Transyltown

Welcome to the first in a series of journal entries where I will talk openly about the design process of the Transyltown cast. It’s a fun process for me to be able to this with everyone, and it also helps me think of critically about my creations. I hope for you readers it’s a fun opportunity to get a “behind the scenes” feel, and understand me as an author (although I hope that the series itself does the latter as well). Each entry will have two sections: Models—a look at the themes and characters that inspired the subject’s personality, and Design—a look at the themes and characters that inspired the subject’s look.

Models:

Timmy overall gimmick of being a young, socially awkward vampire is of course a parody of the often suave, sex icons that vampires have become in pop culture. Pre-dating Twilight; it is a present them even in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Timmy’s personality is mostly based on the most positive aspects my experience frequently moving as a boy, and my love for tales of scientific exploration. Everything is new to him. He may at first respond to it with fear, but his curiosity eventually takes over.

Son Gohan of Dragonball serves a mild personality model. He was my favorite character of that series, and I felt that if Dragonball had kept the same adventurous spirit it had before the high flying martial arts took over he would have felt better as a main character. I always try to maintain balance to the adventure and mild horror to action, so that Timmy can carry his role as the title character.

I think it’s fair to note that I discovered Katekyo Hitman Reborn just as I began working on Transyltown, and was intrigued by the similarities between the Timmy I was developing and its main character Sawada Tsunayoshi. I like Reborn (although I don’t think it’s a solid story), but Tsuna served as a model of what not to do. I felt that everyday Tsuna versus the reliable heroic Tsuna never felt like the same person until the end of the series, and resolved myself to ensure that to build Timmy in a way that feels consistent. (I may expand in more detail on that subject in an opinion journal on the Reborn series)

Design:

The essence of a good character design is a distinguishable silhouette. I’ve always felt that shonen style characters have really great silhouette designs that exemplify youth, although some of them can get ridiculous.

The two I found most memorable and serve as the main inspirations for Timmy are the iconic Son Goku of Dragonball and Beet, the title character of Beet the Vandel Buster.

Adding a little bit of a formal look, and pointy demon-like ears, and we have Timmy. From there I designed a costume that felt had a boarding school like with a slight Victorian flair with shorts to further signify youth.

Timmy’s bat form was modeled after fruit bats. Vampire bats are rather ugly… Not very good for a charming tale like Transyltown. 

Trivia:

I hope you guys have enjoyed this, and as always comments are welcome.

Timmy overall gimmick of being a young, socially awkward vampire is of course a parody of the often suave, sex icons that vampires have become in pop culture. Pre-dating Twilight; it is a present them even in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Timmy’s personality is mostly based on the most positive aspects my experience frequently moving as a boy, and my love for tales of scientific exploration. Everything is new to him. He may at first respond to it with fear, but his curiosity eventually takes over.

Son Gohan of Dragonball serves a mild personality model. He was my favorite character of that series, and I felt that if Dragonball had kept the same adventurous spirit it had before the high flying martial arts took over he would have felt better as a main character. I always try to maintain balance to the adventure and mild horror to action, so that Timmy can carry his role as the title character.

I think it’s fair to note that I discovered Katekyo Hitman Reborn just as I began working on Transyltown, and was intrigued by the similarities between the Timmy I was developing and its main character Sawada Tsunayoshi. I like Reborn (although I don’t think it’s a solid story), but Tsuna served as a model of what not to do. I felt that everyday Tsuna versus the reliable heroic Tsuna never felt like the same person until the end of the series, and resolved myself to ensure that to build Timmy in a way that feels consistent. (I may expand in more detail on that subject in an opinion journal on the Reborn series)

Design:
The essence of a good character design is a distinguishable silhouette. I’ve always felt that shonen style characters have really great silhouette designs that exemplify youth, although some of them can get ridiculous.

The two I found most memorable and serve as the main inspirations for Timmy are the iconic Son Goku of Dragonball and Beet, the title character of Beet the Vandel Buster.

Adding a little bit of a formal look, and pointy demon-like ears, and we have Timmy. From there I designed a costume that felt had a boarding school like with a slight Victorian flair with shorts to further signify youth.

Timmy’s bat form was modeled after fruit bats. Vampire bats are rather ugly… Not very good for a charming tale like Transyltown. 

I hope you guys have enjoyed this, and as always comments are welcome.