Once my initial idea of Moom portraying Cupid had taken root, it seemed to gain more and more potential. The character came with ready made prop ideas in the form of a bow and arrow. Furthermore, the arrow could act as a physical representation of the 'love' that the lyrics describe as being lost. For Cupid to lose love would be a fairly important and therefore unfortunate event, allowing for more exaggerated and frantic searching gestures.
So I ran with the idea. Moom unquestionably does not resemble any classical depiction of Cupid, meaning I would have to rely on other tactics to communicate who the character is. Having previously worked with wings in last year's Process & Production module, and knowing how complicated Maya is to work with, I knew that it would be a lot of work for me to model a pair of wings for Cupid, and I would most likely be unsatisfied with the result. Instead, I judged that my time would be better spent focusing on the bow and arrow which if modeled well would be just as effective as a pair of wings.
I drew a number of options for each prop, to see which would be the best visual indicator might be. For the bow, most paintings depict Cupid with a fairly small and decorative bow, with a shape closest to the third from the left. In terms of the arrow, those with heart shaped heads would undoubtedly contribute to the 'arrow as love' metaphor, but which shape heart to use? Long and thin? Short and compact? My favourite design is the top left, but if this proves too difficult to model, then it is my opinion that the more compact heart would be more instantly recognisable than the thinner one (top right), which may at first be mistaken for a regular arrow head.
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