February MOTM: Rain bringer concept sketch + design commentary // nsfw?

designing february's monster of the month was a little bit of a challenge in that 'rain bringer' sounds like a lovely folklorey title but it doesn't in itself directly allude to a specific monster type, nor does it evoke a certain animal or any other 'obvious' starting point. my first mental image was of a person draped in a greyish robe where the sleeves and skirts 'fade' into a water downpour, with the sleeves being almost wing-like, evoking the idea that the rain bringer flies or floats across the sky. the thing is, that concept was really similar to the last two monsters of the month--the strange lantern bearer with their long flowing robes, and the northern lights monster with their layers of veils. i try to keep things varied and diverse with my monster of the month designs, so i felt like i needed to come up with a a different aesthetic. the only thing i knew for sure was that my rain bringer should be a lady and a lesbian, because hey, she's making things wet everywhere she goes.

i thought about it for a few days and kept a braindump list where i wrote down everything that the prompt 'rain bringer' made me think of. i wanted to keep her specifically associated with rain--not with storms, thunder, or lightning, nor with the sky in general. i felt like i had a colour scheme in mind and i knew of some design details i wanted to incorporate (cloudy hair and a tail dripping with water), but i was still lacking a clear direction.  

i went to read up a bit about various deities and such associated with rain, looking for inspiration and ideas. i came across rain-related entities that carried vessels filled with water (that gets sprinkled to create rain), or that were associated with the life-giving aspects of rain (the fresh plants that sprout in its wake), or that had a cheeky streak (the comedic timing of a sudden rainfall). 

but the idea that really set my gears into motion hit me out of nowhere; tears. tears as a symbol of rain, and/or shed tears multiplying into rain. the imagery of a crying eye is dope to begin with and i immediately knew i wanted to depict it in a sort of stylised way. still, i didn't want her to weep out of sorrow or sadness. tears of joy (and tears of anger) are a thing, after all, and it's only after rain you get rainbows... but also in her case the tears aren't necessarily associated with any emotion. they're just there, they just happen, as part of who she is and what she does, y'know? i definitely didn't want her to be all gloomy and moody just because she's associated with rain. she's confident, extroverted, and joyous; she's that feeling you get when you just have to go outside during a heavy downpour, running around in the rain for no reason at all but immensely enjoying it all the same.

the next conceptual breakthrough happened the moment i remembered that the ancient egyptian cow goddess hathor is associated with the sky, which gave me a push in the right direction. i decided to partly borrow hathor's bovine imagery, which finally gave me a good mental image of what my rain bringer actually should look like. in fact i didn't even wait to boot up photoshop; i grabbed a small notebook and made some quick doodles:

her head (especially her nose) is rather bovine, although of course (see: my username) i had to give her a more predatory mouth, fangs and all. her fur pattern is also inspired by cows; big dark patches on a lighter base, and the pale patch on her forehead. i considered giving her horns and cow ears, but opted for narrow pointed ears instead (drawing a lil bit of inspiration from certain other egyptian deities, perhaps), and i also gave her paw feet instead of hooves. as mentioned above the cloud-like hair and dripping tail were elements i had already planned before i knew anything else about her design. the idea is that rain is created in her wake as it drips from her tail (and eyes). as i drew her tail it struck me that her features are kind of a mix of bovine and canine, what with her jackal-like ears and saluki-esque tail. 

her necklace is made of glass-like, see-through beads that basically look like solidified water, and her dress (which is also somewhat inspired by ancient egyptian clothes) has shiny droplets woven into it, mimicking streaks of water. i couldn't decide if i liked the dark blue or white version best so i've included both--and i went with the dark version in the painting and the white version in the sketch, lol. her colour scheme is quite simply based on rain clouds and she smells like the air does right after a rainfall; i don't know about you, but it's one of my favourite scents.

// art + character © me.