Teresa Kiene's MICA Senior Illustration Thesis
Electronic dance magical girls • They save the life of the party!
For my senior thesis I wanted to create a fashion doll line of magical girl/superhero type characters inspired by EDM music. I thought the magical girl trope would translate well into a fashion dolls. As their double life makes for multiple outfit changes! I also felt like it was a good opportunity to develop my character design skills, while also allowing me to grow my graphic design sensibility, explore packaging design, get some experience with product design and finally teach myself 3D modeling.
Character Design
Bianca - Trap
Bianca is confident, positive, and cunning. Her powers are Vibrokinesis, meaning she can send out earth shaking vibrations using her mind. Artists that influenced her are Alison Wonderland and Troyboy. I leaned towards design 4, and added the baseball jersey because of its popularity in rave culture. The shoes and belt are influenced by hype beast fashion items like Off White belts and chunky sneakers.
Vee - Glitch Hop
Vee is the brains of the group. She is sassy and a little quiet. She keeps the group in check but is also not afraid of letting loose once in a while. Her powers are hypnosis. The goggles light up in patterns that induce a hypnotic state. Since the genre is darker and more experimental I wanted her design to be more witch like. The goggles are inspired by the glitch hop DJ Rezz.
Ximena - Dubstep
Ximena may have a tough exterior but she has a soft spot for pretty girls. She is from Mexico and her powers are super strength. Dubstep is the muscle of the group, so I wanted to make her lower half heavy like the music. Artist's music that inspired her are Zomboy and Skrillex.
Ajka - Drum & Bass
Ajka (ayekah) is quick witted and lively. Her high energy can be too much for the others to keep up with. Her power is super speed. D&B is a popular music genre in Japan so I wanted to keep the cute J-fashion inspiration. I wanted her outfit to represent her bubbly personality. Although the final design is quite different from my sketches, I went with this design because I wanted to keep her stylish and (at least) a little less ridiculous.
Jo-Jo Bass House
JoJo is the youngest of the group, a little bit edgy, and the best shuffler of the bunch. (He may also have a crush on Bianca :0) He is Korean, is GiGi's younger brother and his powers counter hers. His power is gravity, meaning he can increase the weight of any object he touches. Although it is magical GIRLS, I wanted to include at least one boy. His look is inspired by Korean shufflers and tactical ninja street fashion. Bucket hats are a staple in the house genre, especially with artists like Moksi.
GiGi - Acid House
You would think that being the eldest of the group would make her mature, but GiGi prioritizes fun and does not take anything too seriously. She is Korean and her powers counter her younger brother JoJo's with anti-gravity. Meaning she can make any object weightless. I went with look 3 because I enjoyed the silhouette the most and I wanted to push it even more by exaggerating the boots and sleeves. Her look is a nod to artists like Fisher and Chris Lake.
Color Variations
Out of Costume
Packaging Design
All fashion dolls come in packaging!
The Doll Herself!
I chose to do GiGi for the final doll because she is one of my favorites of the group and she has the design I felt I could create by myself.
3D Model
3D Print, Sand, Prime, Paint, and Sew!
Final GiGi Doll!
Big thank you to: Deanna Staffo, Ryan Hahn, The Valdez Family™, Aylin Sofia, Star Araco and Amanda Russo.
And shout out to everyone who had thesis class with me your critiques were all so helpful!
Thank You For Viewing!