Saturday, February 15, 2020

Redrawing My Old Paper Dolls #1: Fairies and Shapeshifting Rulers


Greetings everyone!

I thought it would be fun to do some redraws of my really old drawings, which were actually in paper doll form instead of in a sketch book. I thought it would be a neat project to tackle. I noticed that most of the paper dolls were characters I made (though I can't remember their names). Which is interesting given that I may now have a whole bunch of new characters to use in my drawings, animations, character interviews, short films, and novels. Most of the characters who I am going to redraw are probably going to be girls, due to the fact that I didn't draw boys until very recently.  Back then if I did draw boys they were usually bearded or had a mustache.  I was very young and I guess it was my only way to show that a character was in fact a boy, and not a girl. :)

Let's begin:


The first drawing, I want to redraw is a green fairy character. I assume the character was either another character who was turned into something by means of magic (there is tons of shapeshifting in my stories old and new) or a villain in the stories. Her appearance is unusual, so I am very unsure which of the two it is. But I thought it might be interesting to turn her into a character that always was this way, or perhaps has some cool shapeshifting ability or something that comes from the species of fairy she is. (Perhaps with her having the shapeshifter ability, but not the villain part).

(Image from wikia, https://goodomens.fandom.com/wiki/Crowley
(warning:  if you decide to put the link into your search-bar, I should warn younger readers, that there is swearing in the show so there will be quotes from the show with swearing in them in the article. I just wanted to warn you)).

So when I looked back at the character, herself, her eyes reminded me strongly of Crowley's eyes from Good Omens, especially since her eyes were not fully yellow and had had white around them, even though I highly doubt that this character is a snake demon with a love for the band Queen. (But who knows, she might actually have a little Crowley in her).

(Image from wikia, https://darkcrystal.fandom.com/wiki/Deet?file=The_dark_crystal_2018_deet_via_netflix.jpg) 
 And her skin color and ears and everything reminded me strongly of Deet from the Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, since they seemed to have a similar design.

So next after thinking that she looked like a mix of Crowley and Deet, I began redrawing her, and adding in details that weren't there before in the original while keeping the essence of the original.

                                                Here is the uncolored version: 

 Unlike the original, I decided to give her leaf wings as it seemed to fit with her personality. 

Here is the colored version: 





I have yet to come up with a name that suits her, but we will see what happens as I develop her more. 


The next drawing is of a prince, who can turn into a peacock at will. (Or maybe it's not in his control...I can't remember which). 

Since, he had facial hair to show he was a boy, and since I know how to draw boys now, I thought I would give him more of a slick-back look and have a little perhaps of hair jelled hair (as he would care about his appearance, like the children's book version of peacocks do).  

I took my new ideas for this and put it into the redraw. Here is the uncolored version: 



Here is the colored version: 

The whole idea where peacock feathers made eyes all over his shirt was actually taken from Greek Mythology, as Argus had eyes all over his body. And since Argus seems to suit this character now, I am going to call him Prince Argus. (Who turns into a peacock, ironically). Speaking of that, I decided to redraw his peacock side... 
The reason why the feathers are so colorful in comparison to a normal peacock is because when I was younger, I grabbed a whole bunch of markers to draw the feathers. However in terms of characterization he says it is because he isn't a "common peacock" and that it makes it easier for servants to find him amongst the "common peacocks." (He will probably hate me saying this but if your ruler has a personality of a peacock and rules the kingdom in a vain way, there is likely to be a revolution. Once he is overthrown, since every ruler seems to have a shapeshifting ability, the new president will have one too. The question is what animal they would turn into? )

(President Athena in human form) 
To answer my own question I made a character that wasn't a redraw. This character (whose name is President Athena) is the one who takes the place of Prince Argus. Since there are a whole series of princes and princesses who can shape-shift into animals (and whose outer appearance suggests the animal they shift to), I think it would be neat for there to be a president who can do that. She can shape-shift into an owl. The reason I chose to do an owl as the form she shifts into, is that (even though this a stereotype of animals) the owl is wise and the peacock is vain. And because of this, I wanted the animals to show the true natures of their characters. Also, an owl is less colorful, while a peacock is more colorful. With the color differences I was trying to show that Argus is more in it for himself while Athena is in it for the people, therefore wears more reserved colors. 

(Athena in owl form) 

For her animal form unlike Argus's flamboyant feathers and such, she has her eyes to show that she is human. Owls don't have green eyes, so you can tell that she isn't a normal owl. 

But back to redrawing...
Here is another fairy. This one unlike the last is not green, but is wearing a really vibrant pink: 


I began redrawing the paper doll. This is
the uncolored version: 



This is the colored version: 

I gave her ripped pants and blue lipstick. I don't really think that the ripped pants were in the original sketch, but this is how it turned out. But I wanted to make sure that there was still a hint of blue in her costume. 

This one is another two-sided paper doll: 




I am not entirely sure what her character background is. She was probably a princess of some sort. (Though unlike the others she doesn't appear to be able to shape-shift). 

So, I began redrawing the first one and catching the details of her patchwork dress and everything: 

She even appeared to have a snow white like collar, but it didn't really fit into the redraw. 
This was really fun to redraw, because I had a lot to work with. 

Once I finished sketching it out, I colored it in: 
Since there seemed to be a little orange mixed in the middle with the blue top, I figured I'd add it in somehow. I also added in some details that weren't there in the original (the dots in the middle of the dots on her dress and the dots on her hat). 

Then I began redrawing the flip side. It was much more rainy on the flip-side, perhaps to show her change of mood. She also had a change of outfit which appeared to be a raincoat. Her outfit was less detailed on the flip-side, but I decided I would add in some details anyway. 

Here is the colored version: 

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Which character is your favorite? Do you have a favorite redraw? 
And if you could have the power to shape-shift into any animal, what would you turn into? 

-Quinley