Character Design: IF the Genie

Descriptions of If from Haroun the Sea of Stories

The page beneath is pretty poor except for the two water wrench variants and the one genie head in which I have incorporated punctuation into the turban as decoration, to show he's a gupee and thus likes to speak. 

Taking my ideas into Alchemy, to help further them.

Liked the beneath but is too triangular, he needs to be more spherical to give a friendlier feel.

This version (below) is much better, I started to see what colours would look like, I like his sky blue beard.

In an attempt to make a friendly good character I attempted to make If totally out of circles, It didn't go to well.

So far this is my favourite Genie, 

I did a lot of research into Indian Culture I looked mainly into men who are called Sadhu priests. Sadhu: In Hinduism, sādhu (holy man) denotes an ascetic, wandering monk. Sadhus are sanyasi, or renunciates, who have left behind all material and sexual attachments and live in caves, forests and temples all over India and Nepal. They look amazing, and have been my main cultural inspiration for If the Genie. Each one is different and many of them paint themselves with dyes, I have incorporated this into the design above, where I have experimented with some face paints designs which I really like. Again I also incorporated punctuation as a decorative design on the genies waistcoat. I looked into how the face wrinkles due to smiling, I gave If a lot of wrinkles around his eyes as this is a sign of happiness. At the bottom on his shoes is the hindu symbol for water, water is highly regarded in hinduism. More of my research into indian culture can be found http://www.pinterest.com/monsta38/cs/

Although the If design above I really like I felt that he was more of an illustration for a book than an actual game character, so I went back. I wanted If to be more stumpier and more interesting in terms of looks. He is a being from another planet so I felt I had artistic license to make his anatomy different. Giving him elf like ears  

Here are four different concepts for If, my favourite being closer to the right. After the first one I decided I wanted to give an animally look, the second was too much so. Ive carried on the incorporation of punctuation decor and the hindu water symbol. In the one second to the last he has a turban made of hair, this was inspired by an image of a sadhu that I saw.

Above are three colour variants of my favourite If iteration, the middle one is warmer hues that remind me of a more eastern indian themed If, where as the more cooler hued one to the right gives me the sense of mystery and magic.

Above is If standing in front of the symbol that I made up that represent the Gupees and freedom of speach. It is made up of two commas/ speech marks which are within a circle. My partner for my contextual studies is designing an opposing character who represents evil and silence, this character is Snooty Buttoo.