Pốt

At first, I already imagine how Yan would look like. The only problem left for me was the outfit and the style, so I have thought of it for a while by imagining all the outfit designs and the style I could use for Yan. I know some of the artists draw out all the ideas they can as a brainstorm, but for me, the ideas are from daydream and the dreams I had during night time.

The name Hán Ya Zhi means “dry duck”. It sounds ridiculous, however, the reason I chose that name because duck usually knows how to swim, but “dry duck” cannot. The mockery of this name is only to point out the suffering this person is having and can barely take care of themselves. To sum up, Yan does not know how to swim by themselves, which this “dry duck” is afraid to swim alone. A special thank for my Malaysian friend who helped me find a perfect name for them

In order to understand the character background story, I have given Yan some information of where they came from. 

Yan had a really rough childhood. They have to be independent since a very young age because their alcoholic mother did not give them enough love and care. Their father is remained unknown. Growing up without any real friends are extremely hard for Yan. However, they got a lot of supports from their teacher, whom they always look up to, until their teacher passed away due to a lung cancer. (This is only an idea which I do not have a sketch of the teacher) Yan eventually meets real friends when they moved out of their alcoholic mother, but their condition gets worse every since.

Yan's outfit exploration

Yan's turnaround

Early design of Hán Yá Zhi (aka Yan)

Move on to Pốt, who appears to be a normal clay pot in a bat shape, but turns out he is the spirit of Happiness. Pốt’s personality is illustrated, which he is a silly little critter who loves cheering others up and especially playing with them. Pốt has the ability to grow any plants or flowers through their hole on top of the head. “Chi chi” is how he sounds in a high pitch voice.

Pốt is inspired from these bat shaped pots.

Pốt turnaround

Characters exploration

Ideas of a possible ending for my story. I am still thinking of how the story will go. Whether Pốt is able to change Yan’s mind or Yan commits suicide before Pốt could do anything.