Sept 4: Updates and character redesigns

Quick update. I did some final redesigns of the characters, trying to base each character's outfit off of historical clothing while also distinguishing them from each other.

I also worked on rewriting the script with Rigby. In truth, it felt like Rigby did most of the work and has a better understanding of the story than I do.

I'm not much of a story writer, and the fact that this story got chosen at all is still baffling to me. Sometimes I wish I could be like Dani and not think about the thing I pitched at all. But it wouldn't be fair to my team who's working very hard to bring this to fruition.

Hunter's outfit is based off of the Yesa (Yisa?). A robe from the Ming dynasty heavily inspired by the prior Yuan Dynasty's robes. His outfit is the same type of robe that was worn by Ming archers, though I believe the robe was lengthened.

Like before, Fox still has an orange Yuanlingpao or round collar robe, and like before it is worn with the collar unbuttoned, something that would be a faux pas in the Ming Dynasty. I did shorten the skirt length and the sleeves which should hopefully help make it less annoying to animate. Even in human form, I wanted to invoke a very fox-like design with the colors. I think his final design in the short will give him a ponytail.

At some point I should probably talk at greater detail about the characters that inspired him. I pulled a lot of visual inspiration from them before adding my own research. I'm also happy that another person is working on some of the visual design though so it's not me purely "copying" a better character or two.

As a red fox, I wanted to try and make him relatively unassuming while still making him a little unique. His proportions make him rather lengthy for a fox, and the white fur on his chest is meant to invoke his open collared robe. He also has dark brown fur over black, the same color as his hair. As a fox, the fur around his eyes is more vermilion, similar to the eye shadow he wears as in human form

Uncle lives out his best life with very simple commoner's clothing. I believe the final production will give him rolled down sleeves as he isn't doing much active farming anymore. I suppose his backstory of being a scholar is being brought into the forefront.

For fun, I also experimented with Fox quite a bit

One thing that stuck out to me was how to deal with Fox having undefined magical powers, the kind that a fox of his caliber would presumably have. The short answer is obviously it doesn't matter because there's a high chance that an ordinary viewing audience isn't going to know Fox is supposed to have some sort of undefined power beyond shapeshifting.

I like the idea that fox is a relatively young huli-jing. Maybe a romantic at heart. Maybe he writes self insert fanfiction of Madam White Snake.

Some experimentation with Fox's fur (and height comparison). I don't think his fur should just be orange.

Things really have come a long way from the beginning of Fall Semester last year.