Ukuhaha - This character went through a series of development shown in my book. When I first drew him, he originated as a ‘blob’ with a creepy smile. Since I had no idea what lore to give him, I decided to go into google translate, and translate ‘greed’ in different languages to see what I would get. In Zulu, Ukuhaha turned up and I began to grew inspired. After some feedback from my tutor, which to my surprise was very invested in the Zulu culture, I began researching African art, Zulu tribe masks and I redesigned the entire character, from the very design to the lore (you can find these developments in my book)
My next character was planned alongside another member of the group. I looked at wiki of different gods and deities as I knew I wanted a powerful goddess. I came across a goddess of health, hygiene and cleanliness. I grew inspired and began to plot that she was a statue on earth. I grew inspired after looking at the already ancient statues on earth. I was mainly inspired by the Egyptian pyramids as most people question where they came from, as many dont believe they were built by slaves. In a call, me and the other member of the group planned that she blessed the waters of earth and was cursed and turned into a statue that decays on earth. Her design took a few sketches, in book and digitally.
For the cat, I was inspired by my own cat, and many urban legends of japan. I came up with the idea of a ‘destiny’ type of cat, and depending on how you respected it, then that would decide your fate. Often Japanese legends rely on respecting animals and certain things so you wouldn’t get cursed. In my book, I planned many ways of showing it. Unfortunately due to how small the cards were, my ideas were limited and I decided to do it digitally. My original idea (if the cards were bigger) was to create a normal cat illustration, but by using pencil or glue, I would add on the extra limbs and tail. The idea behind that would be if the card was flashed, they would show up at a certain angle. Unfortunately I had to digitalise it as the picture is way too small to notice such a intense detail.
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