The Familiar Moodboard

As there will be only two main characters in this film the friendship between the witch and her familiar has to be incredibly strong + integral to the story line. They are going to be inseparable, as if they are physically or spiritually linked. I'm quite interested in some of the scenes being very symmetrical, as if they are mirroring each other. Are they the same person? Same soul?
In nearly all of the films I have made I always include deer or some sort of horned creature. There is something very beautiful about a lone deer in the forest - it wouldn't feel right to not include this within my graduate film.
I have always loved owls and so wanted to include it within my film. I think that owls looks very magical + even spooky at the best of times, barn owls in particular. The familiar's ability to change shape + form the suit the environment + situation is integral to the story line. I'm very excited to show case the different ways I'm going to do this.
Although the familiar can turn into anything at will, it will typically adhere to a certain few animals such as foxes, deer, birds, fish, and more often than not, a black cat. This is another witch cliche, however, as she may be in the house a lot of the time, being a house cat makes me most amount of sense. I was maybe thinking about making the film an educational animation which advocates the care of animals + nature, so this could help to show case this.

The black cat form, although cliched, is the most typical + practical form for the familiar to take. E.g. the most mobile and portable animal to become.
I'm excited to experiment with the different paints, pastels + textures that I can use with my Kyle Brushes in photoshop. I think that the form of the familiar will be heavily influenced by which brush I use. It will be interesting to see how the different brushes relate to the form E.g. watercolour for the pond scenes.
I want the familiar to have one discerning feature that makes it easily recognisable to the audience. Perhaps the eyes stay the same shape or colour? Does it just stay the same colour throughout no matter what animal it becomes? However, I could also add a geometric shape, rune or sigil to the familiar to help it stay somewhat recognisable. I don't know whether or not to try and keep the familiar realistic or stylised - perhaps a mixture of both.
I would like one segment of the story to take place in water, again, the 10x10 pond inspiration, so at some point the familiar will either turn into a fish, snake, otter, all three? Still one discerning feature to make it recognisable. I'm wondering whether or not to use watercolour, like the number of black cats above, it's a lovely fluffy style with the same features to make the shape instantly recognisable that it's a cat.

Katherine Robinson