Lively An Original Character By "Black UniGryphon": sexy

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Character Development: Xingtao

I was often conflicted about a character I had in mind for my stories...

I even RP'ed some stuff because I didn't know what to do with it...

I even made a boy character on IMVU to play with some ideas/concepts.

It kept changing... but, I think, there's nothing wrong with having more than 1 character.

The mane male character I've called other names in the past. But, I think I will be sticking with the name Xingtao.

But, again with the Taoism stuff.... I couldn't be sure of the specific name written down. (Chinese)

I was originally calling him: 星套 ( Xintao/Xingtao) meaning "Star Set" or "Stared Sleeves" or "Jacket of Stars".

But, I think I like this better: 兴涛 (Xingtao) meaning something like Euphoric Waves of the Interesting... or sort of meaning an intense attractiveness mentally but also coming at you...
I don't know how to explain it in English, and My Chinese isn't that great, and I still can't even hand write the word 涛 which is difficult for me. It's a very abstract meaning... and, I'm unfortunately more ignorant than "in the know" on these matters... :(

Chinese often has a way of having a massively large meaning in just a few words... in Western languages we don't always have this, and nowhere near the same thing...

As I was developing the character over the years, I always felt he had 2 sides; an introvert, and an extrovert. I also wrote him as having secrets, and a hidden identity.

Introvert Xingtao Concept

Extrovert Xingtao Concept

But, I think I would also like to create some other characters as well, because I think it makes the story have more of a richness and depth.

I actually find both versions of him to be very exciting.

So, I think I still like the idea of him having different moods and temperaments depending on the situations or social circles... But, I can't decide if I want him to be fair skinned, or having a nice rich deep tan. I suppose he could be both....

兴涛

I do think I'm definitely doing other characters, because I think young persons, including girls, should be attracted to more than 1 person... it just makes sense, and I think that's more interesting, and better story telling. I don't think I would go more than 4 others, tho'. Perhaps less....

And, since I'm kinda leaning more towards a more European stint on dealing with this aspect, it makes more sense to have more than 1 interesting male, even if there's a mane male character that will eventually head to other things within the story...

I'm also thinking I might start him off with long hair, but then he cuts it... I think that's rather realistic also. Since young men whom have long hair, tend to eventually cut it.

I also admit, that I find the idea of designing other characters, or even refining the character development of Xingtao as VERY exciting. He's pretty sexy!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Lively As A Unicorn Anthro Furry

If you've ever seen my animation reel, my logo has Lively morphing into a Black Unicorn. In fact back in the late 1990s, and early 2000s my online alias was usually "ZBlackUnicorn", "BlackUnicorn, or "EbonyUnicorn" (or perhaps some variation of that...

My VCL name is STILL ZBlackUnicorn!

Not only did I already have a story with Lively and Dragons, but, I'd read a book of short stories ("Immortal Unicorn") edited by Peter S. Beagle (The Author of "The Last Unicorn") in which he'd added his own whimsical short story, of a girl that was some kind of, I guess, closet magical witch that enchanted a unicorn painting and, a tiny unicorn popped out...

So, after I'd read that, I started sketching whatever was in my mind, and somehow Lively began popping into the sketches...

I'd also gotten into ancient fairytales from China such as "Xi You Ji" (The Journey West) which was about the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, and how he was born from a stone, as well as other even more ancient stories from the "Feng Shen Bang" (which is even older than The Bible) about the story of Nezha whom was born as a fairy from a lotus, similar to Thumbelina.

So, I started writing versions of a story involving Lively, but set as a teenaged girl (about 18 years old), even tho' I was already about 22 or 23 when I'd written it...

I'd originally started to write it in a paper notebook, while I was running my business selling artwork up here in Greater Boston. I would jot down whatever came into my head, and just go with it.

It's also written saucy stories about Werewolves with a Chinese theme, among many other stories. But, the story "Lively's Mini Unicorn" was my favorite. I'd originally tried to publish it to Elfwood, but there were just TOO many coding problems, that even if I COULD get it to work, the admins wouldn't approve it, or if they WOULD approve it, the coding didn't work. So after multiple tries, and so much frustration I gave up. (I suck at programming.)

But, then, I'd rewritten it a few more times, and published some chapters to Deviant Art. However, I STILL think they are in need of a SERIOUS re-write YET AGAIN.

Anyways, during that time, I noticed that Lively started to morph into a Unicorn theme. Many of my sketches of Lively would turn out with her having an Alicorn (the correct term for a Unicorn's Horn: SEE MY BLOG POST HERE FOR MORE INFO). I actually had several sketches of this stuff, and I'd also gotten pregnant with my daughter Heidi.

As you can see, sometimes Lively is depicted with black hair & a tan... but, next thing I knew, because I was VERY into Furries, I wanted to do UNICORNS!

I also sold a number of Furries, got Furry/Anthro commissions, and had many relationships with fellow Furry artists, as well as getting to know folks in The Gryphon Guild which is FULL of mixed fantasy artists usually doing Furries, Anthros, Dragons, and Unicorns too.

The Guild was VERY good to me. I made MANY connections, and I'd helped MANY young artists and to build their confidence.

Before I knew it, there was this Unicorn Anthro Maiden that kept coming out in my sketches... I kept feeling that she was somehow so familiar...

Who should I name her???
But, I couldn't name her!

Then, I realized it! No wonder! That's Lively!

But, I noticed that as an Anthro' Unicorn, Lively DIDN'T want to be BLACK. She WANTED to be WHITE! How VERY funny! Because my symbols were always "Black Unicorns" since the mid 90s, but White Unicorns before that... (80s)
But, NO! Lively just insisted on being a white unicorn!

So, that's how I sketched her.

I had a number of those sketches, and I don't know where they are... Perhaps I'll find them someday, and share them here....

Anyways, I did some of these artworks in a sexy style, often nude, or in a leather corset or bodice.