30/11/2015 - Character Design Process Update

Week 13

Character design Process refinement 

Update:

1 - Research Characters

2 -Moodboard every aspect I can think of

3 - Sketch from Moodboards

4 - Initial Sketches of characters

5 - Character refinements

6 - Colour studies

7 - Pose sheets

8 - Final character sheet

This is a quick update of my project so far. The start of next semester will begin with initial sketches of my characters and things will begin to pick up pace.

23/11/2015 - Presentation 2 Feedback

Week 12

Presentation 2 Feedback

Today I presented my pecha kucha style presentation to the class and the lecturers, following are my notes from my feedback.

Regarding my planned post about the character design/development of Bugs Bunny, I should look into how the time period of each of his iterations of designs have had influence on how he was designed. This can be clearly evident if you imagine the style of early animations like Felix the cat and Daffy Duck. There is a clear visual style of character back then.

The other feedback I received is to do more with my sketchbook work, it has been recommended to me to work in colour and tone into my initial ideas, This was given in relation to my moodboard studies, so I will take this on board with my initial sketches of ideas in semester 2. My normal approach would have been to do my initial sketches but now I will incorporate colour and tone into them to bring them off the paper more. I think I will also play about with doing some in Photoshop to see if my results are any better.

A suggestion from one of the lecturers was to perhaps try out a more parallel work flow instead of my more sequential work flow. By sequential work flow, I mean I work doing all the research and only after all that, I get onto the idea generation. Its a process I have been taught throughout college before I came to University. By parallel, the lecturer means that I could begin drawing some character ideas and after I have done a few I could then go back and do some research to help inform my ideas up to that point. In terms of how that will effect my project work flow, I will continue to do the research I have planned for the end of this semester but I wont be too restrained at the beginning of semester 2, even if there is still some research I feel I could do.

That's all my feedback for this presentation, it has given me a lot to think about and a lot to add to my project. 

23/11/2015 - Final Moodboard Studies

Week 12

Final Moodboard Studies

Below are all my sketchbook pages for this project so far, they are all studies based on my moodboards.

"Hunger"

The following two moodboard studies for "Hunger".

While drawing from my moodboards, it became apparent just how much muscle is visible with skinny people, and "Hunger", is even thinner so my imagination will be key in how I visualize this character. The bones also pop out more at the knees, elbows and hips the most. 

The ribs are also the most prominent part in all the drawings. They dominate the visuals of the body.

Icarus:

Below are four moodboard studies for Icarus.

Above are some sketches of wings from a wide variety of birds. In the version of "The Fall of Icarus" I have been working from, There is no mention other than, bird, as to what type of feathers were used. I have the option to go with the sensible option of birds who can be found in modern day Crete, or, I have the choice to choose from any bird around the world. So I decided to collect images of bird from around the world to draw inspiration for my wing designs for Icarus. 

These are sketches of built wing designs used on more modern, and some not so modern, flying devices. I will have to combine the free flowing aspect o a birds wing with the structure and technique used to allow humans to fly. Many depictions of Icarus have him with literally the wings of a bird...but even though the tale is myth, there is also an element of crafting involved when his dad builds the the wings. 

This was from my moodboard depicting wings that have been used in various other aspects of digital painting/film. This was an important moodboard for me because this was me looking and observing the way that professionals have created wings from the shapes and feathers to the functionality to them. 

This is the last of my moodboard studies for Icarus. This is based on my moodboard for Greek attire. This is important for my character...because I don't want him to be naked. I will most likely end up using a basic form of clothing for him since Icarus himself is not described as particularly well off, therefore would probably not have fancy clothes.

Kitty Grau:

There are 2 moodboard studies below for Kitty Grau.

This one above is for the outfit of Kitty Grau. I thought about the time that Kitty Grau is set in and I aimed my moodboard towards a medieval farming environment.

Above are sketches of witches from one of my moodbaords. The reason I have done this is because I wanted to draw influence from witches because Kitty Grau is described as being a woman who scares the devil himself and she is particularly unpleasant to look at. I thought witches would be the best source of inspiration for her appearance. 

The Minotaur:

Below are 3 moodboard studies for The Minotaur.

These are sketches from my bull moodboard. I found it extremely useful drawing the bulls, it helped me to better understand the way that the horns come out from under the skin and also the different types of horns there actually are.

These are my sketches from my moodboard exploring cartoon bulls. This was really useful to do because these are other, stylized, ways of depicting a bull. There are also some really nice examples of exaggerated horns which is something that I never really would have thought of without the moodboard and these sketches. 

