Felix came about back in 2006 strictly as a visual design. No background or personality; he was simply a ridiculously long-limbed man in striped tights. To the right is the very first drawing ever of this visual character. During this early era, Felix was very tall, very skinny, and very bendy. He had no definite character yet, so I played around with him as an aesthetic, made a few more envelope designs and briefly attempted that 100 art themes challenge thing.
It wasn't
until the summer that I started to add more depth to Felix. He became known as Felix Stripes, a surname he picked for himself (more recently I also add the middle name "Alabaster"). He quickly became a character of quirks. He loved color obsessively, but he would never wear any. Felix would wear strictly black and white, always with a top hat, and always keeping his eyes concealed. To the left is an early but classic Felix depiction, showing both his love for colors, and his surrealist nature (Fun fact!: I made it while at Ikasucon '06 in Cincinnati, my first and so far only convention. It was also the first ever Felix cosplay!!). So at this point, I had an idea of what Felix was like, but I still didn't know what to do with him or where to put him. He didn't belong in my massive high fantasy universe, but putting him into any one of my smaller stories just didn't seem like it would do him justice.
However! It did not take long before I finally pulled him out of concept limbo. Together with my dear friend Ari Sweet we formed the Color Bandits, which consisted of my Felix, and her old character Jax, the marionette. The basic idea as you can guess from their name was that these two monochromatic fiends stole colors for their own enjoyment. We wanted to play them up as the absurd anti-heroes. We never really developed a plot, but we drew lots of goofy drawings of them. As of right now, the Color Bandits project, which we intended to become a graphic novel or few, hasn't gone much further. Hopefully we will fix that soon. At the very least, I have some webcomics planned that features the Felix and Jax.
Ah, let's see, what
next... Well, Fall '06 I began college, which made most creative endeavors come to a stop or a slow drag. I still continued pouring more love into Felix though. He became more and more a concept than just a single character. He became a multipurpose character, in fact! He wasn't just Felix Stripes the Color Bandit. There was also Felix my muse, Felix Alabaster Stripes the D&D bard/charismatic hero, Mr. Stripes the eerie pied piper, and most recently Felix Stripes the Only, as seen in E. Silva's DCC-inspired stories.Felix became my symbol of creativity, the self-realized individual, the undying inner child. For once, I had a character in whom I poured meaning and expression. I suppose one could say I fell in love with him, haha. Felix embraces the world in ways I try to but can never grasp for long. He brings refreshing perspectives of even the most mundane subjects, and through him I want to inspire others to do the same. Never be bored! The world is overflowing with creativity just waiting to be hugged!
Another noteworthy character to note in the context of Felix is Deddrie Demeter, the maniacal, violent gentleman of one Rebekah Groper. Check her out on deviantART and at the official Deddrie website! So to end this rambling blog entry, I'll leave you with "The Great Bubble Mishap!" (This is also serving as filler because I have fallen behind on comic writing, so I have also fallen behind on creating comics. I hope my few readers aren't too devestated).
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