I’m very much hook on to the whole “Chinese mythical character + Western treatment” recently. This time round, I’m working on the “Feng Shen Yan Yi (封神演義)“ series, so expect to see “Er Lang Shen” and “Lei Zhen Zi”.
A little profile of Nezha (from Wikipedia).
Nezha is a Taoist deity, originated from the Chinese mythology. He is often depicted flying in the sky with a wheel of fire under each foot, a golden hoop, the “cosmic ring”, around his shoulder and a spear in his hands. Sometimes he is given multiple arms. Nezha is usually depicted as a youth and rarely as an adult.
In my design, I took the approach to redo and slight reinterpret. My main focus on Nezha character was that he was not just a child, but an over-powerful one. In terms of his daily welfare, he might need help from the adults. But when it comes to the ability to combat, he holds the strength of a thousand men. Notice that he’s a little muscular, yet at the same time, filled with baby fats all over. There’s also a few bells and jingles around his legs and weapon, just like how little babies love their squeaky shoes.
I admit my design is a little subtle, and might not have expressed every points above to the fullest. But that’s what I was going for. Instead of showing everything loud and upfront, I choose to foreshadow the characteristic, and leave the rest to the animation/story.
