Character bio's

First things first, the Logo subject to change. Here I collected the final designs of each character and gave them quick bio's including name, height, age, sex, strengths, weakness', likes, dislikes, and a brief history. This I felt helped get a further understanding of these characters and more personality than just a image. I'll write a quick overview for each character's appearance and why they have been designed the way they have.

Ambam Nico:  The name of this character was based on two gorilla's. Ambam is a gorilla in Port Lympne Zoo that has naturally learnt to walk upright like a human, the starting inspiration for the character. Nico is the name of Europe's oldest gorilla (the oldest male in the world only being a few months older than him) who's in Longleat animal park. He has his own island with a basic house with central heating and a telly he watched cartoons on. But what made me want to use his name was that when we visited him, his partner had recently passed away and he was somewhat depressed, in this I saw similarities in my characters story and so decided to use this as his surname.

I wanted Ambam to look old, worn but tough. A bit like Mickey Rourke if he was a gorilla. His sleves are rolled up to give him a macho and 'hands on' appearance. I choose a khaki colour scheme as I felt it made him look like an adventurer, and someone who spends alot of time outside in the wilderness. This inspiration came from the colours in Indiana Jones' costume and John Locke's from Lost. The tri-corn hat was placed to give him a more iconic silhouette and add to his past with pirates. He also has small glasses on his nose, which he would take off during combat, but he does also have a scope/lense on top of his gun to help with his aim and sight.  His broad and muscular physique makes him look heroic but natural. A kind of 'average guy' hero, who isn't perfect in any sense of the word. His belly also shows the fact he's a drinker. He has a huge gun to fit his big hands, these add emphasis to the fact he's a good climber (which is why he has no shoes) and very strong. I wanted him to look weighted, like a punch from this guy would seriously hurt. He also has lots of straps holding together gun holsters, knife pouches and a machete on his back. This adds to the character as he always looks ready for trouble. His badge shows his responsibility and protective nature, and his cigar and generally scruffy appearance also add to the fact the character doesn't care for himself to well.

Jennifer Lulu: Her first name I used mainly because I liked it, it was easy to shorten and I just thought it suited her. Her second name, however I used because of her native American heritage, and Lulu in Native American means 'Rabbit.'

Jenny was a difficult character to design. She was meant to be 'sexy' and that was hard to start with. I went through many variations of just her face and how rabbit like it would be, weather she should have human like hair, and where the line would be between weird, sexy, sexualised, and down right wrong. I needed alot of feedback and criticism from various friends and artists to get her right. Her face, particularly was hard. A full rabbit face looked weird as the rest of the body was meant to be somewhat attractive. I tried warping the face out but that just looked very flat, eventually I used the basis of a Disney/Pixar type face, like Rapunzel or Elsa from Frozen, as they also had the big eyes and small noses and mouths, like rabbits had. I added a more rabbit-y type nose and more tilted eyes that sort of warp around her face, giving her more vision. Her hair I decided against as it just looked too human for this anthropomorphic world, and instead to use her ears to influence 'hair' in a similar but yet different way to how Lola bunny from Looney Tunes does. Her ears would also be able to add to her body language by moving like eybrows, an idea that I liked and worked well in initial design pages. The rest of the costume was much inspired by Anna Valerious in Van Helsing, as flawed as the film maybe, I liked it for its cast and design, particularly the costumes were all outstanding. That costume managed to be sexy without looking ridiculous throughout the film, and that's what I wanted to capture. Her style also took alot from rockstar Taylor Momsen, who I felt captured the atmosphere of the character well. I decided against shoes again to add emphases to her powerful feet that allow her to jump so far and run so fast, so I drew spiked heels that looked dangerous and easy to remove at will.

Akira Isha: Her name came from some Hindi girls names, Akira meaning "Graceful Strength" and Isha meaning "One who protects." Both these fitted the character well as well as being names I particularly liked.

