Nova (Design Commentary)

I thought I'd share some of the thought process of designing certain characters in case you find it interesting. Disclaimer though, don't expect to find any educational gems in these commentaries, they are often hodge-podge of random ideas coming into fruition. I hope you like reading.

Page 1 - Concept Brainstorming

• Poses 1-3: So you maybe looking at this is saying what? Lol. yeah I started this character wanting to draw a pink hair oni girl. I didn't have anything particular in mind. pink hair girl with point horns. That's it.
  There isn't a whole lot to say about the first three roughs here, I was sketching out some general shape language that resonates with the pointy shapes. Maybe some hooves, maybe not. I'm not so much into monster/animal girls so I think I was leaning toward her being more human-like. How boring.
• Poses 4-5: This took a sharp turn. I honestly can't remember why I suddenly shifted to blackhole concept. Maybe I was watching youtube of Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about it or just completely random. Even in the pose 4, the concept took shape immediately. Designing became much easier and fun with a concept I can design around. 
• There were a lot of comments about Nova wearing skirt, it wouldn't really make much of a sense for a girl with blackhole on her head to be wearing such a thing but that is entire point of this design. It is non-sensical, silly and sexy. Not to be taken seriously. 

Page 2 - Designing

• Pose 1: With the main concept figured out, I focus on the actual design of the character in this stage. The sippy cup, I have two nephews that not too long ago were still using these cups. That's mostly the inspiration for Nova having sippy cup to add to the silly, non-sensical nature of it. 
• Pose 2-4: With the usage of colors, I wanted show that Nova wasn't a human. and initially purple is nice saturated form of a 'black' so I went with black but I wanted to bring in more of my initial goal of making a "pink hair oni" so I made her skin pink instead.
• Outfit: I thought about from her personality stand point. the concept itself is silly, especially with the sippy cup. so her having sleek fashion sense with necklace and sleeveless turtleneck didn't feel right so I went with more casual look.
• Blackhole: I flattened out the blackhole to look like a portal of some kind instead of the supernova shape with sphere in the center. I think the flat oval contrasts well with her flowing hair and skirt.

Page 3 - Model Sheet

It's mostly technical cleanup at this stage but I'll mention some things I may have missed

• I added the strap to her cup to show that this is her daily routine. Initially, I thought her as some kind of office girl, so in this sheet, the liquid that is in the cup is coffee.
• The close up details of the object and face on the right aren't just for show, I find them useful to have when I need to eyedrop the colors for future art of Nova.
• Blackhole: I experimented with hole having a glowing light but since blackhole absorbs light, I went with it asking shadow on her hair instead.
• The teeth gap. No specific reason here. I think it's cute and it also adds to the quirkiness to the design

Page 4 - Poses that tell Stories

With the boring technical things out of the way, this is where I have the most fun. Figuring out more about the character. A lot of what I am explaining here aren't my exact intentional thoughts when drawing but they were certainly lingering motivation in the back of the mind that drives these choices.

• Pose 1: I wanted the blackhole to be part of her. and not just she is cursed with this blackhole following her around. So I tied the blackhole to her consciousness. Nova may not have direct control over it but it is part of her just the same. 
• If you've seen my other character sheets, especially the maritime girls (the fish girl stuff), I like to draw my characters sleeping and taking a shower. I just find imagining those very private moments where the characters feel safe and alone quite relaxing and a good time to show a part of a characteristic they may not show when they are in company of others.
• hair: I gave NOVA looong hair to show how deep the hole can go but also things just don't get destroyed once they enter the hole. At this point, I'm using the concept of blackhole as inspiration and not super accurate representation of true nature of blackhole in reality
• shower: with loong hair should come the challenge of trying to wash them right? how would she go about it? I didn't have super interesting idea other than the water should travel up so that is what you see here along with strap for the soap. 
• "womb tattoo": Its just me being cheeky with the design, nothing more. Maybe there is a second blackhole in there.

Page 5 - More Story poses

• If her regular outfit was meant to be her everyday/work outfit, what would she look like all dressed up for a date? and how can I show some unique situation with Nova's unique concept?
• heart monitor: I do specifically remember where I got this idea. I was watching youtuber play resident evil game but with heart monitor strapped to him. That got me to think, if Nova's blackhole loses size and power when she is relaxed and sleeping, what about the opposite?
• I had an idea maybe she is a hopeless romantic when it comes to men so she gets quite nervous on a date. How many men have lost their lives because she is very shy? between this page and the next one. I would think about what would be beyond the blackhole.
• the beyond: There is a video game called "Donut County" and in that game a whole town gets trapped in this void with no real way to escape. so along with that idea, in the show Rick and Morty there is that episode Jerry daycare center where bunch of Jerrys basically made it their home there. So the one situation I thought of is bunch of Nova's previous dates are stuck in a void dimension but are also suspended in time so don't get hungry or age.

Page 6 - The Return

• The main reason why I didn't go with the idea I previously wrote was, I didn't really want Nova to be some kind of unintentional kidnapper. Also I didn't want to design bunch of men to show their story. This is about Nova after all. and I also wanted what lies beyond the whole a big mystery. perhaps mystery even to Nova herself.
• So if there are any living beings get sucks up in Nova's blackhole, they must be a way to return. One way I thought of was for Nova to send up a long rope or something for the people to grab onto and pull them selves out.
• But I already had an answer to it. tying back to previous concepts. Nova would have to get herself relaxed enough for the blackhole to lose it's potency and be weaker than earth's gravitational pull. But she couldn't be asleep because then the whole would be too small for anything to fall through. 
• This is where the question of "what is in her sippy cup" gets answers with additional reasoning for the lore. Now Nova's sippy cup would always have concentrated chamomile tea so she has some control of the blackhole. (Chamomile tea helps you relax and feel sleepy)
• the tea pot: Just like the showerhead with upward water, it was fun to visualize how she would pour things in her cup.
• the time dilation: So This is where I also take liberty with the science because.. time dilation in reality would work opposite of what I have shown here. Time slows down for the object that are closer to the blackhole. but here, in this illustration the time sped up for the poor guy. 
• Again, I didn't want Nova to unintentionally ruin people's lives because I didn't want to vilify her. So in this scenario, Nova returned home after the disaster of a date, took a shower to relax and made the tea to bring back the blind date from his demise. In our time, maybe 3 hours have passed. for the guy though, maybe 3-7 days.

Page 7 - The Cult

• What lies beyond Nova's Blackhole? Unspeakable horrifying beautiful things. Knowledge the no living being were ever meant to know or even capable to understand. The secret of the universe perhaps.

Well, That's about all I have for now. If you liked this sort of thing let me know in the comments. I will make an effort to give more patreon exclusive commentary posts like these if you enjoy them.

Thank for reading!
-Kyu