Introducing: Lichenfolk!

Lichenfolk is an ongoing project I’ve started, with the goal of using my character & environment designs in a number of ways—-namely for a new demo reel to show animation & film studios!

World building is a bit of a passion of mine; I’ve been writing & creating worlds, characters, and lore since my teens, and some of those stories or characters are still with me to this day. World building also came up quite often during my tenure at BVG; theme planning, I find, is very similar to world building!

This project is inspired by some of my favourite animated series, books & films, like: The Borrowers, Arietty, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, the magic of Roald Dahl, Adventure Time, Hilda, and Kipo & the Age of Wonderbeasts.

Lichenfolk inhabit the same planet we humans do, however they’re largely an unseen species. Humans aren’t aware of their existence, but Lichenfolk are aware of humans and often use their lost, forgotten, and otherwise left-behind objects as part of everyday life.

Lichenfolk are an advanced species of lichen, or moss, that use pebbles and stones to shape their body. They live in tight-knit communities known as hollows, inside trees or stumps, or inside walls or under homes, or in abandoned shells, or mushrooms. Known as “hutches,” these types of buildings are where family units gather. Smaller hutches are suited to single Lichenfolk, or used for specific purposes.

Lichenfolk feed on sunlight & small seeds. A lichen community tends to gather a surplus of food to feed themselves, their livestock, and to propagate the native plants around their hollow.