Fox Concept

As the character are seasonal Gods, I wanted to try dig up some interesting mythology to help fuel both aesthetic design as well as their back stories.

The Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox and there are a lot of folk stories revolving around them, not just in Japan but worldwide. The fox is depicted as an intelligent and magical creature able to take on human form. They are considered to be shape-shifters commonly assuming the form of a beautiful woman, young girl or old man. Some stories show them as tricksters and other faithful guardians which gives me a few options to explore in terms of personality.

Because they are able to take on human form, like other fantasy beings such as vampires, there are ways in which you can see their true form which is either through, shadows or reflections. I really like the idea of exploring shadows as I think it makes for a great concept and idea for the finished drawing of this character if it gets chosen.

Despite the Japanese & Chinese mythology that has been looked at for inspiration and concepts for this character's design, we have both agreed to steer away from the 'traditional' look especially in terms of clothing.

Based on the most common looks the Kitsune assumes, we have decided to pick the 'beautiful woman' as the associated facial features that are deemed to be beautiful make for an interesting and great starting point. I did initially like the idea of the 'old man' disguise so this is another design that will be looked at at a later time.

As a reference, Dee has used Angelina Jolie's facial features as a basis for the character design. The high cheek bones and angular shape to the face are considered to be beautiful features and are reminiscent of the fox.

These are the initial sketches of the 'beautiful woman' concept for the Kitsune. One of the defining features of the Kitsune, as it states on the mood board is that they can have anything up to nine tails. Between us, we decided to give our character four to reference the seasons. 

In the sketches, what appears to look like her ears is just an illusion created by the way in which her hair has been tied but it essentially creates the same effect but with a more subtle approach. With the Kitsune being a shapeshifter, I think it's important for her to appear ore human than animal as this is a form of disguise therefore her true nature should be concealed. 

Her costume is still to be experimented with but I've told my concept artist that I would like to stick to the fashion approach similar to that of my last module. So, expect to be seeing some fashion driven inspirations as well as some mood boards, all of which will be used to help create my characters wardrobes.