OC Project: Designs Part 4 (Patreon)

For this week's work on my OC comic, I decided to focus on a character who, while not exactly new since I've had them in the back of my mind for almost a decade now, is one I've never really shown off before.

Pip is a spirit born from a peach seed, and Kihrae's constant companion. Pip can't speak and Kihrae can never quite tell if she's being understood or not, but the two have somehow developed a powerful connection. Whenever Pip is active and using their powers, anyone around them would catch a whiff of peaches in the air.

Taking a bit of inspiration from Mushishi and of course Legend of Korra, spirits are a daily part of life in my comic. They come in all shapes and sizes, and are as much a part of the world as fauna and flora. Some even help humans in various ways, either directly or indirectly. Anyone who watched the Flintstones as a kid probably remembers how dinosaurs were used as various household objects. Spirits work in kind of the same way here, although you won't see anything as silly as a spirit shower head or garbage disposal cracking "It's a living!" jokes.

Pip won't play a particularly big role in the comic, but it is an important one that should allow me to explore the more spiritual and magical side of my world, since only spirits can use magic.

It took me a long time to come up with a design for Pip that I was happy with. I originally was gonna make their design plant-based, but ultimately went with something more like a ball of spiritual energy. The comic will span several years of Kihrae's life, so I wanted to make sure I came up with looks for the different stages of Pip's growth. I plan to also do some designs for both Kihrae and Catalyna at various stages of their lives, but those can wait a bit.

After I was done with Pip, I decided to do a few more practice expressions for Kihrae, focusing on some that she has a habit of making pretty often.