Toriel Dashmere, of the Void Concept art
A lot of Toriel’s character work took a lot longer to nail down. I almost thought of giving Marsha another sibling to adventure with. But decided to have her team joined by a citizen of another planet Marsha visited. The themes that Marsha’s stories deal with are centered around balance. Her brother is super serious and straight laced much of the time, whereas Toriel is supposed to be a little more mischievous and happy-go-lucky. Marsha sort of exists to be the perfect balance between the two and acts sort of like an impact character.
She was initially going to look more like a mage. Less in line with the rest of the group. Later I decided she should keep in line with the regular uniform that the others use which you’ll see at the end. But I like to think this is what she normally wears on her home planet.
In this universe people have learned how to bottle up black and white holes and harness their power. The Void being the power of a black hole and the Gleam being the power of a white hole. Each are equally destructive. And most people become a disciple of just one side. But I wanted Toriel to try mastering each.
I slowly started to finalize the wizardy look. But the design looks just a bit too busy compared to the costumes of the other people in the group.
In this cover that I created for Marsha the Martian where we see the whole gang I decided to bring Toriel’s outfit more in line with the other’s suits. But she’s a little rebellious and collects jewelry and gems which augment her powers. So I tried to reflect that here. Notice she doesn’t wear a helmet, she can extend a thin atmosphere around her face using her powers (similar to what Marsha and Andrew’s helmets already do over their mouths).
It was also at this time that I started to decide against the shaved head look. I don’t know if it’s just me, and I can’t draw it or execute it the way I’d like. But I also didn’t really want to make her too goth or tomboyish….idk.
Running with the uniform but giving her a little lighter of a cropped jacket instead of a full suit top completed the look I wanted for her. Additionally I went with a little bit cuter of a haircut which I think looks a bit better. Obviously you can see is flaunting the body glove a bunch which I thought gave her more of an edge without making her show too much skin for a space faring adventurer constantly getting into combat.
