Hey folks,
I have some designs I wanted to share with you all before I drop the next toon on here tomorrow evening for you all to see early.
The Merchant Maiden is a character I struggled with a lot which is funny considering she is seen through first person and therefore we only get glimpses of her in the cartoon.
That's right in the next toon you get the point of view of a large breasted 90's PC fantasy roleplaying game character who cons people not just out of their money but out of their very souls as well.
The designs were quite elven to begin with but I felt they were a bit generic so tried to give her some more character and personality
Tried out a more furry direction and a creepy nun type design but I struggled still to really resonate with what these designs were getting across. I think that whilst the nun is too lacking in human warmth, the other characters are a bit too silly for the tone I'm going for. I want there to be an undertone of mystery to this character for now certainly.
I then attempted to steer more towards the Maiden aspect of the Merchant Maiden and looked at cool medieval hairstyles and headresses worn by wealthy women at the time. I actually really like these designs and had a lot of fun with the head dresses too but I still felt it was a bit cartoony. As you guys will see when I share the cartoon it is actually pretty cartoony and goofy but I want to give it a slightly foreboding undertone and I want the silent protagonist in the Merchant to channel that just a bit.
That brings me to the final Merchant Design pictured above. I continued experimenting with headress styles and found these wrap cone kind of things then I loosened them in my design and thought, damn it looks like there could be horns or something under there, what even is she? The inky blackness coming from the face and going through the head wraps is quite bizarre I think and since it isn't clear exactly what's going on it maintains its sense of mystery. The human mouth adds a touch of humanity too.
So yeah, a little glimpse into my thought process behind this character! I'm having a tonne of fun with this cartoon and I think stylistically it might be one of my favourites to date so I hope you all like it. I'll share some behind the scenes stuff after sharing the cartoon since I made it in a unique way so stay tuned for that also.
Thanks for the support as always!
Fax