ARTWORK
Freelance Illustrator & Animation Student
Virus
Twins
Character Design & Illustration Project
Origin of the Project
〈Virus Twins〉is a commissioned project. The client was looking for COVID-19 and H1N1 personifications and 4 character illustrations, including the two virus characters and a doctor and a nurse for their own board game project.
They wanted the two viruses to be a pair of siblings, with COVID being the little sister and H1N1 being the big brother. Due to limited time, the client provided existing artwork for me to reference for the doctor and the nurse. These two pairs are designed to be rival characters that fight against each other.
Designing
the Twins
The client envisioned the COVID sister to be in her early 20s. She has a great body and constantly changes her outfits as the real COVID virus mutates at a rapid speed. She might look messy at first but she has an elegant vibe to her.
COVID is smart, cold and a little out of her mind.
As for the H1N1 brother, they wanted him as a 30-year-old-ish fit guy. He is extremely grumpy, violent, and not as smart compared to his sister. His hands are always covered in blood stains.
Concept
Test Sketch for The Twins
For the COVID sister, I incorporated a lot of the virus features into her design. The two hair buns and her hairclips are inspired by the spike glycoprotein on COVID viruses. Her earrings and weapon design came from the overall shape of the virus. The tattoo on her front chest says"You're Next".
Since both Covid-19 and H1N1 are diseases that spread through droplet infection, I designed them as demons with gas masks. H1N1 viruses were originally a kind of avian influenza, so I replaced the bat wings with bird wings. He has scars and tattoos all over him, and his hands are covered in blood while crushing alveolar cells.
Complete Design for The Twins
All Character Illustrations
Christmas
Special
A client requested a Christmas-Special illustration with all four characters gathering together to celebrate the holiday and the new year.
Process
I provided four different concepts for the illustration. The client preferred the layout of concept D but wanted the characters to face more toward the camera. So I added the sparkler element into the original concept to balance out the overall lighting.
