This is Silena, the Autumnal Seed Keeper I created for the Charactober Character Design Challenge under the prompt Seed Keeper. Silena is inspired by the woodland characters from my previous series, she is a standalone, singular entity with an autumnal aesthetic that does not evolve.
Lore & Origins
Silena appears when the first autumn frost touches the earth. She does not grow into anything else. Her task is simple and singular: preserve, organize, and protect rare seeds so the cycle of growth can continue when winter passes. She wanders through harvesting fields searching for seeds. On her head she wears a crown of root crops and pods, including a blue carrot and seasonal harvest tubers. Wrapped around her large green back ribbon are dozens of paper seed packets. In her hand, she carries a uniquely shaped wooden portable seed organizer to carefully separate each variety. Silena represents a fully complete seasonal sprite, dedicated entirely to her autumnal task.
Her design is built around the autumnal harvest palette:
- Headpiece: A pile of pods, carrots, tubers, and a blue carrot sitting atop curly brown hair.
- Attire: A yellow-gold bodice with a teal neck ruffle, puffed sleeves, patterned orange-brown leggings, and curly-laced boots.
- Key Accessories: A large green ribbon fluttering behind her with paper seed packets, a bundle of blue carrot roots in her right hand, and her portable grid seed organizer in her left hand.
Here I show a few concept stages of creating Silena
I patterned her look and silhouette after my Foliaris character I was thinking of linking them together but I decided to create a different standalone character because I will not evolve her because this is intended for the charactober drawing challenge. Some requirements on the design brief include, dozens of seed packets and a seed organizer which I nailed down on this sketch so I won't forget. Notice the organizer is boxy and angular here which I later changed. The sleeves are similar with that of Foliaris but the skirt I turn into a bloomers.
I gave her a shorter curly hair then made her smile bigger with squinting eyes and a wider grin. This is the time to detail her hear piece and hair. I defined the head piece to include pods, tubers and other crops instead of a flowing hair or a cap. I gave her a nice neckline by adding an autumn leaf detail.
I want to create a free spirited sprite with whimsy and fancy details. At first I am not sure how to incorporate the seed packets I don't want her to look like a peddler of seeds so after a few iteration the long flowing bow of her dress became the anchor for the seed packets problem solved. Same reason for the seed organizer at first it was boxy but Silena deserves a cute and whimsical tool hence this unique shape of a pod to contain more seeds. I made her sleeves rounded to match her bloomers. Her leggings received the same edits to make them more interesting. The shoes are no longer simple their shoelaces are like tendrils now.
The colors above are my starting choices I love the autumnal feel. Later on I added some blue to avoid looking drab and boring.