June MOTM: Summer monster(s!) concept sketch(es) + design commentary // sfw-ish

i absolutely love summer. it's my favourite season; i associate it with emerald green forests, flourishing meadows, flowers, warmth, coziness, sunlight (especially the golden evening variety), and the midnight sun (yes, i live far enough north). 

most months i draw one monster of the month and pair them with a random human/monster partner. this time i decided to stick with the summer theme for both characters involved, and these are the two summer lovelies i came up with. as already mentioned, me and kubi got attached to them and turned them into proper characters; kubi named the shorter person witu, and i have yet to name their big boy lover.

the themes i had in mind was warm, earthy colours; soft, fluffy fur; flowers and greenery both as decoration (clothes and jewelry) and actually growing on the characters themselves. 

for the big boy i knew i wanted to stick to a basic colour scheme of warm brown, tan, and creme hues for the main parts of his fur, but i also wanted to integrate leaves and flowers into his design. i gave him a fluffy neck (almost a mane) where his fur shifts in green and where there's also leaves and buds growing on him. the same goes for the fluff on his arms and the tuft at the end of his tail. the green is also present in his claws and paw-pads, and on the concept sketch his antlers are covered with moss, but tbh it didn't look as good on the painting so i left the moss out. there's still flowers growing on his antlers, though; for some reason the flowers + antlers combination was one of the first things that popped into my mind when i was thinking about this design. hes' got big ears that sort of make up for his lack of eyes in terms of expressiveness, a velvety, rounded snout, and big hands that are surprisingly gentle. 

i wanted him to look big and brawny but also friendly and approachable; to have a regal air to him and command respect, but also look just ... huggable? and like he would let you hug him if you wanted to. he's an ancient forest spirit who's absolutely capable of doing terrible things towards those who deserve it, but at the core of his being he's a good and warm entity, who would much rather protect and help than destroy and punish. with his thick, soft fur, kind of soft-edged forms, and warm brown-green colour-scheme i sort of meant for him to look like the personification of a cozy summer forest, with the sunlight spilling through the foliage and the floor covered with soft moss and shrubbery. 

there's often birds, butterflies, moths, and fireflies fluttering around him, and the fire-like sprite cradled by his antlers might very well be a piece of the soul of the forest itself. it also grows and shrinks with his mood, and changes colour slightly as the seasons change. the same goes for the character himself; he's vibrant and strong during the summertime, but his flowers wilt and his coat changes with the trees when autumn arrives. during the winter he's very lazy and his colour scheme turns cold and greyish, but he regains his strength when spring comes around, and blossoms once more with summer. 

for his partner (witu) i wanted to draw a more human-like monster, because size difference and #aesthetics, but i still wanted them to be clearly non-human, since they are also a nature spirit. in a general sense i drew inspiration from nymphs and elves, but the resulting design isn't directly derivative of either. they have digitigrade legs (peets!) and a tail; other than that their basic anatomy is fairly human. i wanted their colour scheme to go well with the big boy without being too similar, so i used a more olive green hue for them, along with warm shades of pink and red that contrasts with and complements their partners more yellow undertone. they also have plants growing on them, notably the 'collar' of leaves around their shoulders and collarbones, and the vines of leaves mingling with their hair. their hair is thick and bushy and their tail is fluffy, but most of their body is covered with short, smooth fur. 

on the finished painting i ended up using an olive tone for the big boy too, while the 'green' parts of witu ended up looking more yellow; this was partly a conscious deviation from the original concept sketch (i always draw the motm concept sketch before doing the motm painting, so i often end up tweaking the design a bit) and partly it just ended up that way because i experimented with the colour settings of the painting and the whole thing ended up very warm, yellow, and sun-drenched. in a different lighting (say, a night scene or on a cloudy day) i would probably have used a more blue-ish green for antler guy, and a less yellow hue for witu.

some other neat design details that i was happy to incorporate includes witu's tail ornament, both of them wearing clothes made from mostly forest materials (not that you can see a lot of it here, but at least witu is draped with a shawl made from leaves), and of course all the plant and flower details. there's kind of a lot of stuff going on with both of these designs, but i think it looks pulled together and coherent since it's all centered on the same theme (and it's also in line with how summer is often associated with abundance and fruitfulness).

it can be tricky to turn a more or less abstract concept such as 'summer' into a character (or two), but basically i thought of what summer means to me and found ways to incorporate those things into these designs. i'm very happy with how they turned out, the general vibe is just what i was going for, so... mission accomplished!

// art + big boy © me; witu © kubi.