NEO-DEV-DIARY - ENTRY No. 1

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Design Notes

• i wanted him to look Modified, Like parts of him were robotic.
• Mechanical prosthetic jaw.
• Fit change (absolutely neccessary)
• Eyes exposed?

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THE CONCEPT PHASE

How exactly do you build off of an old design without using much of it?

That's something that was bugging me for the longest time.
Especially after NEO's Hiatus' beginning on the 30th of July.

The original design was simple to a fault-
Fluffy Red and almost greasy black hair with horns protruding out, Red bandages and long ears..
And, One of the simplest fits i've made for an OC, A black tank top with khakis and red spike bands.

His design other than the burn/scar/string markings and nonhuman features wasn't anything special,
But it was more his personality that made him a character that people remembered.

and.. Aside from the fact he was the first main antagonist of course.

but, Now with the world he's in, This design no longer fits. And as such, He must be redesigned.

During this time, Fen had started work on a design, But it wasn't something i'd thought of for Akuto,
So i started collecting some ideas..

And what do you do when you find some ideas you might want to pursue? You make an

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Inspiration Board

The inspiration board was mostly taken from pinterest.

I wasn't planning on using all of these of course,
Just as brainstorming for what i wanted for him. Building off of this, I'd started work on the new design sketches.

Jaw

Jaw/Faceplate designs

I wanted to give him more of a tech-focused design,
Seems how the world has become more cyberpunk since the hiatus,
The idea was to make him rely on the tech and have it baked into the design of the character
without having a reliance on heavily (and unnecessarily) tech-y clothing.

Clothing

The first and second designs of the clothing.

He's got a visor, A harness and some futuristic boots, Also some gloves with bladelike claws on them.

The fit without all the gear is relatively simple, Just being a sleeveless top and a pair of cargo pants,
So if i decide i wanted to draw him without all that it'd be a lot easier.

But Fen made some suggestions that made the design a LOT better. Starting off with the harness itself, Which she redesigned to look more interesting.

She'd also made some suggestions for the design of the shoes and the gloves,
Which made them a lot better as well.

I did build off of it a bit, But she suggested most of the changes on the new design..

I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

I'll be redrawing it all later in a shot of Akuto himself standing with the new design
whenever i figure out what else to add,
And if i forget any unnecessary detail it probably will be removed.
But for now i'm cautiously optimistic about NEO again.

By the way, Here's the new fit design next to the old one if you're curious.

Coloring

Pass 1

The idea was to make a couple of extra pallettes incase i found something i liked more.

#1a and #4a were colorpicks of some previous designs of Akuto, #1a being the original Akuto design and #4a being from a swap AU.

Pass 2

The odd ones of the group. Mostly taken from suggestions and such.. #4b and #5b were most popular but not by much.

The general consensus is that #2a is the best of the bunch,
So it's what is most likely to be his final color choice.

My intentions with this design

The original design for Akuto Hakanroki wasn't anything to throw your hands up for- It wasn't good, it was pallatable at for the most part.
I stopped liking his design for a while, Moreso focusing on the character rather than what he looked like.

What do i mean by that?
The original NEO didn't have a set theme, other than the "hook" (that i forgot about when writing the original NEOs..)
And even then, Akuto didn't really stand out as compared to the others, And not in a good way.
He looked rushed, Because he kind of was. He was the very first actual antagonist i'd ever made for others, And i'd just drawn without any real intention before that.

His design was just like most of them at the time, He kind of looked like anybody, Just with some extra details.
If you asked someone who never saw him or NEO to pick out Akuto Hakanroki from all the others, They really couldn't do it.. Though fair, They're all just a collection of OCs at the moment.

"But.."
i can hear myself protest.
"That's just about it, this design doesn't change that."

Well yeah, But it's a different brand now. It's not about standing out, It's about the functionality of the design within his new line of work. To what degree exactly is hard to tell, But it's a lot more functional than it is personal. Yes, his old design shows that he doesn't care for how he appears, But is it functional? Not really. Can you see someone in spike bands do a tactical roll? absolutely not. So now it's a lot better.
I'm not usually critique heavy in designs, But for my own work i have to be my biggest fan and biggest hater.

So..

Spare criticism

Something that was bugging me about his old design is that he's just.. there, ya know?
i added some stuff over the few years he looked like that, but it wasn't really much of anything.

I couldn't land on how to draw his arm scarring, And how to convey the idea that he's mentally unwell through his design, And i don't think i conveyed that through his new design either.

His old design also wasn't all that expressive, Seems how the eyes and eyebrows are covered entirely by bandaging- I think i've fixed it but it kind of takes away from the niche appeal that the design had.

I like his new design a lot, but i'm not sure if it'll be too difficult to draw all the plating over and over, It's probably too much detail but i made it with the thought in mind that i mostly draw bust shots to a fault, You're not going to see his legs a lot in my work.

Extra Thoughts

I'll be honest, I have no idea how to introduce Akuto as an antagonist.. /(T-T \)

Also, Fen had made a suggestion for Hadego design traits.

What if Hadegoes were based from animals?

Not in the sense that all Hadegoes are furries, They're still somewhat human after all,
But they all have different traits that show that they're Hadegoes.

I also think Hadegoes should be based off of other different things as well though,
What that entails i'm figuring out.

She also suggested that Akuto's Hadego features should be Wolf-like, And i liked that idea,
But Akuto isn't the kind of person to flaunt that he's a Hadego, So most of his features are obscured.

He doesn't care to hide the fact that he's a Hadego, But he doesn't care to show it either.

That's about it for the actual designing part of him, For his character though? I'll probably be writing for him for a while..

Right! I nearly forgot, Here's his design in full!

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END_DIARY_NUMBER_1

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P.S.: I TOTALLY WILL BE SHIPPING HIM WITH VERA!!! THEYRE CUTE!!! THEY WILL LIVE IN THE WOODS TOGETHER AND SHE WILL WRITE HIM POETRY BUT HE DOESNT UNDERSTAND hALF THE WORDS AND STRUGGLES TO SPELL GORGEOUS,, ALSO CITYBOY + WEIRD FOREST GIRL IS A SUPER CUTE TROPE DON'T LIE

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