Week of 2024 December 2nd

 This week I was deep into the character design stuff.

Chinese armour bring an awesome shape design to characters that I hadn't considered for a long time. It got me thinking about Nirvana in Fire again. I really like the asymmetry in designs especially like this. Definitely inspired by that bold red and white palette.

Also, this is hot.

Something about the elegant shapes that are associated with superhuman agility and strength makes this super sexy. There's no annoying upside-down triangle and latex (just not a fan of the superhero aesthetic...). That being said I have no idea who this character is, he could be really silly.

This was posted to Pinterest with the caption that it's fashion from the Warring States period, so I guess that's what it is. It's the gesture and the descending gold pattern that's doing it for me... this is a really cool shot of a really cool costume. The bright red accents are also *chef's kiss*

While searching for alchemist inspirations I came across this awesome piece of work by judahl. 

The Alchemist Characters by judahl (deviantART)

It's their interpretation of the characters from Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. It's just so cool... every character is so unique, their personality is illustrated so well and the drapery is so intricately designed, and not at expense of the shape and readability. I really love this piece.

That being said I didn't find much inspiration for alchemist characters that fit my project. I wanted my character design to be simple and practical, but there are a lot of alchemist characters where the costume just isn't fit for drawing many, many times. I've come up empty-handed.

Orca with salmon hat.

Seems like humans aren't the only ones with crazy fashion fads; this one is a revival of an 80's trend. These are killer whales wearing dead salmon on their heads. I have so many questions: how are they attaching the salmon onto their heads? Won't the carcass simply float off in the water? Did they kill the salmon solely for this purpose? Do the salmon get eaten afterwards? Where is the science side of tumblr when you need it.

Week of 2024 November 25

 

Saw an asymmetrical cuirass concept art this week that I can't find anymore but it inspired me to look at some asymmetrical outfits.

Alexander McQueen

Also looking at ways to design elegant hats with cool shapes

Nicki Marquardt

Learned about a new animal this week: the okapi, the only living relative of a giraffe. Honestly aside from the two horns on its head I don't see the resemblance, but it's a blend of so many animals (zebra, giraffe, horse/donkey (?!)) that this looks more like a concept art character than a real animal.

Okapi

Chinchilla have massive ears for their body. And their fur can go over an inch!! I'm mostly fascinated with their ears though. They look like Japanese bamboo decoration at New Years.

Chinchilla