CLOUDRUNNER
Cloudrunner is a story concept for a 2D animated series written by Luke Kellerhouse and Brennan Hershock. The sci-fi series follows Chet Ward and his team as they compete in the universe's most popular sport: Solarsprints, or high-speed space races performed on drift-bikes.
On this current project, I've been designing the characters Mukmouth, the Don, and Slizz, as well as Slizz's companion creature.
MUKMOUTH:
Mukmouth was conceptualized to be the racing team's engineer. The writers wanted him to be a rare, alien race that ended up being inspired by the axolotl. They wanted him to slightly deviate from beauty standards, yet remain handsome, with bigger eyes. He can be nosy, callous, and confident while also being a great strategist. We went through a few different outfits and silhouette iterations before settling on one in particular, and are in the process of choosing colors for the engineer.
Slizz & Friend
Slizz is another team member who's profoundly gross. He needed to look partially humanoid, but definitely alien at the same time. Luke and Brennan wanted him to be a combination of "malnourished and gluttonous." He also uses unique technology to get around, so I would have to design a hover-craft vehicle for him as well. Slizz's design process was long in that we weren't sure what we were going for at first, so I experimented with referencing different frogs and playing with expressions to make him look more mischievous. In the end, I settled on referencing a horny toad, and am now moving forward with colors.
He has a giant flying-fox as a companion. For this character, I referenced bats, flying foxes, and added some dragon-like elements. I'm currently working on incorporating the same tech that Slizz uses into saddle or armor for the large fox.
The Don
The Don is part of a different group called the "Spectral Mob". She is supposed to be a queen-like figure with noble fashions and an ethereal quality to her. Currently, I'm playing with ways to enhance those features, as well as varying the designs of her red face makeup.