Sunday, October 11, 2009

003 - Morpheus

Since I recently finished a nicer portrait of Morpheus, I've decided to go ahead and make a kind of bio for him here. As I finish portraits for my other characters, I'll probably do the same for them.



Morpheus' design backstory:
According to my old sketchbook notes, Morpheus was officially the second character I designed for Infinite Serenade. Back then, he was merely known as the Dream Master, and in the very first sketches, his hair was spikier and he sported a special symbol on his chest. More sketches came and went, then I ended up with this more final design. This is how Morpheus looked back in the summer of 2006.

Initially, Morpheus was an entity opposite of Sear, who was simply called the Wish Master back then. Compared to how little Sear has changed in design and personality since 2006, Morpheus developed somewhat differently than my initial intentions. When I first designed him, he was intended to be completely alone in the dream realm, with Sear and several other characters as visitors. That was dropped once I gave Morpheus siblings and a father.



Over the next couple years, Morpheus gained more of a personality and can be considered one of the more selfless characters. My style changed a bit as well, which can be reflected in my later attempts at making reference images.

This particular image was one of the only references I used while working on an unfinished acrylic painting of Morpheus I was to submit for an art exhibit. The painting still remains unfinished since January of 2008. I simply do not have enough free time and acrylics take me a while to work with.



The most recent reference image that I use would be this one. Even though it possibly makes Morpheus appear slightly younger than he's supposed to look, it covers all the major features. This was done in 2008, but it holds up well enough to my current style.

The raven creature was always designed to be a living creature to act as a guardian to protect Morpheus. It may appear to be a circular mess of limbs, but it can alter its appearance and stretch out if need be. This guardian raven creature was a gift by Morpheus' younger half brother, Icelus, and as such, Morpheus treats it with great respect and enjoys the company. They get along splendidly.


After getting the colors straightened out in my mind, I colored the above reference image. It isn't a perfect coloring job, but it does the trick.

Now for some statistics.

Name: Morpheus Stellatene
Age: physically appears 25-27
Species: Cambion
Hair: black
Eyes: royal blue
Family: Hypnos (father), Thanatos (uncle), Phantasos Morion (older half brother), Icelus Galena (younger half brother)
Birthday: November 17th (Scorpio)
Height: 6' (183cm)
Associated Tarot: XV The Devil
Associated songs:
"under the darkness" by C.G mix
"Galaxy" by Buck-Tick
"Just Like You" by Three Days Grace (for both Morpheus and Phantasos)


Here is the portrait I recently finished, which can also be viewed on my DA page. It's one of the only images of Morpheus not smiling as well as lacking the guardian and showing his wings.

About the whole species situation, in my story, Cambions are a mix of Celestians (such as Hypnos and Thanatos) and some other race. In Morpheus' case, he is part Celestian (prominently) and Demon. Demons are another race that tends to have more prominent animal appearances and behaviors, although they generally appear human-like. Since Morpheus deals with humanoid energies, he appears human.

I was asked today if Morpheus transformed or had a "true form". The answer is that yes, he can transform if he wanted to, but he doesn't see the need to most of the time. If he does choose to transform, it would be to other human forms. If anything ccould be considered his true form, it would be of his current self with slightly longer hair while those wings are present. It's also considered taboo by Celestians for a Cambion to transform into a more Celestian form; such a transformation can become permanent and may disrupt the forces that be, just to name a couple reasons.