Phantom Tales

Character and Prop Design for a children's animated series

The story follows Nessa, a teenage girl in search of the truth behind her parent's disappearance. While traveling she reaches Phantom City, where she meets a Merchant at a Trade shop who appears to know something. For this information Ghost, the trader, tasks Nessa with stealing enchanted items to unravel the secrets of her past.

Here I will showcase the story, as well as, the characters and prop's created for this project. This is a project that is important to me, I have been developing for a while and have put a lot of care into. 

Character Lineup

Within this character lineup we see the main characters for the story, names from left to right are: 02, Liv, Nessa (our main character), 01 and Ghost.

Below I will speak more in debt of their personalities and designs.

Nessa

Nessa is the main character of the story, only 16 years old, Nessa is someone who is filled with enthusiasm. Still young, Nessa is a girl that is filled with hope, determined and trusting. She is someone who is ready to fight, ready to find the truth and eager to explore. From the, now destroyed, village of Cocay, Nessa sports their patriotism and values. Cocay villagers were known as hard workers, kind souls and happy people, something that describes Nessa perfectly.  

for Nessa's design I wanted to keep her young looking, perhaps even a little childish with her hairstyle. She sports the colors of her village, greens and blues that were distinct of Cocay. She carries around a small pouch for trinkets, for she loves collecting them and showing to her friends. I wanted to keep her design more simple and nature themed, since her village was known for it's humbleness as well as fireflies and nature. She wears pink nail polish to showcase some of her femininity and cheerful personality.

Nessa's Travel Bag

As a prop for Nessa I wanted to make a bag that she would take with her as she explores for the truth. For the designs I wanted to still keep them very much nature themed, lots of imagery of plants and trees. Every design showcases a charm from her childhood, something that she has kept for as long as she can remember, as well as patches that she made throughout the years to fix the bags. For the colors I wanted to keep them similar to her color scheme, browns greens and blues, as well as a pop of purple for her charm. 

Ghost

Ghost is our second main character, as well as our antagonist in this story. 38 year old Ghost is a retired knight who now owns a trade shop called 'Ghostly Trade Post', where she trades "anything and everything" to the people of Phantom City. She is the first character Nessa meets as she enters Phantom City and a big catalyst to the story. Ghost is cunning and strong, sports the personality of a cat as well as cat-like features, she is someone who is quick to anger, but also quick to warm up to someone, she's mischievous and is hard to determine her next move. 

For Ghost's design I looked at different female wrestlers, specifically Rhea Ripley, for her body type, for I wanted to showcase her years as a knight. Her cat-like features are inspired by Maine Coons, I wanted to choose a breed of cat that was big, something that would help her stand out as the tallest in the current lineup. I wanted to make contrast between Ghost and Nessa, not only height and age, but also colors, since Nessa has a green color scheme and Ghost uses the opposite, a red color scheme. Ghost has some scars on her left arm, not only from her years as a knight, but also some childhood injuries she had, since I wanted to show some of the tough life she's lived. 

Ghost Props

For Ghost I wanted to make some props that could be seen in the 'Ghostly Trade Post', from  her comfortable chair, to her sword from her knight days.

For Ghost's chair I wanted to make something comfortable, something she would lay in constantly since, after all, she is part cat. Some wear and tear from knitting the pillows and arm wrests, the chairs showcase different pillows and blankets, some rough around the edges décor that will be seen around the whole store. 

Ghost keeps a Journal throughout the story and I wanted to showcase some designs, from simple to perhaps a little more complex, some stuff that's old and well used by her to keep track of all her trades, as well as the people who have taken stuff from her without permission.

Finally, Ghost's Sword from her knight days, I wanted her to keep some sort of momentum from her days as an active knight of The Council (a big military-like organization that now rules Phantom City), from simple designs to a design featuring dark magic known as Os Breve magic. I wanted these to be big swords, something that only Ghost could sport at her big stature, design 22 is made to show a more agile style of sword, while 23 is more strength. 

Liv

Liv is Nessa's best friend, only 16 years old, Liv is a resident of Phantom City that Nessa meets early on in the story. Unlike Nessa, Liv is someone who is wary, someone shy and that keeps to herself, she is perhaps also a scaredy-cat that helps Nessa rethink her choices and grounds her. Liv is the voice of reason for Nessa, someone that cares for her a lot and wants to help her succeed in her mission. 

