Appa is a flying bison - a spirit animal guide of the air nomads from Avatar the Last Airbender. He is honest, loyal, and caring, thus making him my favorite character. The imaginary worlds influenced by various Asian cultures are where the series took place. As a Taiwanese, practicing traditional mandarin calligraphy is part of learning the language, and I applied that skill to the background of this ancient spiritual creature. I depicted the project in neutral brown tones resembling the appearance of aged paper, painted in Photoshop.
Dolores is my favorite character from Disney’s Encanto. The way her Folklorico skirt flared during the dance in ‘we don’t talk about Bruno’ inspired me to draw it with movement and show off the patterns. I like to focus on the details of a character’s design to authentically represent them while creating a version of mine without compromise. I completed this project in Procreate.
I used to have these items displayed on a shelf near my desk, and I often looked over there when I daydreamed. I was intrigued by the shapes that created the form of each object, so I decided to abstract them in this project with a mid-century modern color palette in Procreate.
Appa gets playful around his best friend, Avatar Aang, the Last Airbender. He is a supportive companion and encourages Aang during his stressful training. I wanted to display the contrast in their scales, so Appa is positioned in the back to fill the whole frame. I visualized it with an animation style but applied varying thickness to the outlines for flexibility and organicity, done in Photoshop.
Kula has my favorite Korok design in Legend of Zelda-Breath of the Wild. The star-shaped leaf with the most symmetrical facial features out of all the versions is why this one stood out to me. I thought of painting a glow to its face for the effect I see in the ethereal environment of Korok forest. Made in Procreate.
I always choose this mouse character to play with my husband while in a long-distance relationship. Even though this game can be frustrating, it promotes communication, teamwork, and having lots of fun. I used soft, smooth shading and thick lines to echo the cartoony design in the game, made in Photoshop.