Studio Peaches

Akello Devlog #2: The Body

Added 2022-09-16 04:49:35 +0000 UTC

Like loc styles, I wanted Akello to be a large guy early on. I love fat characters and think "boft" bodies are super hot and definitely wanted to try and incorporate more shape diversity in the character line up for TCM. Where Mori's a little muscular and compact, Amir is long and lithe- Akello being wideset and strong really plays into his character's emotional stability. I wanted people to get the impression that he was probably pretty fit in his twenties but now in his forties he's lost some of that definition.

The first thing Atlas and I worked on was posing, which I always find pretty difficult. Within the confines of the visual novel and without the freedom to have many many sprites made, I need to be able to convey a lot of emotion with a relatively limited number of assets. My original sketch is in green and Atlas' refined silhouette is in black.

Shape! You can see we played with a lot of How Buff Is He sliders while tweaking his overall shape. The softer stomach and fat on the chest of #2 was a quick winner for me. I love the wideset shoulders and bigger waistline SO much.

Fashion! While its a bit of a relief to come off a character like Amir, I'm generally kind of meticulous about what characters are wearing, even if they're much more casual and don't need couture research. Akello is stylish while still being practical, down to earth, and mobile. He does a lot of physical work with his botany hobby and spent a lot of time working in professional, kinda uptight business environments. Atlas was honestly indispensable in helping me assemble possible fits for him, even helping me accessorize (the gold chain was their idea) and giving me notes for fabric styles and types (which REALLY helps me visualize things).

With Akello, combinations seem to be king. We combined elements from outfits #1 and #2 to put together a rough draft of his initial costume/fit. Next up we'll be working on details and color blocking, which I hope to be able to show you soon!

- Sam