Tundran Republic:Cassandra Development

11/2/15

Casandra is a key character to the story. My main inspiration was from female characters who were very active, egotistic and aggressive. Anime was a good source of inspiration. The key inspiration was from the constellation Cassiopeia. In regards to the two contrasting themes, Cassandra is more associated with chaos and this would be portrayed with her appearance and attitude. 

I also looked at other sources. despite her having an aggressive and extreme attitude, she is more of a anti hero who later joins the main characters but to begin with, she's affiliated with the Republic and plays the role of the main character's rival. Cassandra uses one form of weaponry whereas John uses an axe. 

Cassandra Influences Moodboard

Cassandra has a range of influences from certain characters in games,animation and comics. I looked at anime characters which expressed traits such as aggressiveness, impulsiveness and even unpleasantness. I even considered traits from male character such as Starscream's cunning. The colours and even primary colours came from these sources. Despite her aggressive attitude, Cassandra has a back story which explains why she is the way she is. 

 Casandra's family where killed when she was really young by Imperials who used a experimental gas. Cassandra managed to survive with the assistance form a young Tundran soldier named private Ursula Dimitriv. Seeing the bravery of the Tundra Republic, she began to obsess about the Republic's patriotism. This obsession lead to her abandoning her friend john who opposed her joining the Tundran Republic.

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Uniform Moodboard

I looked at uniforms used by the military but since it was a army inspired by a mixture of America and Russia,I looked at mainly soviet uniforms.

According to legend, Cassiopeia held a mirror to present her vanity but she also held a palm leaf but unfortunately there's not sources what the symbolism for this was. So I decided to merge the two items together as a weapon that Cassandra uses all the time. In her silhouette, I wanted to emphasis that the weapon that she holds is key component. I wanted it to be similar to how Satsuki from Kill la Kill emphasizes her poses and stature with the use of her Samuari sword. I decided that the blade should be reflective as a mirror and the hilt will have the shape of a palm leaf.

Silhouette Development

A variety of  facial expressions for Cassandra.

Character Development Sketches

Although this sketch includes other characters I was really happy with how I drew Cassandra's body in it.

The Tundran Republic was inspired by a mix of America Patriotism along with Russia's communist traits with the idea of equality. 

I made a series of colour iterations but I decided that a warm colour palette was more suitable and that contrasting colours would be necessary.

 Base on feedback, I added some blues in the colour scheme. However I feel that the blues are too saturated. Another student had difficulty accepting that this character was from a futuristic setting. This helped me consider what I needed to do to make the characters look like they were from a futuristic setting.

http://tenyune.deviantart.com/art/Vios-Terra-Uniforms-304424108
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/killzone/images/a/a0/Jan_dies.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120208155033

I also made some adjustments to include more triangles in her silhouette. I reduced the length of the cloak because it was too long and did not support her active attitude. Making this adjustment helped give the silhouette more form.The extra detail I've included not only helped break her character's form down in simpler digestible components but also helped her look like she belonged in the futuristic setting..

I took one of my line artwork pieces of Cassandra I made in Sai and simply added in areas to help with her silhouette.

Final Character Line Artwork

I also decided that Cassandra was to be an equal  match for John. I decided that she should have her own power suit that she would use to combat John on occasion. Since the primary inspiration was Cassiopeia, I decided that the motif should be integrated in her pilot in the same way as I have integrated the mercenaries star signs which appear as coincidental socket patterns on their suits  So here I've giving her a pilot suit inspired motorcycle jumpsuits and Anime mecha pilot suits. I wanted to include a motif of triangles but also as a reference to her constellation inspiration. 

The idea that came to me for the power suits design was that Cassadra. During her time as a high ranking commander has been dubbed the "Witch of the North" for her unpleasant and extreme means to friend or foe that were used to accomplish missions.  Because of this,Cassandra has been despised ,feared but respected officer. Therefore I decided that the idea of a "W" can be used in Cassandra's  power suit design.   I chose to include flame throwers on the suit to reflect Cassandras fiery personality but also as a paradoxes on the concept of witches. People who were acccused of witchcraft were often burnt at the stake. Here Cassandra who is accused of being an unpleasant figure uses fire to roast her enemies.

 Here is the final suit design made in Paint tool Sai. I am quiet happy with the result. It doesn't suggest that a female pilot is controlling it and also connects with the angled shape motif of the Tundran Republic. There is a sense of order but also a sense of chaos based  on the layout.

Early Sketch

Suit Colour Iterations

I felt that red should should be  overall colour not only to identify with her faction but also to act as a way for enemies to spot her first and then attack her first. 

I felt that since the suit was manufactured and part of a military faction, it should have warning hazards.

In summary I wanted Cassandra to be a character who starts out being selfish, corrupt and egotsitic. However. However there is a chance for her to change or atone for her actions and may lead to her changing her allegiance to a certain faction.