We, The Infected

I mentioned in the Fan Art section that I'm about to do a workshop with Steven Stahlberg modelling one's ideal cybergirl (in 3D). First phase is concept development. I want to model Eli for a project I've been working on for a while, and I'm trying to bring together all relevant references on who exactly Eli is, particularly one's that are relevant to physical appearance (the starting point of 3d modelling). So, I'm reading the book again as my primary reference, although I will be drawing on the cinematic realizations as well. I have the Australian (Text Publishing) edition and am gathering fragments of description. I'll add stuff as I go but I might miss a few. I tend to become absorbed in the story.

p3 He (removalist) recalled that it was a father and daughter, a pretty girl....He was the one who had moved them in. The man and his daughter.


p39 It was a child. There was enough light for him to determine that it was a girl he had never seen before...Oskar was so clsoe now that he could see she had dark hair, a small face, big eyes...Her white hands were resting on the railing....(calmly looking at him wielding knife, voice deeper than expected, about his own age)
p40 There was something strange about her. Shoulder-length black hair. Round face, small nose. Like one of those paper dolls in the Family Journal. Very pretty. No jacket etc....She was almost as tall as he was but much thinner. The pink sweater fit tight across her chest, which was still completely flat without a hint of breasts. Her eyes were black, enormous in her pale little face...Her fingers were long and slender as twigs.
p42 She looked so...fragile in her pink top....for a moment she looked much much older than she was. Like an old woman about to cry. (displays strength opening heavy door)
p62 (Oskar) couldn't understand why she wasn't freezing....Maybe she was older than him, even though she was so puny. Her thin white throat jutted out of her poloneck top, merged with a sharp jaw. Like a mannequin....her hair was caked together and fell around her face in matted tufts and clumps. as if she had put glue or... mud in it.

The small nipples looked almost black against her pale white skin. Her upper body was slender, straight, and without much in the way of contours. Only the ribs stood out clearly in the sharp overhead light. Her thin arms and legs appeared unnaturally long the way they grew out of her body: a young sapling covered with human skin. Between the legs she had ... nothing. No slit, no penis. Just a smooth surface.

Pictures of eLina would work, for me anyway.

Excellent as Lina was in the role, especially opposite Kare, I think there was something a little more mysterious, almost animalistic, about the book version of eli. A little more wild perhaps. I want to convey someone a little fey in my character.


The poloneck sweater, pulled high onto her neck, further accentuated her soft features and she looked like...a cartoon character. Her skin, its quality - he could only compare it to a wooden butter knife that had been polished with the finest sandpaper until the wood was like silk.
Her pupils were two marble-sized holes in her head. She's so sad, so very very sad. No, I never get any presents, ever.
That was why he didn't see her eyes change, how they narrowed and took on another expression. He didn't see how her upper lip drew back and revealed a pair of small dirty white fangs.

The references to cartoon character, round face, small nose big eyes is very manga/anime. I think I'll be trying to find the line between manga and real. How much can I get away with?

There's also a description of Lacke's view of Eli, after Eli has attacked Virginia.

My translation:
Lacke stood there looking into the most beautiful child face, framed by a veil of black hair. A pair of enormous eyes met Lacke's.
The child raised on all four like a feline animal, prepared to charge. The face changed when the child pulled up it's lips and Lacke could see the rows of sharp teeth glow in the darkness.
A couple of panting breaths passed. The child remained on all four, and Lacke now was able to see that its fingers were claws, visible in sharp relief against the snow.

I'm sure in some scenes Lina's eyes have been enlarged. The deleted scene with her and Kare lying on the floor of her apartment show a much more normal face, compared with the bleeding scene, even the hunger on the jungle gym scene. The big eyes are a feature of attractive characters.

Maud, the hospital receptionist, also witnesses Eli.

BTW, This is an instance where Eli clearly manipulates another person, mainly through acting, but the sudden urge to give Maud feels seems supernatural.

crazychristina wrote:I'm sure in some scenes Lina's eyes have been enlarged.

Yes, this has been confirmed by TA.

crazychristina wrote:... The big eyes are a feature of attractive characters.

Yes, and also of very small children, and this feature evokes an impression of vulnerability and makes us care and protect. If Eli has means to change his appearance, to enlarge his eyes would come handy.

If Eli was in fact a very beautiful child before being 'chosen' then quite possibly he already had those features (big eyes) without having to produce it as a manipulative transformation.

crazychristina wrote:If Eli was in fact a very beautiful child before being 'chosen' then quite possibly he already had those features (big eyes) without having to produce it as a manipulative transformation.

Yes, certainly.

Another feature would be a perfectly symmetrical face. However, that is easy enough to achieve using computer modelling. I guess the opposite would be harder.