MOTU Hybrid Enchantress Concept
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Custom WorkstationHi all! Got a little project I could use some input on.
As anyone frequenting the Custom Showcase knows, over the last few months, I've been posting a series of custom MOTU figures that I call MOTU Hybrid. They are MOTU figures using the 2002 Four Horsemen sculpts, with MOTUC-style articulation, and the general aesthetic (colors, weapons, ideas) of the original Filmation series. Basically a combination of what I think is the best of all the lines.
Now, since I'm using the 2002 designs, those characters that appeared in that toyline are no problem. However, I tend to hit a snag when I try to update more obscure characters. Case in point:
This is the Enchantress. She appeared in one episode of the original cartoon. Not an important character from a series standpoint, but she had the distinction of being A) the villain who kidnapped Randor's father for decades, and B) a counterpart to the Sorceress, in design if not in outright intention.
So I wanted to update the character for my Hybrid line, since the villain side is, well . . . kind of a sausage fest. Ergo, I wanted to design a cool 2002 look for the character, something similar to the updated Sorceress, but more sinister, someone to be taken seriously rather than ridiculed.
Here's what I came up with:
Notes:
- This is just a concept sketch, not actual production art. The final piece is going to be a figure, obviously, not a picture, so no shading or depth.
- I haven't finalized her weapon design (or even whether or not she'll have one, the cartoon version didn't) so that's the deal with her staff there, just a placeholder.
- Yes, I know she was originally an owl, the idea was to make her more dangerous and less goofy. Go ahead, look up "scary owl" on Google. Even mad, they just look fluffy and cuddly. It's HARD to make an owl look bad-@$$. I felt a dragon motif would work much better (plus, I don't have any spare bird wings in my fodder bin. Dragon wings, however . . . .) I have included an owl version to make my point.
So, thoughts? Do you folks think this design works? Anything I should change? Should I stick to the owl motif (pic 3), or go with the dragon? Should I change the colors a bit? Should I cover her hair with a full headdress (pic 1), or just have her brown hair flowing out the back (pic 2), as with the original design? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Please wait...
Posted by
Batman1016 on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Update Topic
Going along with the Sorceress similarities, though, I will ALSO most likely do a staff of some kind, regardless that she didn't have one in the cartoon. It just seems fitting, really. Maybe a weapon staff, like a polearm or scythe or something.
Now then, the big point, the owl vs the dragon. Regarding the Great Owl from "Secret of Nimh" . . . yes, I'm quite familiar. And the fact of the matter is, he doesn't really look like an owl, more a caricature of an owl crossed with an old man.
Add to that, the headdress is supposed to be upper beak and eyes only, again, as seen on the Sorceress.
Apply that concept to the Enchantress, combine the Great Owl, keep the orange crest because it's a distinctive visual cue and an homage to the original, don't forget she has to have the same general color scheme as the Filmation character, and what you get is . . . .
. . . A Vegas showgirl. And that's the problem I keep running into. Even a very stylized owl, like the one in my original concept . . . ends up looking more like a chicken mask than an owl.
Again, I'm not opposed to the concept of an owl headdress, but it has to look cool and dangerous and villain-ish, and I just can't seem to figure out how to make it work like the Sorceress' hawk headdress. Owls just have tiny, snub beaks and bulbous heads with flat faces, and funny little mustaches and eyebrows. At best, they have horns, but even their horns are fuzzy. They aren't sleek and deadly looking. That's why owls traditionally have the "old, wise, scholarly gentleman" stereotype, and hawks have the "cunning, fast, angry predator" connotation. If anything, the Filmation team got their characters backwards . . . the kind, gentle Sorceress should have been the owl, and the evil, plotting Enchantress should be a hawk!
I dunno, maybe someone else can post a concept idea and have better luck designing an awesome owl headdress. If someone does, I'll totally use it on the custom, and credit the contributor. Bonus if it has an Egyptian feel like the Sorceress, and ties into the existing costume design. But otherwise, I'm gonna have to stick with dragon. And to be fair, as overdone as it is in most media, MOTU is notably devoid of dragons, for the most part. Dinosaurs and bat motifs, yes, but dragons, no.
So what about the rest of the design?