Week 08
Visual Research 01
Shrek
This is a picture of Shrek on the right and a picture of one of his early concepts on the right. For this visual research I am going to give my own analyses of the two and why perhaps the Shrek on the left was the better decision and why Dreamworks may have adapted the one of the right to the one on the left. The intention here is to give me a greater awareness of the design thought process behind some of the most well known animated characters around.
DreamWorks/Barry Jackson for DreamWorks
My Analyses:
When it comes to first impressions, the Shrek on the right (who shall be named "Shrek 02") has a more dimwitted personality, he appears to be more relaxed and welcoming, even his pose plays a a part in his first impressions. Shrek 01 on the other hand appears more cunning and clever. His posture also hints that he has a devious plan. First impressions is something I really need to think about in my own character designs and some feedback I received from a lecturer was that I could aim for some nice final sketches of my characters in poses relating to their personality. This is where the first impressions come in, later in this project I will do some sort of visual research analyzing poses of character in different mediums.
One of the most notable differences between the two is their colour, While Shrek 01 is a brighter hue of green, Shrek 02 is a darker shade of green. Shrek 02 could perhaps be perceived as a more realistic green for an ogre but for a family animation it is perhaps too realistic which is why I think they changed his shade of green to brighter, to resemble the lighter side of the animation and make Shrek more friendly and appealing whilst (thanks to his build) remaining threatening at times. I haven't planned on doing coloured pieces for my final characters although I think I should at least take them into Photoshop and apply a basic set of colours for each character because in the animation/games process, colour would be done in the character development stage so the people further down the pipeline doing the 3D modelling have textures to go on.
Shrek 01 has a bigger frame than Shrek 02, based on the story I would say that Shrek 01's build suits the story line better as he has to be the mean ogre at the beginning. Shrek 02 really doesn't feel threatening and his design would have made the story a lot different. This moves me onto the shape of his head, the shape of Shrek 02's skull is like a cone, this could be implying that he has a small brain and that he is not a particularly smart character. On the other side of things, Shrek 01 has a more rounded, full skull which could be interpreted as a sign of intelligence. Both of their skulls appear to fit with their posture and their intended personality. This aspect of analyzing is good for my own project as I hadn't really thought about skull shape before and without this visual research I probably would not have considered it a character feature and all my characters would have ended up with generic skull shapes. Now though, I will definitely explore different skull shapes for each of my characters where possible.
One last thing left to analyse is their attire. The clothes of Shrek 02 make him appear more relaxed and at home, he looks as if he is on holiday in Spain with his sandals and cloth going around his waist. Again, he has the appearance of a care free ogre who is relaxed and happy. On the other side of things, Shrek 01 seems to have a far more formal set of clothes, I'm not saying he is in the ogre equivalent of a suit and tie, but, his attire looks more like someone who is going out for a days work cutting down trees, where as Shrek 02 looks as if he is staying at home all day. This drastic change of attire from Shrek 02 to Shrek 01 could have been implemented because the first Shrek film has lots of adventures and Shrek 01 looks more equipped to go out on this adventure. The attire of my characters is going to be an important aspect of their personality and it is something I will need get right in order to convey the personality intended on my part.
Overall, I can see the clear differences behind the two Shrek's and some aspects I need to keep in mind when designing my character's is skull shape, colours and attire.
No comments:
Post a Comment