Cynthia
The Cynthia of the
original “The Secret of NIMH” was the adorable baby-girl
child, still a bit chubby but lovable in the way she badgered the
more “adult” characters. Of all the children she was the
most “adorably annoying” one.
I had plans to use an adult version of Cynthia as one of the principle characters of my story. As such I needed to come up with a design that would make her likable.
Sadly, “The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to The Rescue” sported a grown-up version of Cynthia that was definitely not along the lines of what I needed. This particular Cynthia was largely obese, taking her childhood chubbiness to new extremes, and was wearing a set of suspender pants that only added to the feel of a “dunce”.
On the other hand, Ken
Sinshow had developed an adult version of Cynthia that was much more
flattering. His version, having inherited her mother’s red
cape, was remarkably adorable as well as aesthetically pleasing. It
was the inspiration to my own designs for her character.
Again, the “function” I had in mind for Cynthia largely defined the way I approached her design.
In my story Cynthia would first play the “other half” of the two introductory characters. I needed her to retain a child-like cheerfulness and impish delight that would serve as the antithesis to her counterpart.
To achieve this I gave her a similar body shape that Ken Sinshow did in order for her to appear “energetic” and “active”. I altered her eyes a bit towards a triangular shape to make her feel tad more “tomboyish” rather than “gracefully” female.
I decided to retain the original Cynthia’s color scheme and gave her clothing of a light blue coloration. Since she was supposed to be very active and outgoing I equipped her with a simple but thick poncho.
The final touch was a shoulder-strung bag, which showed that Cynthia was not only “fun” but that behind all her cheeriness there still was a “serious” core.
Cynthia Design by Marcus