Katla Vex Kahn ( Character Design )

•

Katla Vex Kahn
( character design )

I've been bouncing this design around for a while. The character belongs in one of the world-building projects which i am currently keeping alive in my sparetime. An alien reptilian humanoid with design aspects from snakes and fish.

This particular character takes on a third inspirational source from the animal kingdom too, although not one from the reptilian or aquatic realm, but rather one of poultry.

The chicken cock inspired the mohawk-like set of spikes that lines the center of the character's scalp, as well as the chinstrap lining the character's lower jaw, and the onset of golden markings that follows his face from crown to chin.

Typically I'd settle for a more harmonious and realistic set of proportions for my designs, but lately I've been itching to push my boundaries in terms of how abstract my creations can look whilst still maintaining a semi-realistic vibe.

Experimenting with this has had me think differently of how I design characters. Specifically those of more humanoid character.
Whereas I have previously broken my characters down into the usual " head, torso, 4 limbs "- I have begun to take a different approach: which breaks the body down into large, primitive shapes.

This doesen't come automatically just yet, so I always have to implement these shapes in post, on top of my first initial sketches. But once I've mapped out the primary figures on top of the character's sihlouette, I start actually incorporating these shapes almost wholesale into the design.

This has, so far given me a bit more varied results on different designs than I had previously been able to achieve, and given me a vessel of which I can give my semi-realistic creations a hint of cartoonification without doing away with their tangibility, or compromising their anatomical " accuracy ".