For Liv's design I wanted to showcase her shyness as well as her caring personality, I kept the color scheme warm and mostly yellow, an analogous color to Nessa's color scheme. She is girly, kind and warm, so I wanted to showcase that. 

01

01 is a 28 year old knight of The Council, the first knight Nessa encounters in the story and perhaps the toughest one. Rescued by The Council at an early age, 01 rose to the top commands with hard work and determination. She is sometimes seen as rude, for she is someone who follows the rules and demands respect, she is tough and strong, she will always make sure the rules are followed and never broken. She is second in command next to the Leader because of this, she worships and loves the Leader, perhaps even seeks validation from her, but she will always be second to her colleague and least favorite person, 02. 

For 01's design I wanted to make a rigid and cold armor, the uniform that showcases The Council's iron fist. She is seen wearing the full armor, never being unprotected. I wanted to keep her hair slightly messy, for she is someone with a lot on her shoulders and someone who struggles to keep up sometimes, but she will do anything to do so. For the color scheme I wanted to keep it moody, mostly purples and blues, I wanted it to be dark, but still sport a color that will be seen throughout every knight, both high and low ranking, in The Council.

Knight Helmet

As a prop for 01 and the knights in general, I wanted to make a helmet that sported the animal that represents The Council; a bear. The bear is an important animal for The Council that can be scene as the insignia in most merchandise as well as the knight's armors. I wanted to make something with it, show some bear ears as well as some of the same silhouette. 

02

Only at 25 years old, 02, finds himself as the second in command along side 01, but unlike her he is not a hard worker. 02 is a knight who sports only half of his armor, not really following rules and even breaking them himself. He is someone that nobody knows how he got to this position, he is lazy, uncaring and messy, he is someone everyone describes as egotistical, charming at times but mostly self-centered. 02 was rescued by The Council at a young age as well, after his town got destroyed and he lost his leg and the Leader seem to find interest in him, personally giving him the role of second in command, something that 01 is extremely jealous of since she worked for that spot. 

02 is made to be somewhat the opposite of 01, not only in personality, but also the way he wears his armor. After choosing a base of armor I stripped it away from him to only give him three pieces of it, he has the same uniform as 01, but refuses to wear it fully. I wanted to also look at different types of prosthetics for him, from more realistic metal ones, to peg-legs. For the final design the prosthetic showcases some flowers encased in resin in the leg, handpicked by The Council Leader he has some forget-me-not's adorning it. These flowers are not only for show, for within Phantom City there is a strange plant based magic that runs the city, so when these flowers were placed in the prosthetic , they give 02 more comfort as well as some strength. 

Knight's Shield

For the knights, as well as a helmet I wanted to make a shield to go along with them, something showcasing their insignia, the bear coat of arms. These designs have wear an tear, some more rough than others, but they all share the same bear design that The Council is known for. 

Father Clock

As an extra prop I wanted to make something that can be seen inside the 'Ghostly Trade Post', perhaps something that can reminds us of the time frame Nessa has in retrieving these items. At first I wanted to make something involving the plant base magic, after all, that's what gives electricity to the city, plants and vines wrap around objects giving them power and light. I also wanted to perhaps give them some small bear motives, something that Ghost probably stole in her days as a knight before her retirement. 

Mood Paintings

Lastly I wanted to showcase some mood paintings I created. These showcase Phantom City, Nessa's home and the inside of Ghostly Trade Post.

For Phantom City I wanted to show a look onto the city, perhaps the first time Nessa sees it in full, Phantom City had always been regarded as "the abandoned city", after all lots of plants started to grow and no matter what the citizens did, they always returned, so they left,  or at least that's what the stories told, now its seen as the "not so abandoned city" by many, since a lot of people have returned and have learned to adapt to the city's plants. 

Nessa's home is Nessa's safe space, the place she has been living in since the destruction of her town, in this mood painting I wanted to showcase all the stuff she has collected, as well as the place she calls home. She lives in a cave near her destroyed village, she has made it as cozy as she could and loves spending time there. 

Lastly Ghostly Trade Post, this is just a small look into the big store, showing some of the props that were showcased before as well as some items that can be traded for other stuff.