Fairies

So for my next project i am trying to create character that look like humans

I usually prefer to work with other species of animals due to there variety of shape, sizes, patters and habits.

But a nice medium between humans and animals would be fairies.

As they have majority of human characteristics combined with the markings and wing shapes of butterflies/moths.

So i gathered a little mood board of fairies looking as more child like and cartoon fairies with the more realistic and nature-themes fairies.

While also looking at general human cartoon characters looking at what features make that character have a visual personality.

Does what they wear change anything?

Does there hairstyle give an impression?

Does there head and face shapes matter?

So my next strep was to design a lot of face shapes and fairies until i had come across something i liked enough to model. trying different face shapes, body shapes, different kinds of clothe etc.

I didn't particular like any of those enough to want to move onto the modeling stage. So i tried doing it in stages such as sketch different head shapes and eye shapes.

Try different proportions on the body.

And try adding a character to that.

For clothes i decided to take inspiration from a more Victoria era a mix of feminine yet practical.

And doing multiple colour palettes based around 

spring (green leaf hat)
autumn (orange leaf hat)
and winter (silver leaf hat)

Then adding the final touch of a fairy, the wings. there is still possibility she won't be a fairy as her genera appearance is a lot less dainty and sweet than the usual representation of fairies.

And now i have started to model her.

Still unsure what colour scheme to choose from.

Personally i think i will want to use either spring (green and blue) or autumn (orange) colour scheme.

Story time

Been trying to figure out a story for the little group of characters. 

And trying to figure out how these characters would work in a game.

Social based games seem to work better for my characters. As they don't involve combat.

Influences being the heavy amounts of dialog from the Phoenix write franchise.

And the social link's form persona 3

So the basics of the game i would create with these character

The basic story line i have right now is:

* The 4 teenage character's parents are acting strange.

* They all find out that it's not just there parents who are acting up.

* They spy on one of there parents.

*Uncover why there parents are acting so strange.

(Okay this is the part i'm still working on.)

 Something to go with ghosts/demons that posses and control there host. 

Not sure what there big goal is.

But they feed on emotions, they try to make there host they are possessing worry and feel terrible about how the demon/ghost is making them act.

So at the start of the story Tetra's mother is currently possessed. 

Tetra's storms out to go meet coats before going to school.

Tetra and Weathercoat's parents.

Tanisha is usually a kind and caring mother who likes to think she's ''down with the kids'' very lenient.

Maroon is a harsh and ignorant father. He isn't proud of weathercoats and his passion's.

Tory on the other hand got weathercoats into clothes and only encouraged him. Although somewhat regrets it thinking she has babied him to much.

Tutorial after the introductory scene.

After this piece of story would be some form of tutorial on how the socializing works.

In the tutorial Weathercoats would be used. 

The goal in the tutorial is to act friendly or mean to weathercoats. 

The player may ask questions to weathercoats about how his parents are acting.

Eventually he will then open up to you because he and Tetra are already friends.

You can either make fun of him for opening up and talking about his feelings or sympathize and be supportive.

Making fun of him will stop him from opening up and not wanting to talk about his parental issues.

being supportive will make the conversation last longer and possibly getting a little more information out of him.

I am unsure how the socializing parts will look. I created some layout for the DS. But most system are a one screen system so i will have to make some layouts for single screens.

After the tutorial Chris and Bex would be introduced.

Chris being a sort of bully calling weathercoats names.

This would give the player another chance to gain weathercoat's friendship if they made fun of him the first time.

The player could also talk to Chris.

Either supporting the choice to bully Weathercoats.

Or tell him off for doing so.

Then the game would skip to a cut scene being held once school has finished.

This would be where the children stumble upon the ghosts for the first time.

After this Tetra now has the ability to go into her friends subconscious at night time when they are asleep.

This would be the main mechanic to the game.

In the day time you can talk to the characters.

And at night time you can use the information you got form them.

You will get little to no information if you are cruel or make fun of them if they open up.

Weathercoats

Weathercoats or 'Coats' Was finally modeled.

4 down one to go now!

The little feminine faun.

My favorite model so far.

I've also done a few blend shapes for him.

Also done blend shapes for my main character Tetra (The lemur) but not enough to make full faces.

All Weathercoat's textures with the use of zbrush to make the lovely clothes creases in the textures.

Rough estimate of there height comparisons.

Going to have to shrink Chris' (left) head to make him fit with the other's anatomy style.

Now only bex is left to model out of the main cast.

Things from blogs I found useful

A series of quotes and imagery I've found that have helped when thinking about gender, sexuality and sexiam in general.

All reminding me that it's not just me bothered about these issues! A whole world out there of people who want some form of change.

Some quotes i found that i liked when it came to marketing game towards women.

http://jezebel.com/5381665/why-is-marketing-to-female-gamers-considered-challenging

''Instead of paying attention to why women play certain games or speaking to women who identify as gamers, it appears that game companies prefer to work with stereotypes. ''

''Advertising through the same old outlets will get you the same old results.''

Different kinds of attractions

I liked this as when 2 characters are together they are usually romantic or sexual if they are male and female. I feel sensual attractions, 'squishes' and atheistic attraction are those that aren't explored as much.

I'd probably class my 2 main character 'Tetra' and 'Weathercoats' in the Squishes catagory. close and friendly, not afraid of physical contact but platonic.

Original post here: http://secondlina.tumblr.com/post/21955456091/a-comic-about-the-different-types-of-attraction

This one i mostly found amusing. Although i go like the message that not all women have curves. Does'nt stop them from being a 'real' woman!

This is just a quote that i found actually, quite true!

“Femininity is depicted as weakness, the sapping of strength, yet masculinity is so fragile that apparently even the slightest brush with the feminine destroys it.”

--Gwen Sharp

This is something I've found that sum's up words used for women fairly well. You rarely hear about the middle ground between the two extremes.

Source: http://picgusta.com/pic/BMKeW/life-as-a-woman-according-to-society.html

A nice sum up of what gender.

Source: http://snoogan2dope.deviantart.com/art/Gender-is-Gender-is-not-174870726

Two very different takes on a body campaign....

Something wrong with one of them!

This is also a pretty cool video talking about how women's poultry in all media is really effecting how people grow up and perceive woman and men.

http://vimeo.com/28066212 

some quotes from the video:

''10 hours and 45 minutes of media consumption a day'

For the average teenager.

''girls get he message very early on that the most important thing is the way you look...''

''...And boys get the message that this is what's important about girls''

''there is no appreciation for women intellectual''

''The fact that media are so limitings, and so derogatory to the most powerful women in the country then what does it say about medias ability to take any woman seriously''

'The notion that these media companies are just 'giving us what the public want' No. They've giving us media companies want giving us what the advertisers want and packaging it in such a way to make it seem like it's our fault and it's not''

''We're socializing boys to believe that being a man means being powerful and in control. Being smarter than women being beter than women, our needs get met first in a relationship with women. That's not genetically predestined it's learnt behavior.''

''media can awaken people and change minds. It depends on who's piloting the plane''

And one day hopefully people will not focus on a persons appearance!