Hello! I wish to make a blog about an Alien who does business. The content of the blog will be- I will dress up as an alien and will try to run a business. I will document it with photographs and video. I want to come up with a character for the alien. He is supposed to be funny, clumsy, really cool, and curious. I was working also on his outer appearance and this is what I came up with: Could this character be funny, clumsy, really cool, and curious? Or is it too scary to be any of those? What do you think of this guy in general?
They look like slightly modified humans with questionable fashion sense. Aliens with body plans that stick to the homo sapiens standard setup are everywhere in science fiction, especially in film where you want human actors to play the aliens. Exobiologists will tell you that save for some rudimentary similarities, there is no reason to expect an alien species to look anything like us. The rudimentary features of which I speak being that the sensory package (what we call our face) that contains the visual organs, the smelling organs and the hearing organs, assuming these aren't spread equally around the creature, would stand a good chance of being placed somewhere to the forward end of the creature and as high up as the creature's physiology allows. The sensory package evolves as a passive defense array to warn the creature of impending danger coming it's way, so putting it in the front and high up makes the best strategic sense.
Thank you! I am not sure if the Borderlands Psychos is what I am aiming for though... This character looks like slightly modified human with questionable fashion sense because I really am on a low budget and I need to be able to do work in the costume. I am kind of looking for a similar solution like that what I already drew but maybe a better fashion could be used? Different face?
Ah, ok. Your goal is other than what I had thought. Context is key! Knowing this now, allow me to modify my answer. The costumes are still a little "loud" for me. All I see are chevrons of color, not aliens. The shirts are the characters, not the characters themselves. Before I continue, let me ask, you say "and I need to be able to do work in the costume". Do you mean that literally, as in like cosplay, or digitally as in an online comic or something like that?
So I have to figure out a way to bring out the character not the shirt? By doing work in the costume I mean really doing work- meeting people, possibly driving a car, working on a computer and some other stuff... Your answer really helps- thanks.
I am probably off target but the straight line of buttons are what caught my eye as standard, not alien. Maybe an X or upside Y pattern. Plus maybe a collar that looks like a helmet could attach to it would give it an appearance of other worldly.
I don't fully understand your vision yet, but the premise sounds ridiculous (in a good way )! I was going to say, "What makes you think an alien would even wear clothes?", but then I thought 'Actually naked actors have already been done to death on the internet'. I'm inclined to agree with the previous comments about colourful chevrons and the line of buttons. Have you considered using a morphsuit? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphsuits Several companies sell them in heaps of different patterns and they're not prohibitively expensive (...I promise I'm not on commission). I think they give a vibe matching your 'funny', 'clumsy' and (arguably) 'cool' requirements. A lot of people have already used them to portray aliens and supernatural beings, but perhaps not yet to the point of cliche; I think if you were to use one as a baseline and add a few accoutrements (like your goggles, mohawk, etc) you could still 'make it your own'. Would love to see how you get on with this idea
My crit would be that the alien could easily pass for Joseph (he of the Technicolor Dream Coat fame) wearing a modified hockey mask. I just can't get past that thought. If it were me, and I was looking to design something on a budget that I could knock up into a wearable costume, I'd worry about the head first, then deal with the rest once I've established that, yes, it's an alien. At a glance, the simplest way to do this might be to 'Grey' up your model a little: change the width and angles of the forehead, cheeks and chin, elongate, narrow and angle the eyes. Ok, you'd be resorting to a stereotypical template but at least it would be obvious what you are supposed to be, and then you could go to town on the costume. All that said, I actually do like your efforts. Unfortunately 'alien' isn't the first thing to come to mind when I look at them.
I think, if you're going to want people to recognize you as an alien in a funny coat, you'd want to get a little stereotypical with the facial appearance. You don't want them staring at you trying to figure out what you're supposed to be. As for the clothes, I think if you want to make the alien look clumsy and funny you could do something like mismatch some of the buttons, or make one sleeve longer than the other. Like he tried to make his own clothes in an earthen sort of design and didn't have a pattern.
Ridiculous is what I am aiming for. I have already ordered a morphsuit- that was the idea right from the beginning. Your suggestions about head shape are a good idea. I think I might do that, because it should be important that the character is recognised as an alien right away. Thank you. You are very right- people should recognise that it is an alien right away. I like also your idea that alien tries to make clothes for himself, that can add to the story- alien does all sorts of things that people normally do, but he would do it totally wrong and awkward. That would be funny. Thanks.
Maybe this would be better: An alien who wears a human mask and tells everyone that he is a human because he want's to fit in, but nobody really believes him. What do you think about this character? I think I will make some clothes for him too.
