CHARACTER DESIGN
A collection of character designs made for both collaborative assignments and independent explorations.
Chronicles of the Motherland: Anansi
Shown below is a character design inspired by the Akan folktale character, Anansi, who is considered to be a trickster character in West African myths and reigns as the god of stories. Anansi's design here was partly informed by a design of my original character, Kofi, whom I intended to be the human incarnation of the spider deity. I was inspired to create this design due to my interest in African folktales - as someone who comes from an African country myself - and I plan to make Anansi one of my many visual explorations of African folktale characters from every corner of the continent.
Kofi (Anansi's human incarnation)
Chronicles of the Motherland : Orunmila
Meet Amari; avatar to the Yoruba deity of wisdom, knowledge, and divination. Much like Anansi, he is inspired by folklore from West Africa and is based on stories surrounding the Orisha pantheon of Yoruba religion. Here, I've integrated the story surrounding Orunmila with an original character of mine who I've designed as the human incarnation of the Nigerian deity.
Amari (Orunmila's human incarnation)
Chronicles of the Motherland : Olapa
Meet Zahara; avatar to the Maasai goddess of the moon, Olapa. Not much is written or portrayed when it comes to Olapa, so I decided to explore her character through the designs below and in tandem with my original character, Zahara, whose Kenyan roots make her the perfect human incarnation for the Maasai goddess.
Zahara (Olapa's human incarnation)
Keeper of Stories: Enitan
This is a character I created based on West African griot practices. The name "Enitan", meaning "person of stories", originates from the Yoruba language of Southwestern Nigeria and alludes to her character's practice as a storyteller, praise singer, poet, and musician. Due to their traditional roles as keepers of oral tradition and advisors to royal personages, griots are usually male - however, I wanted to explore the possibilities and practices of female griots through this character as a way to bend such gender expectations.
The Half-Orc Bard: Asleryn
This character is part of a "Dungeons & Dragons" collaboration project that I completed as an in-class assignment. Despite having never played D&D before, I enjoyed reading about the races, classes and archetypes that the game follows while designing this character.
