Avatar Academy (2023)
A five day project where I work on a character design for the Avatar Academy 2023 applications.
Creating an Airbender
This is an overview of the process I used when designing my original character Mei Xing, the ribbon dancing airbender. Mei Xing was developed as part of my application for Avatar Academy.
References
Something that always enchanted me about airbending was how it resembles dance. I thought, what about an airbending ribbon dancer who focuses her bending through her wand? Channeling airbending through objects has been done before with Aang's glider staff, as well as hinted at in Book Three that Aang could use a sword hilt to create a blade of air. So why not ribbons of air? This idea is what formed the core of Mei Xing's character design.
Mei Xing is a ribbon dancer in Republic City who was a nonbender until the Harmonic Convergence, where she gains airbending abilities. She eventually joins the Air Nomads and becomes a promoter of peace and unity through her dance. I wanted her outfit to look like the traditional acolyte wear, but modified just a bit so you could tell she was a performer, an artist.
Thumbnails and Color Exploration
After gathering my references, I went in with rough thumbnails to try and figure out her general silhouette. I quickly came to the conclusion that I wanted Mei Xing's attire to mirror that of the traditional Air Acolytes while having a performer-like twist to it. I wanted to keep the overall silhouette round and flowy, with some draping involved.
After thumbnailing, I did color exploration using the three thumbnails I liked the most. Air nomad colors are typically yellow and orange, with deep reds used occasionally, especially for the flight suits in The Legend of Korra. I wanted to keep those constraints in mind while pushing those colors as bright as I could because as a performer, Mei Xing wants to catch your eye.
Thumbnails
Color Exploration
Pose Exploration
After my color explorations, I started working on grounding her attire and personality through some pose exploration. I found that the acolyte poncho is a really cool article of clothing I wanted to incorporate into her final outfit, along with the puffy sleeves.
Pose Exploration
Character Turnaround
With pose exploration done and a final outfit idea in mind, I move on to working on Mei Xing's turnaround. I decided to do a five point turnaround with a close up of Mei Xing's eye for reference. Her final outfit looks similar to the Air Nomad acolyte design to identify her as an Air Nomad, but it is unique enough that she stands out as a performer. I wanted Mei Xing to embody the modesty and humility that Air Nomads espouse, but also have a fun design that would work well as a dancer or performer.
Mei Xing Final Turnaround
Mei Xing Animated Turnaround
Expression Sheet
Mei Xing's expression sheet served as another point of character exploration. I used it as a way to explore how she would portray different emotions as well as providing a three point head turnaround for the most common head views: front, three-quarters, and full profile.
I also included a bust up illustration of what Mei Xing would look like with her ribbons of air that she would channel through a baton.
