Kay Flores Layout Final

1. My story takes place in an alternate reality present day Paris where humans and ghouls coexist together, with ghouls being the more dominant species of the two. Most ghouls are friendly, but some of them are tricksters who like to mess with humans. My story is about a young girl who gets cursed by a ghoul on her way home from school. Now left mute, the girl, with help from a sentient magical recorder, goes on a journey to defeat the Ghoul King and regain her voice. Throughout the story, the girl acts as a catalyst to help herself and others realize the importance of accepting others despite their differences and teamwork.The design of the world itself takes inspiration from the works of the animation troupe Gekidan Inu Curry, gothic and French architecture and the circus and Japanese lolita aesthetics.

2. The main character of this story, Celie, is a young girl in primary school who is well versed in music. Her beautiful singing voice was the only thing she had going for her, as she was too shy to try and make friends, and her classmates didn’t really want to hang around someone they thought as stupid either. This made the loss of her voice even more devastating for her. Her clothes take inspiration from lolita fashion, and her scarf is meant to signify her quietness. I also gave her a beret to make sure she read as French. I added some subtle mime motifs through the stripes in her clothes as well.

3. The vehicle I designed is basically a bus fused with a ghoul that glows at night. This bus is to be used by both humans and ghouls, however humans are typically weirded out by its face and tend to avoid using it. Some of the inspirations for the bus’s design were train cars, old french buses, trolleys and (subconsciously) Emil from NieR: Automata. I originally planned on designing a personal vehicle for Celie, but I decided against it since public transportation lended for more interesting designs and a better taste of the world. 

4. The building I chose to design for my story was the Ghoul King’s Palace, as it would be the most interesting to design. This is the place where Celie would face off against the Ghoul King, who hates humans for their inferiority. The building itself is a cathedral that was repurposed by the ghouls to be a palace befitting of the largest and most powerful of its kind. Other elements of its design include circus and carnival motifs.