Hey everyone! Welcome back!
As you may have seen last week, I had found a few concepts of the characters from Dreamwalkers, although admittedly those were more portrait sketches of the characters in some of there more original forms. On a similar vein, while going through my sketch books I came across some character concepts for the comic that had rivalled Dreamwalkers in what I would do first (and I will eventually get around to doing once I'm done on Dreamwalkers) called Devil Contract. I've shown one of the characters before in a flat colour drawing I had done in the past, and I've actually done a picture of the Hex Doll that's on my DA page a while ago while playing around with different styles. While Damien's appearance has gone through many, many changes in the past (One of his appearances eventually being put aside for another character in another comic idea since it didn't quite match the style of character art I was using for Devil Contract), I found one full body concept that would eventually be the one I would decide to use for the story.
Since I seem to be looking at concepts, I thought I'd look at those today. I have three, the normal mode of Hex Doll (the possessed version is technically done in colour and was my first iteration of it anyway, so just check my DA for that one), Damien and Lucy. There are, of course, other characters, but those three were most predominant, especially since I was sketching ideas for the pilot/prologue/set up chapter. In the prologue, the story revolved around Lucy and her situation, and how and why she would make a contract with the devil known as Damien. The word 'devil' not referring to The Devil, but more like a race, like demons. Admittedly that would have also included scenes with the 'mother' and 'Son/brother' as well, but since I decided on Dreamwalkers first, they didn't get a full design just yet the way these three did.
So, since I mentioned Hex Doll first, I'll start with that. This was its beginning/dormant form, if one considers my DA colour picture to be its recently possessed one.
With Hex Doll, I wanted to make something that would seem somewhat innocent at first glance, but creepy. What I eventually decided on was a mix between a rag doll and a voodoo doll. The purpose of the Hex Doll was to act as the contact keeper, the 'link' between the human and the devil in the deal, hence the voodoo doll aspect. It would be like a portal, allowing the devil in question to get to their contractor when they're ready to strike the deal, but is also possessed, in a way, allowing it to always be able to follow the contractor around so they could stick to their own end of the bargain. In my mind, a possessed rag doll would be somewhat creepy, mostly in how it would move. Unlike, say, a Victorian doll (though those are creepy in their own right), there would be no real stability to the form, so how Hex Doll would move would be extremely unnatural with flopping limbs. Plus you wouldn't really expect a relatively floppy looking thing to be able to move at all.
The above picture is it at its most harmless. Just dont go tearing off those button eyes or you might see hell peak out from the holes left behind....
Next is Damien. I've shown a picture of him before, but this shows his full appearance without him being all curled up and hiding part of himself thanks to his stance.
Damien's outfit was inspired by straight jackets, though obviously he's not actually wearing one. I just wanted to not only have him in a stylised outfit (and experiment in clothing a little more complicated thanks to all the buckles) but just to give off the feeling that all is not quite normal with the character, even when he acts pleasantly. Similar to how I wanted Somnus in Dreamwalkers to have an otherworldly feel about him, so to did I want Damien. He is, after all, a devil. Admittedly, though, the outfit colour is still something I'm unsure about - white with black buckles, or the other way around, for example. But along with the 'this is not a normal person' vibe, I needed something that still fit his character when he is being....ah...less pleasant.
The pilot for this story, at least its idea, gets pretty dark at times, despite the relatively cute appearance of characters. But as we have seen in things like Higurashi, just because a character has a somewhat 'moe' or cute style doesn't mean they can't be creepy. lol
Finally, the last character was Lucy, for a while known to me only as 'the contractor', at least in the pilot before I gave her a name. The character herself is supposed to be a person who is....relatively normal, minus a few difficult home circumstances that becomes tempted by the lure of the contract to deal with her problem, something that would only come to bite her once she had grown up. As such, the appearance of Lucy here is the child version, the one that would have appeared in the pilot/prologue to the story. Also holding the dormant Hex Doll
Her older self, of course, would probebly appear somewhat different, of course. After all, no one really wears the same things as a adult. But in the pilot, it only deals with Lucy's child form. As such, her adult self hasn't been fully conceptualised just yet.
Even so, it was great to look at the concepts again. I'd love to do some more neat ones that show full bodies and different angles and expressions. These guys were fun to draw! If nothing else, seeing full versions of Damien and Lucy would be pretty cool.
Anyways, until next time!
Tara
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