1. What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?
Lucy was originally an adopt I got too attached to and ended up keeping! He was part of a set based on the Three Dreamers from Hollow Knight, with Lucy being based on Lurien the Watcher. Funnily enough he was the one in the set who I could not immediately settle on a design for, so I started thinking more about what sort of role I could see him playing in a story. And that was my fatal error because I could not let go of this lighthouse keeper idea I had in my head.
As a bonus, here's his original design:
3. What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?
I guess I kinda answered this already in the previous question LMAO but yeah, being a design that was intended to be an adopt, it was his appearance and brief concept that I'd settled on first. But everything else kinda fell into place pretty quickly, his name obviously comes from his original inspiration + Lucius (name meaning 'Light') and I changed the 'c' to and 's' to be a little different, and his personality just kinda. Made sense. I've always wanted a character who spoke very curt / brief, because I tend to naturally gravitate towards writing characters who are total chatterboxes. Which is a little funny as i don't tend to be overly chatty irl
6. What was the thought process behind their appearance? Did you go mostly for the aesthetic or are there other reasons they look the way they do?
Since I always had his concept in mind from the beginning, I basically channeled the classic grizzled fisherman / lighthouse keeper / sailor / General Nautically-Inclined Man for his clothing with the many layers of warm clothes and the big coat for his personal style. The star motifs came about because in Hollow Knight, Lurien is found at the top of the spire within the City of Tears which also has a telescope in his room, so I wanted Lucy to also be interested in stargazing and constellations. His hair was an aesthetic choice because I like the salt and pepper look, but it fits in with Vernrot's general aesthetics and how the eldritch influence affects the residents.
The main thing I changed between Lucy's adoptable design and his current one is the design of his sweater. I wanted something more visually interesting, so I went with an Icelandic Lopapeysa. Which looks so warm and I want one so bad