Dare To Percieve
Brief for a graphic novel by Hima M, concept art by Gayatri Pradeep
Sihi is a 21-year-old Indian girl of north eastern descent. She sees the world differently in terms of visuals, her perception of a space involves imagining things as more than what they are, along with the added morph of colours and elements. This visual impairment or boon is a result of excessive psychedelic abuse by her mother during her pregnancy term period, which caused an altercation in her brain chemistry and visual nerve receptors.
She loves insects, the forest, people and the way that they interact amongst each other and their surroundings. She is curious and has an innate need to know how things work.
Main character traits:
Curiosity
Smart
Jittery
Deliverables:
1. An illustration of what you think Sihi’s self portrait would be like.
2. Background concept art of her favourite place to go away to. Options: an abandoned palace, a grocery store or the forest - one regular version and one perceived by Sihi.
3. A concept art illustration of what Sihi’s dream would look like.
4. An object of adoration from her childhood. Options: Sleeping mask, piece of cloth, rattle or a sketchbook.
Key Words:
Magical Realism
Morbid Curiosity
Maximalism
Overstimulation
Patterns
Imaginative
Heavily Saturated
Dream like
Hazy
References from literature/books :
The Midnight Children - Salman Rushdie
Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Tell me your dreams - Sidney Sheldon
An illustration of Sihi's self-portrait:
I decided to make it look like it was painted by hand in oils. Included her signature feather in her hair and her earrings.
Her childhood keepsake:
For this, I chose a red woolen scarf that her mother would wrap her up in as a baby, which she grew up getting attached to. She pairs the scarf often with her clothes and hangs it up neatly on the wall next to her childhood photos.
Sihi's Dreamscape:
A concept art illustration of what Sihi's dreams would look like. Key words: maximalism, overstimulation, patterns, imaginative, heavily saturated.
Black and white sketch version (that I really like)
Sihi's comfort place:
Real life version
Sihi's version
Decided to use different art styles for each deliverable. The character sketches and comfort place are in the same style and color palette, this being the main art style of the graphic novel. The self-portrait having the technique of an oil painting was to convey that Sihi is a serious painter. The dreamscape is again in a different, more graphic, animated style with a vibrant colour palette as they are her dreams and I wanted those scenes to stray away from the typical styles that the viewer is used to seeing in the series/novel.
