This rotation is about experimental character design and developing characters from abstract concepts. My main goal this rotation is to work from a more symbolic concept than a literal story or world. I started by jotting down notes and brainstorming ideas as shown above.
I decided on the concept of liminality (the state of being in-between two places, ideas, states, etc) as expressed in different ways. First as real-life scenarios, e.g. that feeling when you don’t know if you are are awake or dreaming, or when your heart drops momentarily because you thought it was the wrong day. These little fleeting moments of derealisation where your grip on reality is thinned out. I considered at first creating a character that embodied that feeling: through visual design communicate that unsettling feeling of being in-between two states. But, then I began to conceive a world that the character could exist in which is like a cross between reality and dreamscape/spirit world–a world that isn’t ours but is overlayed over it. The Parallel I called it.
So, instead of creating a character that is the embodiment of that concept, I decided to create one that is OF that world, The Parallel. I took inspiration from the depiction of Papa Legba (a deity from the Haitian Vodoun pantheon) who embodies a liminal concept known as the crossroads in African spiritual philosophy.
Here I’m experimenting with colour, shape, and form with oil paint. I thought, the thick quality of oil paint could allow to experiment with mixing colour. For the physical build of the character I knew that I wanted him lanky and thin, so I used the oil paint and thought of just stretching out the character using long lines and strokes; I was drawing from the style of Ernie Barnes (Sugar Shack, 1976) with his elongated limbs, as well as this organic, “woody” texture that he achieved in his paintings. The sketch in the top left corner of the first image above is where I tried to construct a face out of horizontal strokes.
I made spontaneous inkblots to create interesting silhouettes to explore how the frame of my character would look. It made me consider design aspects like his hair. Big hair could create a contrast between the upper part of his frame and the lower part since I’m considering giving him very basic, almost form fitting clothes. Other elements like a scarf or a hat could also create that contrast and give the character some balance.
I drew inspiration from the Eyo masquerade, which is a Yoruba festival in Nigeria rooted in the culture of the Ijebu and Awori people. The Eyo represent spirits of the ancestors and the festival is to honour the dead, celebrate a new Oba (king), or mark special occasions. I specifically liked the hat and stick aspect of the costume.
I experimented more with some digital overlay illustrations. After looking into liminal photography, I wanted to illustrate the character chilling in these ominously empty environments. The main thing I wanted to communicate through him is a sense of comfortability and familiarity he has in an unsettling environment.
This is a collage portrait of my character made out of scrap pieces of paper drawn over with oil pastels. I began just sticking random pieces together until it became this portrait. With his eyes I made them white to signify him being blind. Maybe a quirk is his character is that he is all-knowing and sees everything but he is blind in both eyes. Makes him seem more mysterious if he’s seemingly looking directly at things and people but he appears to be completely blind.
I tried to communicate my main character traits — WISE, NOMADIC, FACETIOUS — by using random objects. I used the blocks to communicate stability, and traditionilism. Since he’s an old character, he has his foundation set and I think boxy shape language aids that. The polyester stuffing was used to represent his grey hair and also add softness overall contrasting the rigidity of the blocks. The lid represents his hat and the stick is of course his walking stick to show his nomadic quality. I added bits of clay and colourful paper to communicate that light-hearted, facetious energy.