This last one for The Minotaur is based on my moodboard for depictions of The Minotaur done by professionals. This has helped me to see what has already been done and take inspiration from them but also allow me to try and create something more original by not repeating what has already been done.

The Arch Rogue:

Below are is my moodboard studie for The Arch Rogue. 

This is based on my moodboard of hooded men. The Arch Rogue isn't described with a hood but he is vaguely described in the story. I will explore the side of him wearing a hood as I feel it best fits his description.

That is all my moodboard studies. My next intention is to begin actually sketching some ideas for how the character may look in semester 2.

16/11/2015 - Update

Week 11

Update

It is one week until my presentation for this module, all my time recently has been compiling my slides and planning out what I am going to say. I have done all my sketches based on my moodboards and I will  post them up at the weekend with my thoughts on them.

07/11/2015 - New Moodboard

Week 09

 New Moodboard:

Inspiration:

Inspiration Moodboard

 I do not own these images or hold the copyright for them, they have been purely put together in this moodboard for educational purposes

This moodboard has been created because I have realised that while I have a good number of moodboards already which I feel cover almost every basis I can think of, I haven't actually created a moodboard for inspiration in general. So that's what this moodboard is all about. These are some character pieces that I have come across online that I find striking and interesting. Some of them have really nice silhouettes and some have poses that compliments their appearance. All this has given me some really good characters to take my inspiration from when designing my own characters. Another thing I need to remember when designing my own characters is that I need to find my own style of sketching. There are some really striking shapes that jump out from this moodboard as well that help to add personality to the characters.

02/11/2015 - Character design Process

Week 09

  Character design Process:

1 - Research Characters

2 -Moodboard every aspect I can think of

3 - Sketch from Moodboards

4 - Initial Sketches of characters

5 - Character refinements

6 - Colour studies

7 - Pose sheets

8 - Final character sheet

This is my revised character design process, the highlighted (green) stages are the ones I have completed so far, I am currently in the course of doing the 3rd stage. I have been on this stage for a few weeks now with slow progress but I believe I started with a lot of work and such slow progress in recent weeks is almost to be expected. By next week I will have all my sketches based of my moodboards and then I will be ready to begin stage 4, Initial sketches of characters.

02/11/2015 - Critique Exercise

Week 09

Critique Excercise

Bruce Nauman: Swastika/Prayer Wheel, 1986

Critique:

The piece of work I am going to critique for this module is called, “Swastika/Prayer Wheel” created in 1986 by Bruce Nauman. There is actually very little information about this piece of work, it seems that Bruce Nauman is more celebrated for his neon and sculpture works. So it’s quite difficult for me to establish the context that this piece was made in and where Bruce was in his life in 1986. The use of skin colour has the result of there not being any real dark areas within this piece. The line work is sketchy but still conveys the shapes and size of the arms with outlines, they are still representational of human proportions, thus, having a naturalistic form. This work was created using water colour and pencils on paper. The piece is representative of Hindu believes, although, the fact the arms are giving the middle finger suggests a care free nature to this and could symbolize Bruce saying, “It doesn’t matter what religion someone is.” This could be further backed up with the concept of using a Hindu version of the swastika which is the opposite of the Nazi swastika, and they were against every religion except their own. That makes this piece even more powerful.

There is a repetition of arms going in the same direction, this creates a nice balance to the piece and makes for a nice composition. The work has been built up using a skin colour for the arms but he has left the center white to convey light which is interesting, that means instead of using white to add light he has literally planned it out so he leave the lightest areas blank add a great contrast to the overall value. There is a good unity to this piece, the four arms emerge from the middle of the canvas and all uniformly bend in the same direction to split up the canvas into even, empty spaces. The main theme here is the attitude towards those who don’t accept another’s religious beliefs. This is done through the middle finger extending from this Hindu swastika. There is a rhythm with the scale as well, all the arms are close in scale and proportions, like a pattern of arms that could be repeated for eternity. Not only do the arms follow the same path, they also have a repeated interval between each other which further adds to the repeating pattern.

This piece makes me feel calm and frustrated at the same time because of the fact that the message I have taken from it shouldn’t be a problem at all and yet it is. The quality of this piece is a mature one, there is an adult theme and it is represented in an honest and truthful way.

I would say that this piece is a success, the theme is the strongest part of this, the most striking part is the four arms in a swastika while doing the middle finger, this alone made me want to question the meaning behind it. This piece is a statement against those who are racist. Its saying that it doesn’t matter what someone’s religion is. Good criteria for other people to judge this work is on the theme, the balance of the piece, pattern and lastly harmony, particularly of the four arms moving in unison around the same pivot point. This piece is post-modern in the sense that someone else could see this piece and come away with a totally different interpretation.