
-- wearing an itchy, hooded black robe
-- an alcoholic
-- has a daughter (deceased)
-- very violent (possibly due to alcohol)
-- stubble
-- a scrounger
-- carrying a cleaver

Rachel Hael
-- ‘young’
-- gaunt
-- hair pulled severely back, woven into a tight ‘noble’ plait
-- no jewellery
-- wore "beaten leathers"
-- scabbard on back, sword with a worn hilt
-- “blue throwing knives and silver needles ran the length of her leather-sheathed forearms”
-- “belt holding poison pouches, a blowpipe, and three stubby bamboo tubes tarnished by age”
-- green eyes
-- sickly pale face
-- a foot shorter than Dill, half his weight
-- Spine (temple assassin)

DD1101 - sculpture

It took a long time to settle on what this sculpture should be. I had dozens of rough concepts of pre-existing characters and new bizarre-looking monsters, but nothing realy inspired me.

The Japanese freeware game Yume Nikki has always been a wild inspiration to me, so I looked up this character sheet from the fanmade wiki for ideas. Number 35 on this list, the Henkei Shita, really called out to me. Other candidates were the Pirori (number 21), and the first train passenger (number 56).

Here's an isolated image:



The henkei shita (meaning 'deformed') is generally perceived to be a headless, pregnant female. Due to the horrific and violent imagery there, fans (myself included) feel this symbolises a fear of pregnancy within the female protagonist. People believe this could conclude she is terrifed of her own sex and wishes to change it, but the process and the male sex or gender terrify her, so this puts her in such immense emotional turmoil she doesn't know what to do. That's more or less my interpretation of the game.

They are found on a path connecting the Eyeball World to Hell. In Hell, a red version which bleeds yellow, with yellowed teeth and a yellow eye can be found.

In a way, this monster feels personal to me, too.






Unfortunately, this hasn't been painted yet. As of typing this, it's not fully dry, so I can't do much with it. When I do paint it, it will either be the first or last design in that above screenshot.

DD1101 - silhouette character 02

Full version HERE!

The second character for the silhouette assignment!

This one's a total redesign of an old character, Nayamou! He/she/it/they (maybe just she? She looks like a transwoman, a little bit) has a very iteresting body, I think! A big ol' demon chimera dragon thing! Her skull is painted with various, generally random designs.

She's a major personal character of mine, even an alias I've used for a long time. A demon counterpart to Daryl.

DD1101 - silhouette character 01

Full version HERE!

So here's the first finished character for the silhouette assignment! I like this character... I think I'll name him Trent. He's possibly a hunter or a taxidermist, or both. He's probably a recluse, and revels in his androdyny. He probably doesn't like gender-specific pronouns in public. Who knows!

This was a really fun character to design, as he's largely outside of my comfort zone in terms of character design! He's growing on me!

DD1101 - silhouette batch

Here's a batch of silhouettes I cooked up for the main assignment! The assignment was to generate two silhouettes and devise two finalised characters from that, but I had too much fun coming up with all of these that I lost track of everything.

I ended up settling for the first and last ones.

Thw top row are all pre-existing characters--the demon chimera Nayamou, the demon lady STRAY (loosely inspired by the Pokemon Froslass), and former motocross enthusiast Leon Greene.