September MOTM: bashful fluffy boyfriend - concept sketch + design commentary // sfw-ish

thanks again to liquid ferret for suggesting cute & fluffy stuff!

"bashful fluffy boyfriend" was one of those delightfully vague prompts that establishes what vibe i'd be going for, while not specifying that much about what the monster should look like. fluffy, yes, but in what way? 

the first word of the prompt says something about his personality, which is where i started this time. i imagined a shy and introverted lad -- and though i love a bashful and blushing bottom as much as anyone else, i decided to subvert expectations. i wanted him to be a top and about as big as my usual monster boys, but unlike most of them (who are generally cocky, assertive, and shameless) he should be timid and soft, in and out of the bedroom. it was a golden opportunity to deviate from my own brand a bit, and deliver a dynamic that is otherwise a bit underrepresented in my art. sure, i have several big beefy monster tops who are subs, but that doesn't say anything about anyone's personality. there's a difference -- this guy is not submissive, he's just ... shy. naturally, i would pair him with a loving and understanding partner who 1) appreciates how adorable he is and 2) makes him feel confident and loved.

i wanted my design to reflect his personality, and one of the first things i thought of was a classic trope for shy characters; hair to hide behind. i envisioned a humanoid face with fluffy bangs covering his eyes more often than not, showing only the lower half of his face -- which is usually blushing. i figured i could draw his mouth in a minimalistic yet very expressive way, and that his body language would also speak volumes of his bashful nature. i decided to use soft and rounded shapes for his design in general, with no sharp edges, which got me thinking about textures and 'materials.' since he's supposed to be fluffy it made sense to give him fur, although i also considered thick, soft feathering.

out of nowhere i came to think of an old sketch (from february 2019) of a monster that's mostly covered in very thick fur that ends slightly below their elbows and knees; the limbs below that point look scrawny in comparison and the fur basically resembles sleeves and pant legs. i've long wanted to use that design idea for something and this felt like the perfect opportunity.

i started doodling some basic anatomy sketches, trying to transfer the mental image of his head & face to paper and to establish the general outline. as we all know i find it so fun and therapeutic to draw & paint musculature, but i had to remind myself that given his thick fur, there shouldn't be much muscle definition; he needed to look really soft. it followed 'naturally' to give him big and fluffy hair as well, again with soft edges even where the tufts of hair come to a point.

while sketching, i kept thinking about a few soft animals and drawing vague inspiration from them, although it might not be immediately apparent. the notion of relatively thin limbs emerging from thick fur made me think of sheep (and, to a lesser extent, poodles). ultimately i couldn't resist giving him a colour scheme inspired by certain sheep, with a 'main' body that's white/cream while the limbs, face, and belly is dark grey/black. if i had been more faithful to the real-life inspiration i would have given him cream-coloured hair, but opted for black instead, because it made the colour palette look more balanced and he shouldn't come across as simply a 'were-sheep.' on that note i wanted to add another hue, because i adore the combination of black/white/grey + almost any other colour. the choice fell on orange partly because it hit the spot and partly because of the season; it gave him a bit of autumn flair.

something about his fluffy limbs and hair also made me think about furry moths. i tried giving him large, fluffy antennae, but it didn't work and i ended up replacing them with gently curving horns. i still feel like his three-toed feet look a bit insectoid, although i'm not sure why; it would be more accurate to say they remind me of bird feet, especially combined with the feathery fluff of his legs. i also need to mention that while he is a tall and large lad, much of that impression is due to the fluff; his limbs below the end of the thick fur gives a better idea of his actual physique. just imagine when he takes a bath and all his fluff deflates ...

on the first concept sketch, his tail looks almost like a poofy flower bud. but i felt like i should be able to incorporate some additional kind of fluff, other than thick fur. i experimented with drawing inspiration from cotton buds, adding them to the end of his tail, to his hair, and changing the texture of his fur a little bit. but then i came to think of ostrich feathers, and the idea of a tail tuft made of ostrich feathers appealed more to me. to make the design more cohesive i added a hint of ostrich feathering to his chest, and toyed with adding a 'collar' of feathers to his back, but ultimately left that feature out. the 'tail fan' worked out wonderfully, since he can hide behind it when overwhelmed by shyness. the grey edge of the tail feathers and the orange of the horns further ties the colour palette together, and the blue undertone of the grey areas creates an interesting contrast (what with blue and orange being complementary colours).

the MOTM prompts usually center more on appearance, theme, or type of monster rather than personality, so it was really fun to design a character whose demeanour was part of the prompt. it made me pay extra attention to body language and expressing his personality, along with making sure he’s hella fluffy. me and kubi kind of adore him and we're thinking about incorporating him into our GAU setting, where he might be a forest spirit or folklory entity who frequents Charlie's forest. we'll see what comes out of it!

// art + character © me.