(Rokudai) - Saffron Expressions (HinoKit)

Tumblr upload is here.

Concept sketches I commissioned from hino-kit(hinokit.tumblr.com/) to depict Saffron for the redesign of 'What I Learned at SRU' into an original series, currently titled 'What We Learned at Rokudai.' (Uploaded with artist's permission) She is inspired by Meng from Avatar: The Last Airbender; with a dash of The Walking Dead's Clementine on the side.

Saffron Fong is an Afro-Chinese high school senior and Juniper's cousin. She is the only family member that gets along with Jun after their grandmother passes away -- partially due to the two of them both being black sheep and outcasts in the family. She is a very energetic and kind person, often thinking of others around her -- but she also needs her time alone, away from everyone, to unwind, and that's where her manga/anime binging comes in. She's the kind of person who likes to spend her weekend eating ramen on her bed while marathoning anime on her laptop. She gets jealous and envious easily, but she is good at hiding it. She escapes those kinds of negative feelings through her fantasy stories she's constantly indulging in. She has a bit of a complex with her cousin. Jun is "disabled" and rebellious and unlady-like, and Saffron is likewise very undignified, and also there's an unspoken sense of her being 'impure' because she is mixed race and her father divorced from the family (the Fong family is very uptight and traditionalist/purist). Saffron has envy toward Jun in part because of their appearances -- Jun being fairer skinned, curvier, with much more tamer hair; Saffron being shrimpy, with tangled hair and braces. But there is also some jealousy because Jun has both parents in her life, and comes from a much richer, fancy background than Saffron does: living with just her mother and not having a lot of money. While she is big into geek/otaku/comics/manga culture, she is usually very tame about discussing it in public -- but if prompted, she can go on and on. She ends up being a periphery friend of the main group through her relationship with Jun (which has its rough patches) and goes on to attend the same school, herself.


All pieces Hino has done for this series:
Katrina Kesuk - and expressions
Jun Tu Fong - and expressions
Jane Fitzpatrick - and expressions
Siku Kesuk - and expressions
Coral Kesuk - and expressions
Maya Chiao - and expressions
Saffron Fong - and expressions
Aaron Leekpai - and expressions

An introduction to this project can be found here.
The project's full art gallery can be viewed here. The story (in its current, 'fanfiction' first draft) starts on DeviantAart here, and can be read on FF.net here. All art and fiction updates for the project can be followed on its Facebook page.