Redesigning my sona of years, tried a few concepts and currently this is the one I prefer but I feel like it's a very top heavy design? Or that like,, his legs are too ''boring'' compared to his torso and arms. And I also feel like I've been staring at him for so long and I'm just too emotionally invested into him to see if this is a good design or not
Things I like about this current design is that he is a bit more representative of me as in like,, I gave him some flared ribs, his belly tattoo is a simplified version of mine, and I quite like the shape of his face and his tired eyes.
I also like that his anatomy is closer to irl bats (he is mostly based on Dekeyser’s nectar bat and California Leaf-nosed Bat) especially with his wings, compared to his past refs. (I know typically bats wings are connected to their legs too but I was struggling with that and I want to have fun when drawing him xD)
His personality is pretty warm, especially once comfortable, earnest, playful. Very conscientious, socially cautious, prone to overthink to the absolute max out of interpersonal situations xD Curious, sentimental (more than he likes to show), extremely attached to the things he love. And while I know his personality fit more of a "rounder" shape language, I feel like this is the personality you only get once you get to know him. Otherwise with strangers I feel like his social response is being pretty avoidant or closed off sometimes which can give the impression that he is meaner than what he truly is.
I also quite like the lion tail even tho it's not very bat like, but I'd be open to changing it if it helps his design
Thing I am kinda sad to lose from his old designs are the snakes, but I'm struggling to include them without making him look too busy. And inversly, i liked when his leg were just light brown (same as his base color) because when clothed i feel like it brings a nice balance, but when looking at him on the ref it feels too empty and im not sure how to fix that. But like drawing him with clothes now i feel like his bottom half is a bit too dark, so yeah, going back on forth on that. Also going back and forth on the belly dots, so I would not mind not including them if they are too much
His old designs here: ((no space))
https: //file.garden/aitYx5ob_ Vh2F19z/Lukas%20ref%202021.png
https: //file.garden/aitYx5ob_ Vh2F19z/Lukas%20ref%202019.png | Artwod Feedback