The Freakshow Family

For this project I could do whatever I wanted as long as it led to the conclusion of having a fleshed out idea that could be suggested to a company as a new TV series, film or game, so I decided to go with an idea I came up with a while ago of a TV show that would revolve around a group of "freaks" in a sideshow of a circus who were one big happy family. I really like the idea of a group of people who are all equally treated badly coming together to care for each other when no one else will, so that's where this idea came from!

 I also wanted to incorporate a moral in to this story, so I focused on the fact that the "freaks" look monstrous on the outside but are loving, caring beings on the inside, while the ringmaster (who would be considered more "human-looking") would be a monster on the inside.

As always I started off with researching intensely in to the subject of sideshows and circuses so I could understand exactly how they worked back when they were still popular.

Once I'd looked at enough examples I began to sketch out rough body shapes based on different members of different circuses. This way I could look at all my options and pick out the ones I thought were the most interesting!

After looking at body shapes I began sketching out different "freaks" to see if any of them really stood out to me.

While experimenting I ended up with 3 characters that really stuck out; The 2 headed woman, the unicorn boy and the bearded lady. I took these quick designs and began fleshing them out further from here, starting with very rough sketches.

I decided that the unicorn boy would make for a good main character, considering he would be the young, new addition to the sideshow and the audience would be able to explore the new, mysterious world behind the circus' curtain with him. I started off with simple research in to young male characters and clothes that boys would wear in the 1800s (the time period I wanted to base this story in because of the popularity of freakshows in that period).

With a rough design already in mind, I started sketching really quick drawings of the unicorn boy so I could pin down his design better as well as his personality.

Now that I was starting to get to know his character better, I moved on to developing his design so he would have a more concrete appearance.

With his design now worked out I went in to more detail with his construction, such as his body shape, how it would fit together and also what style I would use for his face (and the other characters after him too).

Now I knew how he would look I needed to work out what colours I would use. I knew I wanted the colours to be a little washed out (like the photos from the 1800s) but also vibrant enough so he would look like part of a performance act, so I began to experiment with multiple palettes.

This is the final design that I went with in the end!

I then experimented with poses with this final design, to see if I could actually work with it properly or not now that it was finalised. I love how he turned out in the end!

Now that I had the main character down I moved on to the 2 headed woman, starting with further research.

Considering I already had the unicorn boy designed at this point I knew the style I wanted to use for the rest of the cast, making development for the 2 headed woman much easier.

Lastly, I did an action sheet for her, just like the unicorn boy's.

The next character I wanted to expand on was the bearded lady, so again I started with research.

As I already had a rough design for her the development consisted mostly of just finalising her appearance and making sure she would fit in with the other characters style-wise. I knew I wanted her to be the wise, quiet character who always watched over everyone. Sort of like a mother figure to everyone in the sideshow.

Finally, I moved on to the design of the 'villain'; the ringmaster. I wanted to make him monstrous, without looking too inhuman. I started by looking at examples of villains that I really loved for being so terrifying (Disney villains really were helpful here!).

I knew I definitely wanted him to be very angular, sharp and threatening, so I designed him with those aspects in mind. I definitely stuck to a very bird-like appearance with him! Just look at that nose.

With all the characters now designed and finalised, I put them all together in a lineup to see how well they worked together, and personally I loved the result!

Of course the characters also had to have a world to live in, so I also designed some props and worked on a few backgrounds to try and get a feel of their surroundings and what kind of world they would live in. It had to be murky and dark for sure, just like the subject of sideshows themselves.

As a sort of 'taster' for what the series would be like I did a few storyboards to show how the interactions between the characters would play out. I came up with a scene that would introduce all the characters to the viewer one by one without being too overwhelming. 

This would have been the unicorn boy's first day at the circus.

Lastly I did a promo poster sort of thing, which would be used to advertise the show itself. I wanted it to feature all the main characters, so I went with a layout that was a lot like vintage sideshow posters from the 1800s.