Character number one: Bayani

So our first big assignment was given out before break to create a character fitting the description given by our teacher, and to depict them in three different styles. I was assigned a young, male, Filipino, bounty hunter and ended up coming up with Bayani here! I wanted to have a little fun with this assignment, so while researching some things I remembered one fun thing about the Philippines... Civet Coffee.

In the Philippines, they grow coffee and make a few blends, but by far the strangest would be their Civet coffee, or Kopi Luwak. In case you didn't already know, a species of animal they have running around the forests called a Civet happens to really like coffee plantations. Now, these little buggers are cute, and come in multiple color variations, but it's what they do that makes this coffee so weird. Civets like to eat raw coffee, which looks like a strange red berry, and they digest all of the fruit away leaving the seed, or coffee bean, to be digested. But is it digested? Not really. Yup, these cute little things just push them right back out after their gut treatment. You can see where this is going. The coffee farmers then go around and gather up the lumps of beans left behind, clean them, process them, and ship them around the world as a rare specialty coffee! That's right, people are in theory drinking civet poo for coffee. Fun isn't it. :D

So I worked out a little backstory with Bayani and Coffee that isn't nearly so gross! He's an apprentice to a special type of Bounty hunter in his world, where coffee is illegal to own by anyone who isn't certified. A lot of illegal plantations of coffee spring up by farmers looking to make a quick buck selling the grounds, but the bounty hunters are usually tipped off before long, and head into the forests to catch the perps and tear out the plantations. :3 It's Bayani's job in particular to collect all the plants and sweep the area for loose beans and anything that's connected with the plants, and he takes it very seriously. He can't wait for the day when he can do more than carry the confiscated "contraband" and can actually close down as many illegal farms as he can. Cute little guy. :D

So on to the important part! Some research pictures and drawings! First some inspiration from my research:

Then some quick practice sketches:

And the most important one! The final product!!!

He's so cute I want to hug him FOREVER! I used my normal style, a cartoony style and a felix the cat inspired style. :D Because Felix was a boss. The cartoony style ended up being used twice, one sketchy and painterly and one lined and crisp because the Felix version wasn't really a coloring style. >> But I love every single one!!! I'm very happy with him!