Aquaria's Art Style

[Echolocating]

I generally prefer hair over head-tentacles, even on aliens (though feathers are a great alternative, of whatever color or colors). Personally, I'm a sucker for four- or six- or eight-eyed characters; but if that's too alien, I would keep the head more or less as-is and go for a more alien body type--something along the same model as the thri-kreen, say, except more feminine and presumably less insectile.

Antenna sounds good, about the hair... I'd add some kind of trinkets to it, tied up hair, fiddle-things in it, stuff like that, like tribal people have.

You know, I was debating whether or not to give her 4 arms and I had previous sketches on paper with 4 eyes and such. The mod I'd like to work on is future sci-fi. There is surprisingly very little underwater sci-fi stuff out there for inspiration it seems, but I've been able to find some good stuff with a little digging. A thri-keen inspired fish woman would easily fit into what I'm envisioning.

And I like Alphsoldier's suggestion for making her look like she has lived within a society of sorts, like there's an interesting past to her. Great suggestions, guys. Thanks! 

[Sindhi]

I like the braiding beads thing in the hair idea (Avatar-esque?) and maybe not white hair; looks too much like Naija. Maybe a pale blue-green, almost white, or yellow-green. Like the face a lot.

[Echolocating]

I think I'm having more fun learning to paint than actually committing to a mod lately.

Anyway, based off Inyssius' suggestions, I came up with this...



...and I think she's just human enough for us to relate to, but alien enough to avoid that slap-some-flippers-on-a-blue-elf look that was happening before. I still like the Naija-like skin tone on her though, or as I affectionately refer to now as "statue of liberty" green. I might try out some multi-color combinations, like markings on her body and such. I tried a few other ideas, like removing the tentacles and adding a tail, but I think keeping her more humanoid, but without hair is the way to go. There ain't too many furry fish out there, as far as I know. At least it's better than the she-goblin thing I drew before. 

Oh, and here's a version of her naked...
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j252/Echolocating/Aquaria/concept-006.jpg
...in the name of art, of course.

The more I think about this alien character, the more I think she might need an environment suit of sorts, at least some mechanism for filtering the water she breaths (like a gas-mask). That way when you retreat back to your home base and she can kick back, relax and take off her "work clothes", it'll feel more like a breath of fresh air for her (and hopefully, the player as well). I think the premise of her presence in the Aquaria/Earth world is that she crash landed in a space ship and sunk into the ocean. Perhaps the Aquarians beseech her to defeat some evil doers. Sort of a merger of technology and ancient magic thing going on. Anyway, hopefully the ideas will settle soon so than I can commit to something and actually start working on a mod. Still, practice makes perfect, I suppose.

Also, now that I'm thinking about how to break her limbs up to animate her, I see (and appreciate better) why Naija was designed in such a way with her outfit and other forms.

[aerozol]

Holy sh*t, that's amazing. Basically perfect. Honest.

[Alphasoldier]

I'll have to agree with Aerozol, that is amazing work, I literally dropped my jaw once I scrolled down in this topic, wow. O:

[Dolphin's Cry]

That looks great!

There ain't too many furry fish out there, as far as I know.

There ain't too many fish with distinctively mammalian features (a.k.a. breasts) out there either, as far as I know.

[Lady-Succubus]

I think I'm scared now.

[Xiagan]

You described them well. Alien but familiar. And yes, they are a bit scary. But really awesome work!

[Alphasoldier]

You know, this may be totally out of the blue, but have you thought of a name for their alien race yet?

Also I just noticed the nude version (yesiknowwhatyouarethinkingshutup), it's very pretty.

[Lady-Succubus]

Also I just noticed the nude version (yesiknowwhatyouarethinkingshutup), it's very pretty.

imthinkinghowcouldyouhavemissedabrightbluelink

[Echolocating]

Another thing that I think must happen is vehicles. It could be a simple thing that you grab on to and use to pull yourself around, a submersible of sorts, or a full mech suit. I think she'll bring some cool tech with her when she crashes down. It would be neat to climb inside a larger vehicle and have the screen zoom out a bit more and explore more dangerous waters. Perhaps even battle massive creatures. The kind of technology she brings will help shape the details of what she was doing before she crashed.

You know, this may be totally out of the blue, but have you thought of a name for their alien race yet?

Nope. Feel free to suggest something though.

...yes, they are a bit scary.

Really? Subtle intimidation is what I was going for.

I was thinking about maybe adding some natural armored plates and such, something a little more menacing. Maybe having gauntlet-like hand/claws on the upper arms, but I think I'll just save those additions for her other forms. I'd like to still keep Aquaria's flavor of different forms serving different purposes. One of her "mutations" could be crustacean-like, a bit like Naija's beast form.

I think this alien woman will find a companion among the Aquarians, someone assigned to her to aid her (perhaps reluctantly at first) in her quest to battle a great evil. It might be more fitting for her to have been a part of the birth of the evil though. Perhaps the main power-core from her ship separated and plummeted down, corrupting a certain life form, infusing it with alien energy. If she wants to return home, make amends with the Aquarians, and kick some ass... it seems like an idea worth pursuing.

If anyone has thoughts or suggestions for a sci-fi story, fire away. I have certain scenarios in mind, like an AI in a robotic form that could serve as a help or hindrance to the protagonist. Could she harness the Verse's power artificially with her alien technology? I also think it might be wise to release the mod in episodic chunks.

I also think it's time to start a new thread for this endeavor. 

[Lady-Succubus]

Me hearing AI makes me think of Portal. ._.