What would it be, if the faces that we own could be sold, bought and exchanged? What would it be, if there was a possibility to own a different identity?
What would you do, if you had a chance to become someone else?
Who would you be?
What would you do, if you had a chance to become someone else?
Who would you be?
And, who are you?
The face seller is a personal project I have been working on since 2017. Its aimed final product would be a graphic novel. The story is set in the around 17th century Vietnam, it revolves around a mysterious man who was known for selling faces. In the age where the most trustful proof of one's identity was nothing but the face they carried, every customer came to him with a purpose, to be reborn, to find an escape. They pay a price for what they wish for and he granted them it. Yet did he himself have a purpose? A wish to be fulfilled?
Yên, along side the face seller himself, is a leading character. She encountered the face seller three times. The first by fire. The second by water. And the last by chance.
I chose Yên to practice and dig deeper into character designing and facial expressions and body gestures.
For this project, I did quite an amount of research on the era where the story is supposed to be taking place. In particular, I had to take references for Vietnamese traditional garments, antique architectures and read about the historical setting to be able to replicate the closest to the required atmosphere.
This is the first part of the Prologue of the story. There, the readers shall be introduced to the face seller for the first time through a woman, who had suffered for years in a miserable arranged marriage, wanting to escape her chains and start a new life with her lover.
The project is still on-going and shall continue to be updated in the near future. So stay tuned and
