The Familiar Primary Character Designs

The familiar's favourite animal form was always going to be a black cat. Although it supports the 'witchy' character trope I thought that from a practical perspective that a black cat or something similar such as a fox would work well. I want the familiar to take on the form of five animals: cat, fox, owl, deer and fish. I will need to come up with character design sheets for all of these forms, however, if I get the black cat sorted first it will really help me to develop the designs for the other animals. I want the familiar to be very stylised like the witch, however, I wanted to start off with some preliminary cat drawings as I haven't drawn cats in ages and wanted to remind myself of how to do it.

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• I want to scan these images and experiment with different colours and brushes.

• Is the familiar always the same colour no matter what animal?

• I quite like the large fluffy tail. However - will it be hard to tell the cat and the fox apart?

• These cats are too realistic. I want them to be more stylised and easily recognisable as the familiar rather than just another animal.

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Familiar Character Sheet 1

I wanted to do some preliminary drawings of cats as I haven't drawn them in a while and wanted to remind myself of them, how they look and how they move. I eventually want the familiar to be very stylised, still very recognisable as a cat but also possessing magical properties. I'm glad that I took the time to experiment with these colours and brushes as I think it's really helped me to get more confident with the brushes and which ones I wanted to use for the familiar. I think I will go for the darker colours, probably not totally black but definitely at least dark grey/charcoal. I'm glad I learned how to utilise the blending brush well - it's something I'll definitely employ within my film.

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• I want him to be more stylised than this, however, I need to start from the basics.

• The familiar is a very mischievous character.

• Fluffier than this or not? I really like the fluffy cat design on the mood board.

• Although it's a popular trope, the cat is the familiar's most popular form for practicality.

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Familiar Character Sheet 2

This is the kind of style that I want to go for, I definitely want to stick with these dark colours. I also really like the way I've done the eyes - just coloured with white. I think that it will also be interesting to show the emotions of the familiar through various eye shapes. I will also look at the body language of the various animals in order to show case how the familiar communicates with the witch. I like the way I've used different textures to show markings and colours. I especially like the blending brush, however, I'm still not sure what the familiar will look like E.g. flat colour for ease or to be more detailed with spots and markings etc. I may just use flat colour but with a textured brush to add depth.