Liora turnaround with callouts and textures. Illustrated with Procreate, assembled on Canva. February 2026.
Liora is a galactic alien singer & DJ from a planet of moisture and bioluminescence. She is humanoid other than her mermaid-like tentacles that replace what would be legs. They only aid her movement around the slippery environement of her planet. Her floating headset and mixer are essential for her performances, and her cute appearance makes her a very likeable and admired icon.
Design Process
Liora
Phase 2 of silhouettes inspired by the same mood board above. Shape language is attempted to be pushed further here, breaking away from the similarly humanoid figures in the previous phase. I imagined more “what-if” situations, such as “what if a mermaid were tech-based and land bound?” or “what if curvy shapes were combined with rigid ones?”.
This is when Liora’s design was created. Her design was then chosen to be put through the full character development process based on interest in shapes and different directions she could be taken.
Tertiary and secondary designs. Procreate. Spring 2026.
Bubbly Tech Silhouettes and mood board. Procreate, inspiration images sourced from Pinterest. January 2026.
Character silhouettes inspired by a mood board evoking mechanical, futuristic, and tech-oriented vibes. Characters were kept mainly feminine, each having protruding electronic devices. I wanted it to be implied that each figure could be quick-moving and able to float or fly. To ensure this I focused on slimmer, lightweight shapes with blocky, sharp angles, as well as devices aiding fast movement (sharp legs, wings, rocets, etc.).
Liora’s silhouette being put through secondary and tertiary designs. As her interior design was being developed, I aimed to explore both organic and geometric shapes that meshed will with her exterior. Additionally, different color palettes were explore inspired by the secondary images. This was also to explore different temperatures and color combinations, choosing the one that matched her shapes ideally.
Phase 2 Silhouettes. Procreate. Spring 2026.
Style Exploration
Liora style exploration with expressions & poses. Procreate. Spring 2026.
To push her design even further, I recreated Liora’s design based off of 6 pieces of media that display significant styles. This pushed me out of my comfort zone as an artist, encouraging me to try out different proportions, ways to depict facial features, and rendering techniques. Ultimately, this allowed me to see how my character’s key features would look pushed outside of my own style, better showing what areas are strong or weak factors in her design.