Have you ever felt comfort not just from a character’s essence, personality, or development, but from their design itself?
I’m not talking about the obvious part where you simply find a character cute or attractive.
It’s something much more pure and simple.
Neurodivergent people sometimes feel strangely at peace when looking at a certain color or shape.
For me, it’s circles... god, I love round things. Circles. Softness... comfort.
Do you know who’s round? Hehe.
Jack is basically built around circles everywhere. Even though he’s skinny, his design is full of them. Thin body structure, but a huge round head, giant feet (with boots), oversized hands that are also round, little round fingers, round eyes, round details on his boots, a round backpack, and to make it even better, goggles on his head that are literally two huge circles with spiral patterns.
At first I thought I preferred his more humanoid form because, as I’ve mentioned before, I used to focus on semi realism. Cartoon styles were incredibly difficult for me to draw even though I always loved cartoons.
But eventually I realized that what actually calms me is seeing original Jack exactly because of that. That shape that feels completely impossible in real life, yet I’ve always loved it.
Tiny details I noticed on TV as a kid, like characters wearing round shoes that were probably bigger than their actual feet. And honestly, that’s probably why I later became obsessed with military boots and things like that lol.
But shape isn’t everything!
Some people might not know the context behind little Ken or why I draw my sona holding a tiny red plushie as a baby.
Yeah, I love red, black, and yellow. (Yes, art professors, black isn’t technically a color, but I’m using it as one in this context).
I was around two years old when I first watched Xiaolin Showdown. Basically still a baby.
Even then, Jack caught my attention. Not in the same way he does now obviously.
But baby Ken was fascinated by those colors, especially that bright red hair. REALLY bright.
Until relatively recently, I barely used colors at all. My art for most of my life was only black, gray, white, and red. Red was the only COLOR that actually made me feel something.
It’s funny because when I was little nobody understood my conditions yet. Only a few months ago I finally had neurological testing done and they discovered my neuronal mutation (I talked about it in another post before).
Basically, my brain should be running on 100% fuel, but my whole life I’ve been functioning on 30%. My brain barely produces serotonin, but things like my hyperfixations, cough Jack cough, put me into something close to happiness.
I say “close” because, like I said, my brain isn’t functioning at 100%, so maybe I’ve never fully experienced it. But seeing Jack, his entire existence, makes me feel so peaceful... happy, calm.
Even now, I still think it’s incredible how the human brain can feel such deep comfort just from seeing an image, a character.
Please, I need more pictures of Jack in my life. His round cheeks, that pointy nose, those huge hands and feet.
