This is an initial design for an Adult Selkie. Her people develop face and body markings as the go through adolescence. The design of Selkie’s markings may change down the road. I’m not sold on the arm and shoulder spots for example, looks too similar to liver spots.
Her eye markings are similar to her mother’s, but has one point instead of three and Selkie does not have cheekbone markings like her mother does. In this iteration of the design, anyway.
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
I see what you mean about liver spots. What about bars instead of spots?
Adult Selkie is so cute <3
She looks wonderful. I also noticed she loses the lisp?
What makes you think it´s a lisp? Since she doesn´t do this when she speaks her own languages, it´s probably an accent.
I think the spots will look less like liver spots in colour. Depending on the colour you do them.
Maybe you should google some pictures of iguanas? Some of them have cool stripes that might look good on Selkie’s arms…
At first glace, I took the spots to be tattoos…
Oh wow! She lost the lisp and her fear of letting people see she has no ears.
That’s IT! THAT’S why she looks so…skelletal here.
Thanks. That’s been bugging me all weekend.
1) It’s not a lisp. It’s technically a verbal tic (WOG is that it’s a side effect of her learning English purely by submersion).
I went through 2 years of speech therapy as a kid for my hissing lisp. The other type of lisp is a “th” sound in place of the “s” sound in words.
2) Of course she’d get better at speaking English over time. She probably worked particularly hard to get rid of her verbal tic during middle school as those kids are absolutely vicious about ANYTHING that’s “different”.
I’m seeing hints at her losing the lisp and becoming more self confident. It’s nice to see and I’m happy to see a glimpse of her adult life. At first the spots looked like she has some kind of rash, but maybe that’s just because of the black and white coloring. I know this might not be a good idea, but it could be neat to give her a short ponytail or even a Mohawk. Just throwing the ideas out there, but this design is really cool even if it doesn’t change. Thanks for the sneak peek. 🙂
I considered a ponytail but didn’t ant to copy her mother’s hairstyle too closely.
Mohawk never even popped into my head but might be fun to draw. >:D
I dunno, I think long hair or a bob would really suit her.
I couldn’t help but notice that she appears to have a chest – so her species suckle their young?
Yes, but for a shorter amount of time than humans do. After a few weeks their jaws are strong enough to crunch small bones for calcium.
I’m suddenly really, really, really, REALLY reminded of teenage Marji in “Persepolis.” Maybe that’s because we just finished reading it in class, lol.
I hate to say it but… Adult Selkie looks like a butch lesbian. >.>
Well, I would have worded it differently, but I sort of agree with Craythey.
Hear me out! I’ve got nothing against girls with super-short hair, but when creating interesting characters it is important to subvert some expectations. Adult Selkie has been looked at strangely her whole life, and seems to have grown into a confident and fiery mer-woman. But her hair cut matches that personality EXACTLY. I look at her and I already feel like I know her inside and out.
I know you (Dave) know what I’m talking about because you regularly subvert expectations with Selkie in everyday strips. The whole reason you gave her pointy teeth to begin with was to subvert the trope that pointy teeth = predator. I mean, she’s a carnivorous blue humanoid that wears a seal hat and watches popular cartoons! This about the first time we met Selkie. She had creepy eyes/fingers/teeth, but she had a cute dress and was coloring with crayons like any other kid. It’s this confusion of expectations that intrigued us as readers and made us want to get to know this mer-girl who saw beauty in someone’s barfs.
Finally, this idea forms the basic message that you have taught us with Selkie; that you can’t know a person at a glance, even if they’re a mer-person.
This is a really interesting take on the design. To be honest, I didn’t even consider expectations of short hair = firey and confident.
If Adult Selkie had short hair but was demure and quiet, or long hair but was brash and assertive, what would that suggest?
Well, it’s not so much the short cut for me, but her not being afraid to show the sides of her head–as well as the fact she’s doing karaoke like that–that shows confidence.
Subverting expectations in the design of a character suggests that they are a complex individual with various “sides” to themselves that you would discover in different situations. For example! When we first met Todd, he was all cosmopolitan in his dress clothes and nice hair, but when you revealed that he also had tattoos and listened to loud music, I felt like he was more complex than just a pencil-pusher. The way his appearance and habits subverted my expectations suggested that he had deeper motivations and past experiences, and as a result made him into a more interesting and likeable character.
I think adult Selkie’s hair is rather cute, but I suppose she does look a little bit like a butch.
I think it looks pretty femme until the last view of her and then the proportions look a bit off–making her look more like a guy. Overall, though, I like the design.
Yeah, that’s the main reason why I thought it. But I also think… With the style of her hair and clothing it’s actually almost like she’s copying Todd’s style, which is really cute. It kinda says, “I’m my father’s daughter” and happily so.
I like adult Selkie. She’s cute. Also, a good song. Never heard or read it before, but I like it.
I believe this song is in the closing credits for Watchmen, but I’m not 100% certain – it’s been a while since I saw it.
It’s the first verse to “First we take Manhattan, Then we take Berlin” written by the incomparable Leonard Cohen.
😀
I would have thought she’d get some tattoos. Like her dad. Or would the tattoo ink cause an allergic reaction?
But does she have a gift of a golden voice?
She’s not your man.