Catfolk Jungle

I never thought of myself as an environment artist, but after drawing successful environments in my class I realized environments are as much fun as characters. They both require different ways of thinking and rendering, yet they both feel like a puzzle with multiple little problems inside of them. It's so satisfying clearing one problem and moving on to the next.

This drawing is inspired by koi fish towns such as Shimabara, and the amazon rainforest. I liked the idea of a village that is completely suspended above water, with easy access to fish.

It was hard trying to figure out the eye path. I wanted the viewer eyes to be guided along the river from one end of the canvas to the other, but I also liked the idea of breaking the eye path with a beam to give a feeling of being in the image. In the end the beams broke the eye path too much and instead I added trees to show that the village is a part of nature.

I was doubtful at the start by choosing base colors that are not natural, but in the end I'm glad I pressed forward because like with a dead color palette (black, yellow ochre, red) where black is seen as blue, when everything is cohesive it gives the illusion that it's reality. When everything is cool colors and only yellow and warm colors indicate light, the viewer reads that cool colors are shade, and warm colors are light.

Since I did not have enough time to do a polished 2d render of every character, I decided to do just one.

Para's design is inspired by the jaguar. I referenced Disney Zootopia to draw appealing faces and fur. I gave her purple cloth and gold shoulder pieces to show that she's "royalty", while also giving her ripped pants, a DIY necklace, and a pouch to show that she's an explorer.

Her name is Para because she finds a crystal in a temple that is inspired by the Paraiba tourmaline. She later wears it as a necklace as part of a new outfit.

Guarana is inspired by the ocelot and the guarana fruit. It has medical uses so I thought they would be perfect as earrings for a shaman. They also give a psychic motif.

Since it's a fishing village I knew I had to design a fishing character. Runti is inspired by the Jaguarundi. One reason the Jaguarundi population is declining is due to farmers trapping or killing them for eating their poultry. So, I designed Runti to have a cut ear and tail.

Chief Bicu's name comes from the bicuda, which is a type of barracuda. Since his design is very symmetrical, and since I wanted to give reason for his protective personality, he has a large scar on his face and arm. He is overly protective of Para and tries to keep her inside the village because her mother died by a beast that gave him the scars he has now. His outfit is inspired by Brazilian tribes and Aztec clothing.

I wanted to show a bit of a hierarchy and size difference between the big cats and smaller wild cats. I also wanted to show a variety of faces and body types.

I hope you enjoyed this themed series.

-Paige