I continued with doing further research for my characters designs, looking at elements like the fashion and art I wanted to take inspiration from. I already had in mind that I wanted the prince character to have a very pretty aesthetic, and for fashion I was thinking about outfits that include long, embroidered coats with waistcoats underneath and half-length trousers. The 18th Century fashion was what I found to have these elements, and I especially found France with its Rococo styles to be something I liked. A good description of the men's fashion found in this period from History of European Fashion -
"Men generally wore different variations of the habit à la française: a coat, waistcoat, and breeches. The waistcoat was the most decorative piece, usually lavishly embroidered or displaying patterned fabrics. Lace jabots were still worn tied around the neck. Breeches usually stopped at the knee, with white stockings worn underneath and heeled shoes, which usually had large square buckles. Coats were worn closer to the body and were not as skirt-like as during the Baroque era. They were also worn more open to showcase the elaborate waistcoats."
Some images below -
They clearly take the inspiration in unusual ways and its often vastly different from the 18th century styles, but I really liked the dark outfits with detailed gold embroideries. I would like to keep these designs in mind when making the characters outfits, especially the details of the embroideries and the contrasts between them and the dark clothing. I put the womenswear here too, even though I will not be making extravagant designs for the mouse character as she isn't part of the royals, I am thinking of having elements of the princes designs still present in her clothing. I want both characters outfits to seem elegant and have a link between them, as I want it to feel like the prince/family etc wanted their whole household (servants, maids, cooks etc) to be connected and look presentable, fashion-wise.
I was also looking at maid/servants or cooks outfits for the mouse character. This was harder to find, especially focusing on France in the 18th century. I might have to focus less on researching specifically for French outfits and more broadly at European styles as often there are many similarities and inspirations that cross over to other countries, which might help me with creating outfits for my characters. Some images I have found so far -
Most of these are by French artists or made in France, except the chocolate girl painting. There is a similar style to all of the outfits however, and key elements such as the hats or shoulder area.
I also found a website called 'Two Nerdy History Girls' by two bestselling authors that has a page about what maidservants wore in 1770 in Britain, with pictures of someone wearing a traditional maidservants outfit, and them describing the different elements of the ensemble.
Again, it has similar elements to the other outfits from the paintings above, even though this is an English gown.
I also found some illustrations showing the elements to French clothing from the 18th Century by an etsy shop owner called LaFleurdeLyse. These show what each part looks like when not being worn, which will be useful to knowing how they work on the body.
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I also continued to work on the designs for the characters, trying to firstly figure out their anatomy and body shapes. I started with the cat, as I still didn't have a clear idea of how his legs would work.
Below are some messy sketches of him drawn in my sketchbook, thinking about his face and leg designs, as well as trying out an outfit on him. I'm not particularly pleased with any of the drawings but they are some of the first ones of him, and were also done with no references so are messy and inaccurate.
Below are some very rough sketches I drew in Photoshop using a ref image (referenced above) trying to get a feel for the characters body when dressed. I found it difficult to get the idea of the characters legs into my head, and I tend to forget to get anatomy references when I first start, so I got some cat anatomy references. I wanted to get a feel for where the bones are in comparison to a human, and how they would work if it was standing upwards.
I then moved on to redraw it with a clearer idea of the legs. The smaller drawing on the left is what I started with, a small sketch that I then blew up and redrew with the second drawing, but it felt anatomically incorrect so I got some male reference images and used them to get a better grasp at the form, whilst still keeping the smaller, skinnier build I wanted. I struggle a lot with arms/shoulders so i was trying to improve that area with the references. I was also trying to figure out the leg balance of the character, looking at if their legs would be bent a certain amount or fully straight.
After drawing these sketches, my friend pointed out that they somewhat resemble the characters from 'Houseki No Kuni', a manga and 3D anime that centers around these gender-less humanoid gem characters. I think due to the long looking legs, especially with the cat-like feet, and the small body, it definitely brings off the same feelings. I think I must have unintentionally been inspired by the anime, as I very much enjoyed it and the characters appearances are very unusual.
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Anatomy reference images used below -
For the time being I have decided on working with the slightly bent legs, as it felt like the most realistic, however the straight legs are also a possibility. I did some more polished sketches looking at the characters face, outfit and ears/tail. From left to right the cat breeds are snow leopard, lion, domesticated and lynx. I might do some more variations as I'm still not set on a design. I do like the snow leopard and lynx, however they are very fluffy and large cats with big paws, and my character is the opposite of that, so I might need to stick to the smaller breeds. I also tried out round glasses and facial markings, as well as thinking about how the outfits would work with the tail.
I think, looking at it after a little while, the character seems to be tipping a little, and probably wouldn't be able to stand properly. This is a problem i have had before with the boss design from my last project, so I will have to try and work on his pose and anatomy a bit more, and talk to tutors to get some opinions.
The Cat Returns is a film that features predominantly anthropomorphised cats, as well as the main character at some point starts to transform into one. The story revolves around a girl called Haru who accidentally accepts marriage with the cat prince Lune, and how she gets out of that with the help of the cat Baron .
Its a great film and I love the way the fashion is designs onto the cats. I definitely want to take inspiration from it in my own work.
Also continued work on the mouse character. I already had a good idea for the body shape and legs, and I used some reference images of mice to get a better feel of the legs and how they would work. Below are some sketches of some trials of different body shapes and ear sizes. I'm still not sure if I want both big ears and big fluffy legs as I think your eye is drawn to both at the same time, so the big legs and smaller ears helps you work up the characters form. The first sketch is a trial of her in an outfit, and the others are to see what the body would look with the fluffy mouse legs.
Mouse reference images below -
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Below are further studies looking at ear sizes, as well as the characters face, outfit, hat and how the ears would be tied up when working. I am pleased with her design so far, though the outfit still needs work and I will be adding more detail to it. I need to work further with the ears as they're not realistic and I'm still not set on a size for them.
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