Casey Vernon's Character Design Blog

            Dolvians

Raz’gazt, Dolvian chieftain 

Age: Dolvians have a relatively close age span to human beings. The exact biology of their aging process hasn’t been fully explained yet. Raz’gazt, however is most likely around the 30-40 range.

Evolution/Life Cycle (relative to human?) Dolvians seem to be part insectniod and reptilian. Their heads have a similarity to the Earth horned beetle, and their limbs are very long, (lean) muscular, and organic. They evolved on their native planet from an orgasm with similar, combined traits.

Ethnicity: Dolvians are commonly split into three tribal clans: each one fills the three divides of class.

Wat’ish: natives, gathers, warriors, barbarians. Dolvians from the Wat’ish clan are often seen as savages to be dealt away with. Most of the Dolvian population fall within this category.

Raz’gazt is a Wat’ish clan chief.

Morock: Priests, political leaders, soldiers of the Empress. Dolvians from the Morock clan are second on the class tree, and have access to nearly all material goods provided by the monarchy. They are under royalty, but still manage to lead a successful, comfortable life.

Mat’tush: The Empress and her brood. Dolvians from the Mat’tush clan are members of the monarchy, and control the ruling system that governs their race. Dolvians are a highly separated group of beings. Control is managed and enforced through the Mat’tush clan, and their ultimate control over the two remaining clans.

Dolvians also wear masks when hunting or fighting. These masks are “beaked” and snap onto their faces, just below the ridge of the eyes. Two tubes attach from front to back and help regulate oxygen intake, so Dolvians can run for an extended period of time.

Height: Dolvians stand roughly nine and a half feet.

Weight: Because they often have slender limbs and body, Dolvians are slightly underweight for their height. They weigh roughly two hundred and thirty pounds, give or take a few.

Gender: Dolvians have two genders: male, female. Dolvian society is a Matriarchy, with a ruling Empress and several Queens. Males have an extra set of “horns”. The society, however, isn’t unkind to males. Male Dolvians are successful and respected within all tribes.

Culture: As a historically divided race, the Dolvians are often subject to outworld invasion and slave trade exploitation. Their home world has been invaded for slave labor, material, and land. Members of a universal political group have tried for years to convince the Dolvians to get rid of their rigid class structure, but are only met with refusal. It is believed that the class structure originates from religion, and that belief is still strong throughout all three tiers.

Dolvians worship five deities, each a combination of male and female. On their homeworld, it is forbidden to talk about their beliefs with outsiders, so not very much is known about the systematics of the religion. It is very clear, however, that Dolvians are pretty religious when it comes to decision and culture. Others speculate that the religion is a tool used by the Mat’tush to keep their subjects in line.

Profession: This particular Dolvian, Raz’gazt, is a respected Wat’ish chieftain. He rules over several large clans and hates the Empress with all his might. He is known as the “bringer of fire”, due to his rebellious nature towards the monarchy and his ability to compress energy into spheres of light (that can be tossed at enemies at will). It is unclear where Raz’gazt learned this skill.

Dreams: Raz’gazt wants to overthrow the monarchy. His intentions are to free his clan from the squalor they have been forced into, and ultimately, freedom for his race.

Beliefs: Outside of the standard Dolvian religion, Raz’gazt’s religious believes are unknown.

Food: Dolvians eat meat and plants. Raz’gazt enjoys eating a particular, sweat fruit that grows on the trees of Wat’ish plains.

Weaknesses: Because of his goals, Raz’gazt is often arrogant and self absorbed. Most believe he acts this way because he has to be strong for his clan.

Goals/Ambition: To overthrow the Empress, and establish a new system for his race and obtain power for himself. He is a respected leader and feared by even the Empress’s generals. However, he is unaware that his intentions are leading his people into a bloody civil war.

Obstacles: The ruling class, outside invaders, soldiers from his own race.

Stereotype/Archetype: Selfish leader, arrogant ruler. Strong for his people, and unwilling to back down against forces that are obviously stronger than himself.

Sense of Humor: 
Health: Presently, Raz’gazt is in good health.

Family: Dolvians usually have an extended family. It would be impossible to name all of Raz’gazt’s family members.

Values: Power, leadership, the equality and wellbeing of his clan.

Environment (Env they feel uncomfortable in?)

Intelligence

Education: Because he is the last on the class tier, Raz’gazt (and most of the Wat’ish clan) are denied higher education, if any education at all.

Sex Life: Dolvians are, surprisingly, monogamous. Currently, Raz’gazt does not have a mate. Any takers?

Idiosyncrasies: 

Need/Purpose

Nocturnal habits

Body Structure: Slender, long, and organic. Form and structure are slightly insectiod in their appearance and movement.

Fears: Being taken captive by slave-harvesters from other planets. This has happened to members of his extended family. He also fears the Empress’s forces. He also speculates that the royal clan is willingly selling members of their own race to foreign planets.

Talent: Raz’gazt is a skilled “sorcerer”; he can compress energy at will, transforming it into a weapon. Currently, he teaches this skill to other members of his clan, in hopes they can incorporate it into methods of warfare and fighting. He will not, under any circumstances, tell others where he learned this skill from.

Self View: Raz’gazt views himself as pretty righteous, but to the Empress, he is must be dealt away with.

Addictions

Flaws: Blindness. Unwillingness to change to develop.

I am not a caricature artist by any means (as a matter of fact, I really hate the style), but this assignment ultimately proved to be really fun. The entire class had a riot with this.

Another in class exercise. I thought this one was really fun. We had to take a trait (limbs, face, arms etc) and distort/exaggerate it.

In this in class assignment, we had to find various artists who had a unique style. I choose Wayne Barlowe because I was not familiar with his work. But upon further investigation, I really enjoyed the organic way he drew aliens and tried to reflect that aesthetic. The hyper realism didn’t come through, but I really enjoyed working with this aesthetic, pose, and character/

In this in class assignment, we had assorted traits and features mixed and matched for a character.

Mine were: Horrified Base jumper missing an arm, Over the top surgeon who is paranoid and turned on gladitor who is overweight.

After our trip to the zoo and extensive research on animal life, our next assignment was to create an animal-human hybrid. Having already been comfortable with the wildebeest’s form and figure, I choose that animal and created a semi-tribal lifeform. These “wildebeest” men roam the plains of Africa, trying to establish a society for themselves separate of the Empress Lioness’s terrible and oppressive forces.

One of BGSU’s recently graduated MFA students, Ken Fairclough, came into our class and gave us a concept art rundown. It was a really fun demo/workshop. Ken showed us how to use markers and conceptualize characters using a particular workflow. Here are three of my “best”. Also, I really liked one so I took a few extra steps over the weekend and photoshopped it.

Warming up to drawing realism, this was our first assignment for the class. 

Greetings!

My name is Casey, and I am a current student at BGSU majoring in Digital Arts. I have a variety of interests, but this blog showcases an in depth exploration of contemporary character design.