Boo West, AKA Sphinx Mothra, is a character designer for animation and a stop-motion puppet fabricator from England. She loves crafting expressive characters with a mysterious edge that also have a playful sense of humour.
Boo tends to work in Photoshop and PaintTool SAI (to perfect your own setup, check out our guides to digital art software and the best drawing tablets). Here she shows us four examples of her character illustrations and what she aimed to achieve with them.
The ringmaster
“I wanted to have fun with bold lines and big energy,” Boo says of this piece. “The circus theme gave me an excuse to draw two of my favourite things: bold characters and big cats in the spotlight.”
Wandering Shepherd
“This dreamy sandman figure guiding his flock was my take on the ‘Wandering Shepherd’ prompt for the Character Design Challenge. I loved blending softness and surrealism, and playing with a gentle atmosphere.”
Common Ceasg
“This piece from my zine on the folklore of British mermaids means a lot to me. I was drawn to the ceasg, a mythical salmon-mermaid from Scotland, and leaned into her quiet, eerie beauty.”
Amdis and Myska
“A fun, sketchy dive into two vampire characters that I keep coming back to. It’s less about polish, more about catching their vibe, fashion and personality. Plus a bit of bite!”
You can see more of Boo's work on her website.
For more inspiration, see our feature on what is concept art? and our character design tips.
This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