Akira I always intended to be a fierce warrior for her people. I wanted her to be strong and athletic, in very good physical condition. Her costume went through many, many alterations to perfect, but when I reached this conclusion I was very happy with it. As the (adoptive) daughter of the great Emperor Xiong Mao, she had to look quite regal but still like a rugged hunter. Two seemingly opposite sides of the spectrum. The purple inner-wear I used from influence from characters like Marvel's Elektra, something that looks very easy to move in. Her coat I made sleeveless so people could see her muscular arms, and to still show off her Tiger stripes. I made it green as it would help her camouflage when hunting in the forest, and she can just take it off when hunting in the savanna. I added tiger stripe pattern onto her green coat to help with this, and also show her confidence in her body without being revealing. I then lined it with a gold rim to make it look more regal. She has again no shoes to help her climb with her big claws, and an array of arrows to ensure she doesn't run out. Her 'crown' is made to incorporate a headband, and a Bindi, which is worn by Hindu women and said to represent "concealed wisdom" or "the third eye" (which can see more than ordinary sight, and leads to inner realms of higher consciousness) which is why it has been coloured the same colours as her eyes.

Mallangong Dulaiwarrung Tambreet: His name simply means Duck Billed Platypus in various languages of the aborigine people, but because he has such a long and difficult to pronounce name, western creatures call him Bill, because he is a mammal with a bill.

Bill's patterns on his fur were researched and all mean something. Some symbolise water, where he lives. Some mean 'possum' or 'possum tracks' which he has running up his body to show his devotion to his partner. He has four arrows and one spear to show his previous battle wounds, a boomerang symbol where he keeps it on his belt, and also her paw print on his chest.

The necklace he wears is full of his poison he dips his weapons with, and the goggles are 'snow goggles' something aborigines wore to see clearly against the bright white snow, but Bill also uses to see against the bright sun. He uses a boomerang (tipped with poison) to throw at enemies and it always returns to him. Also, he carries a turtle shell on his back for protection, but also as some aborigine tribes would carry the bones around of dead friends and family for a number of years, showing Bill's sensitive side and loyalty to his friends. 

Bolon The Ice King:

Bolon was named so mainly because I liked the sound of it. His title, The Ice King, he is so called because he rules the North, a largely snowy and icy place. He was also given powers by his mentor the Mammoth, to control and wield the wind, lower the temperature and create rain, water, snow and ice with his staff axe.

His appearance was based to look very viking-esque. He has long fur he plats on his beard to age him, and wears extra fur for warmth. The colour scheme was used to make him look cold. He has spikes on his knuckles so when he punches it hurts just as much as a scratch from him claws.  The symbols on his staff mean (from top to bottom): Protection, Power, Ice. I wanted him to look like he'd already been through a few battles which is why his armour has scratches on it.

Vigor's name I used as it actually means: active strength or force. But it also sounded to me like a villianous name, for someone generally quite large and muscular. It fitted him well in my opinion. I didn't give him a second name as I wanted this character to be one with a mysterious past. Something I could develop upon later in the series, but I didn't want to be tied down to this fact this early. 

His body I wanted to look fairly rhino like. so I drew him to have a longer body and shorter arms and legs. I wanted him to look like if he started running he could knock down walls and nothing could stop him. His costume I designed to look vaguely samuari-esque. Earlier in his development he had a sword,  but I felt a character so heavy and strong didn't suit a more delicate and skilled weapon. So I gave him a mace, something he looked like he could swing it and crush skulls with. 

Wiring Djubi: In aborigine language, Wiring means 'female' and 'Djubi' sugar glider.

Wiring was designed to look very delicate and thin, as she has to glide it makes sense for her to be very light. One struggle with designing her costume was that because of the skin between her arms and legs, she can't wear clothes the way most characters do. So I designed a material that hangs around her neck and drapes down over her body to cover her up. She has the same markings on her paws/ hand and feet as the ones that run up Bill's body, to further show their relationship. She also wears bands around her wrists and ankles to keep her weapons: small sharpened stones that she can throw with great accuracy.