Hi friends! BowserPuma again! (As if anyone else makes these devlogs uwu.)

Continuing with my little series of devlogs talking about my character designs, it's time to talk about Cliff!

In my previous post about Darrell, I discussed how I based my character designs using a "group design" approach. So, after I designed Darrell, who's an obnoxious, beefy himbo, I wanted to develop a character that would be antithetical to him. This way, I'd help create balance in with my cast of characters. From there, Cliff was conceived! I wanted a character who would be the chill, trim (dare I say twink), counterpart to Darrell.

I naturally gravitated towards a capybara since I have a great affinity for the animal. I always wanted to design a capybara character and this was a great opportunity. Plus, the general demeanor of the animal seems to fit the vibe I wanted for this character. This brings up another key element of my character design philosophy. I tend to look at how an animal behaves in the real world and use that as a guide to help develop personality traits for the character.

Bass guitar seemed like a sensible instrument for Cliff to play. There's always a trope about bass players being the most chill and relaxed of any group, and that certainly holds true the more you learn about rock/pop bands and their social dynamics.

From there, I got to work commissioning artwork of him! I decided a messy top-bun for his hair style would be a perfect fit. I also decided that he'd be a stylish/fashionable boy, so I made sure he's always wearing nice clothes.

Artists for these two pieces are by Saisio and REduardoso respectively. They both contributed a lot to Cliff's design.

Lastly, his name was inspired by the great and late Cliff Burton. Cliff was Metallica's greatest bass player, and overall, one of my favorite musicians who ever walked this earth.

In my post about Darrell, I mentioned that each of my characters have bits and pieces of me. For Cliff, I'm afraid I'll need to omit that information for now. If I did that, I would have to spoil a MAJOR part of his story.

On that note, I think this is where I'll stop with this devlog. Stay tuned for my next character design reflection where I discuss Trent!

Take care, y'all 😸💖