TBS: Races P.3

Once I had the synopsis of the race written out and defined I started plotting out the basic visual design. I focused on elements that would be visible and communicated them through image; colour, clothing and the masks were important. I left the form, anatomy and over all shape of the Palai-Plai for later when I would design the naked anatomy.  wanted to get the basic design of their clothing on paper first, I would redesign these to fit the new anatomy once it was finished.

I started with designs for the mask and where the feathers would be for decoration on most costumes. I started off with more details and cut back the details later for the sake of the animations and to keep the designs aesthetically appealing without clustered buzzing designs. 

I jotted in details I wanted for the body like large arms that looked like feather-less wings, claw like feet, and hashed out the general colour schemes. I wanted it to be bright, vibrant and powerful. I added extra details into the clothed design.

I drew out the same design in detail putting it into a pose to see if the design would work more in-action. I knew I would make changes to the anatomy again later but I wanted to put a general theme to it. I added more details to this than I should have and it would help me flesh out the extent of the clothing's details for the final design. I wanted it to have a lot going on due to their bold and arogant culture but I also wanted to keep it aesthetically pleasing with a nice form that would not be clouded with too much detail and as a result might loose it's silhouette.


For the final design of the Palai-Plai I worked on a mood board of the lizards I would be using as inspiration.

"I chose the Monitor because they are the biggest group of lizards (aside the crocodile family) and also because recent research has shown they have similar breathing patterns to birds. They come in a variety, I think they have a unique look to them, especially the legs and movement. The Nile, Blue Spotted, and Ornate Monitor will the the 3 main examples for this work. Nile Monitors are aggressive enough to suit the race. I also did research into the first discovered species of bird and dinosaurs with feathers to relate the clothing design to the lore."

Using the mood board I made, I drew out basic designs of the form, shape, and anatomy. 

Originally I wanted for the captain and unit types to be coded by bird names that suited them but I felt it would confuse the player. I tested colour schemes and patterns on these sketches based on the Monitor's patterns & colours I made both a bright version and a de-saturated version to fit the plain design for the Palai-Plai in contrast to the brightly coloured clothing they would be wearing. I made each of the 3 designs have a completely different anatomy and silhouette but with overreaching themes such as the beak, arms and legs. Each were based on slightly different lizards. I decided that the Tactician, Healer(later), were female and the Bruiser and Commander (later scout) were male. I changed their designs slightly in the final to fit their new roles once the statistics were planned out and merged the designs of the Tactician and Bruiser's main anatomy but gave them vastly different clothing. 

I sketched out clothing designed on top

Then I drew out turn sheets keeping the proportions more accurately drawing them naked and deciding on their skin colours and patterns, then adding clothing. I reused clothing designs from my earlier conceptualization stage of the Palai-Plai for the Tactician who had the strongest design as they would be the playable character. They would be the one who would also reveal their face in the plot so I drew up two versions of it. I wanted them to be a combination of bulky and curvy. All the designs would show a bit of flesh except for the Tactician who showed the least as they would have their face showing later. This gave a good ratio of skin to costume. I felt the skin had to be shown because the anatomy of the characters was completely made up and players would not know the form otherwise, especially with the feathers hiding the figure. I drew up the character's feather designs separate for reference in the turn sheet. I made the costumes for each reflect their need for movement and their armour. I used more blockier anatomy for characters who were muscular and more rounded ones for weaker characters.

I brainstormed colour scheme options for the characters before picking.