This week, we were taking a look at character design and how to come up with multiple concepts to work toward the final product. We were taught in blackboard lectures the essentials of building a good character and everything we had to think about to describe and explain how our character looks and works.
For me, character design has always been a huge challenge and ive never been able to create designs i feel happy or comfortable with. It took me a good four days to even think of types of characters i could make for this task, giving me quite a small window of time to finish it all.
My first character i came up with was a Ladybug mount. Since it was a mount, I decided to give it the behaviour of a horse as I later decided it was also going to be the steed of a warrior, so since horses are able to be ridden into battle, it’d fit well with the ladybug.
Whilst drawing and designing this character, like the rest, i did quite a lot of research. I wanted to first find out if there was a difference between the two genders, male and female, which there was, but i wouldn’t have been able to implement it in my design as they were microscopic differences. The only difference i could add was the paler and lighter colours on the male. I used a site called Sciencing.com for this information – https://sciencing.com/difference-between-male-female-ladybugs-5978072.html
I also had to look up references of what a real ladybug looks like, subjecting myself to some images that made me highly uncomfortable like the underside of the ladybug. These images helped me with the overall form, colours and simple anatomy of a ladybug so i could better understand and express my character.
For the posing, I also had to look up photos of a rearing horse so i could get as accurate a pose as possible. I tried using real horses, but they didn’t feel dramatic enough, so i used this stock image.
My next character was the rider of the Ladybug. He’s got quite a lot of ties to Japanese and Chinese culture, as his weapons are based off historical weapons from these cultures. I also wanted to give him light armour with leaves as a blanket between him and the metal, keeping him warm, comfortable and to keep the armour from chafing his skin. This unintentionally gave him the light armoured look of Japanese warriors, tying back to the Japanese culture.
Since he had such a big part of Japanese culture in him, I decided to give him a Japanese name, pronounced Yuo-koh.
His head has a Toadstool mushroom growing from it, able to regrow if broken or damaged. Since Toadstools are usually flat, i decided to give it a bit more character and make it more of a triangular shape.
An interesting fact about him is that he is one of the few who are left handed.
WIP of Yuko’s expression sheet
My last character i designed was more so a companion character for the scientist. For this reason i wanted to give it a cat-like personality, making him curious, playful and always excited yet easily frightened or startled.
For his design I wanted to use a Crocus flower, as they look really pretty and i thought they looked quite playful too. They also have long stems, perfect for being able to fit a long body with two leaves for loose arms.
I named him Wiggler as because he’s so happy and loves to wiggle, which came from a random doodle idea but i thought really fit his character. His method of movement is bouncing as he has no actual legs, but he can use his arms (leaves) and petals to communicate his emotions.
Crocus flower bulbs
I also wanted to further touch on Yuko’s weapons and explain how they’re used and which is which. I haven’t given them names yet but the left weapon is based off of a Glaive and a Guandao, two very similar weapons. For the blade on top of the pole, i used a praying mantis as inspiration for the shape and type of blades, with the left side being a razor sharp blade used for slashing, and the right edge serrated blades with a serrated hook on the end. The overall colour of the weapon was also inspired by praying mantis colours.
As for the weapon on the right, it’s inspired from a Japanese Tanto knife, a knife which looks and acts like a mini katana in battle, as well as a grass-leaf (blade of grass) to fit the worlds theme. I decided to go with glass for the blade as it seemed to fit the world more, as they could find old bits of glass in the grass and refine it to forge new weapons from. The cloth would also be easily accessible too.
