Character design: A whale in a Victorian suit

A few years ago (check out this post) I had the idea of dressing a whale up in constricting Victorian clothing, mainly to see if it worked as a design and also because I thought it would be an interesting concept. In this time whales were hunted massively for their oil and baleen. These were sought after goods, not least for fashion (lipstick, corsets etc.).

This project expanded into a bit of world building within a Victorian underwater boxing scene, the Clammy Glove - The London Underwater Boxing Association.

I illustrated four characters from my design ideas, all in gouache. I then touched up the illustrations in Photoshop. However I was never happy with the final layout and always planned to reiterate on them.

Finally I finished the final, final layout yesterday and swore I wont touch these particular designs ever again. Instead I want to expand and build the whole world around the Clammy Glove and redesign the characters and even make more.

A personal project like this could keep me occupied for many years. We'll see how I manage.

Until next time, be safe and carry on dreaming ❤

Heida