Rationale

For this project I chose to create Shinigami character from the world of Death Note. Shinigami are creatures from Japanese folklore that collect souls (much like The Grim Reaper) and persuade people to commit suicide. My character, Taffy, is no different. Although in the Death Note world it is considered "nerdy" to be so keen on writing names down in the note books to kill humans, Taffy does take great pleasure in this.
I wanted to communicate to the audience that Taffy is an intimidating being, but in a way of feeling scared of him and not as if he will shout and attack you. I decided to show his mysterious side with his blank expression on his face. The dull eyes that contain no pupil show that you don't know where he is looking -another thing to wonder about while you are near him.
I chose Taffy to have a blank expression to symbolise the what happens to human's after death. In the Death Note series the Shinigami Ryuk tells Light that nothing happens after death. There is neither Heaven, nor Hell. I thought the blank expression communicated this perfectly.
Taffy's exaggerated hump and spine is caused by him consistently leaning over his note book, eagerly writing down humans names. It is also from him crouching over his Ancient Shinigami literature reads, while taking a break.
His skin tone is similar to a humans but is saturated and more pinky (with vivid veins sticking out). This gives a lifeless or dead look to the creature. Once again this links to his strong obsession with death and his job.
Over all I am happy with my design process and outcome. I feel I really took into account his personality and showed it through my design. I ran into a few problems along the way but I fixed them and improved my character along the way.