Battle For Summer

I love creating worlds. The entire process fills me with joy. Unfortunately for this project I spent so much time with prep work I didn't have as much time to focus on the art...

I'm still proud of it though, and I want to come back to it when I have the time to give it the love it deserves.

For each of the characters, I tried to give them several traits that would be fun for a hypothetical team of animators to play with.

For Ariihau, I focused on making this character feel like a deep sea monster given form. You can see this in his hair that works as this kind of hood for ominous moments and this terrifying Kraken for battles. One unique thing that I really loved was the idea of the hair becoming this mass of black that encroaches on his face leaving only one eye visible. I really wanted to corrupt the classic archetype of a happy-go-lucky islander whose naïve to the outside world is really strong and joins the team. I wanted Ariihau to feel like the protective beast of the island, a terrifying person to be around if you mean harm.

To really take this home I took a lot of time looking into Polynesian tattoos. I wanted to take care when designing those tattoos not only out of respect but also because it was a powerful way to tell a story. I hope I remember this properly but for the arms, I put these sharks whose tails ended in spears and centipede bits to represent these were the arms of a warrior. And for the back, I made a Tiki, a kind of guardian, who resembled the moon. It surrounds a "koru" that represents children and lets off rays of moonlight that pierces moray eels that represent evil. I got these ideas from The Polynesian Tattoo Handbook by Roberto Gemori and I'm sure I've muddled some things in the process (which is why for a real project it's good to have an expert present) however, I really wanted to utilize the culture I was basing this character on. If these tattoos are a window in the character's soul, I must ask what can I show with this. How can I represent that this outwardly menacing character, who stalks the seas at nighttime, has his home's best interest at heart? I hope I succeeded.

For Sam, I wanted to make a character that'd be fun to draw for a comic. I knew from the get-go I wanted a brainy character who comes from sports-centric family, and since I based her off Americana her design came pretty easy. However, once I decided to make her favorite sport of choice Flag Football, the flag around her waist hit like a lightning bolt. How do you portray a character who has everything but brawn? How do you show that intelligence, that grace? Another big regret I have is that I wasn't able to make more test comics of Sam outmaneuvering her opponents. The idea of leaving only her flowing flag behind in panels really speaks to me in how it utilizes the language of comics to portray a character who has perfected the art of weaving and dodging. Ah, now I REALLY want to return to this world.

I also based her head and expressions on bobbleheads and such. I loved the idea of this egghead who keeps screaming and hollering like she's a 6'11 frat boy. I wanted it to be reflective of her constant struggle to be bigger than she is. And also because it's funny and I think dork characters deserve to be overly expressive. Last note, the neck scarf comes from think Makoto from Street Fighter looks really cool.

And finally, Dikaya. I'll be honest, I struggled a lot with her design and I wish I could go back to it to fix her but don't know how. I wanted Dikaya to embody the beautiful and harsh dichotomy of winter. And to do that I tried to make her a figure skater who based her outfit on the Killer Whale. Hair like three fins, an attire with a mix of white and black, and gloves in crimson. I wanted her to feel slick and sharp. Ah, but I didn't get that feeling down. I tried studying the creator Yapico for Dikaya's design:

To get that strong design that used every piece of the body and outfit to give off their personality. But I may have come a few years too early to try that...

Anyway, I hope my love for making characters, worlds, and stories comes through in this pitch bible. And you can read the unfinished comic I made for it here.