Monday, August 10, 2009

Hu's your daddy?

With the launch of Copper Road, it's time to nail down the final, puntacular member of the Hu family. Meet Hiram Hu. Hi for short. That name beat how How Hu mostly because Howard Hu is a few letters short of Leonardo DiCaprip saying, "come in with the milk." (The Aviator is one of my favorite movies!)

Now... which one is Hi Hu? I'm not sure yet! You can see the themes I am playing with, but what combination is the one for him? Is it even in the image?

I know I want him to have some faint Siamese traits to him, but more along the line of lavender points, which have light coloring. In Precocious, only Autumn's clone-y family is allowed to be of "pure" breeding. That was half the reason I brought in Wen, even though his two lines might be the only ones he ever gets in Precocious' run. Wen hinted that daddy Hu isn't another pure Siamese. (The other reason for Wen's introduction was, of course, my need to populate Copper Road with a cast of crazies.)

So what traits work? I know I want the ear points, be them half-shade (like Wen) or black tipped (like Tiff's brother, Mikey). I also want the scruffy beard, because Hi isn't the most together person and it gives him a casual look. That less-than-formal look has extended to his hair. For that I took Kaitlyn and Wen's looks and went with several hybrid styles of the two. My original leaning was towards the Kaitlyn side, but the Wen-ish sketches do look good.

Point is, I don't know. I can delay his appearance in Copper Road for a few weeks, letting the idiotastic Shii Ann speak for both when the situation calls for parental failure - Hi's not much better than his wife in the common sense game - but the obsessive world builder in me wants to nail it down soon. Any advice?

8 comments:

Applejinx said...

I like top right guy. He looks the most like an untogether adult, a lot of the other pictures are grinning like the kids, but top right guy immediately looked like a distinct character.

Applejinx said...

Also, the stray hair coming off his right cheekruff helps make him look disheveled, the dark eartips combined with lighter nose-point shading going halfway up between his eyes and across his cheeks helps give him a confused look. He's got very faint hairs coming over his eyes but not anime-style like middle left, and there's a bit of violet point on his chin as well. And he's got more disheveled chest-fur than anybody else in the picture.

There's your Hu daddy :D

Applejinx said...

Note: the guy directly below him has cheetah markings under his eyes- too fierce looking, and the anime hair ones are too cool and stylish.

I wonder if Hiram is actually very smart, but so shellshocked from raising a family of Siamese hellions and his beautiful but dippy wife, that he's simply a nervous wreck and thus ACTS like a complete ditz?

Tex said...

I like the center one the less, but going along with the not grinning like a kid idea I like more the middle and bottom left guys and the middle right. This first looks marvelously stupid, and the others are just the right amount of weird.

Christopher J Paulsen said...

That for the replies, guys! Looks like the lighter pointing is the way to go. Maybe I'll play around with actual in to test my shading skills.

...in a few days. Gotta get the week's Precocious strips done first!

As always, more opinions are welcome!

Yino said...

I like the top and bottom left guys. They look clueless enough for me.
Also, Hu is your daddy? :P

Loutre Vert said...

I agree that the lighter-tipped ears look best. I think the bottom-left sketch is the better hybrid of Kaityln and Wen's hair. But to look more disheveled, that dark hair should go over the eyes and wave around a little. That sketch and the top-right one appeal to me enough that I don't really notice the others much.
I drew about what I had in mind...
Have to click the link, 'cause I can't insert an image.

Christopher J Paulsen said...

Oooh, nice drawing style, Loutre Vert!

I'm moving ahead with my Hi Hu, and he'll be similar to your drawing. He's going to be like the top right image, bit with lighter ear tips.

You'll see it Sunday, and we'll see how that works. ;-)