Week 5 (Character Design)

For week 5, we had to create characters for our ‘design a world’ project.  This week was a lot of fun! 

Sarah Dargie and Aodhan McNicholl did the lecture for this week, talking us through the process of designing characters.  One of the things suggested was to start off by sketching some interesting silhouettes and then creating the characters based on these shapes.  This allows us to quickly experiment with some simple and interesting shapes before committing to building up the character. 

This week I was moved out of the Hybrid Animal World, and into the Constellations World.  As this was my first time moving, I was very nervous and confused about the general design and plot of the world.  After asking (far too many) questions, I was able to gain a better understanding of how the world works – and I really like it! 

There are characters who represent different constellations, each one has different powers depending on which constellation they represent.  From what I understand, the main character is called Orion and they band together with some of the other constellations to defeat the villain who intends to take their powers from them in order to make himself more powerful. 

I created a Pinterest board for this new world to help me get some more ideas, as well as looking at work people had done before in the group chat.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SamanthaSavage_/constellations-world/

I was excited to start creating characters for this new world.  One of the creature designs by someone who was in the group previously inspired me and I wanted to create a similar character that could be incorporated into some of the background scenes to add more disposition to the landscape. 

This was what inspired me, by Wren:

 

 

I really love the idea of a big creature that blends in with the environment and so I began coming up with different ideas for my own. 

I created a Pinterest board of character designs so that I could get some inspiration from characters other people had created.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/SamanthaSavage_/character-designs/

 

 

 

 

I started off by doing some silhouettes to get an idea of the shape I wanted.  I knew that I wanted the character to be a snail and I planned to connect it to the cancer constellation as the shape reminded me of its antennae. 

I then went into more detail on these silhouette designs and made some rough sketches.  After this page I decided I really liked the idea of having leaf shapes instead of the simple spheres for his antennae.  I think this brings out more personality and character.  Next, I did more silhouettes to try and find the best way to incorporate the environment into his design.  My favourite one was the very last one I did, the tree.  I thought this would look really good if he lived in one of the more tree-sheltered areas of the world. 

I created a mood board with the references I used for this.

 

 

I then decided to do some rough concept art for this character so that I could get a better idea of the colours I wanted to include. 

 

Before starting, I looked up concept art from movies to help me create my own for this new snail character

 

 

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3o2gvg

 

I think doing rough concept art is a good way to get an idea of factors such as colour and heights across as well as seeing how well it fits in with the world.  It will make the character feel more alive, and it allows me to see if my ideas for this character will fit together without looking too far-fetched.

 

 

 

I’m very pleased with the way this turned out.  I feel the composition of this piece draws your eyes to the larger snails head and then to where he is looking, at the smaller snail, then the tree and finally at the small figure in the right corner.

As I am very new to digital art, especially photoshop, I watched some videos of other people doing speedpaints to allow me to quickly see their thought process and get a better idea of the menus and layer options.

One video I found helpful was of different blending techniques.  After watching this, I downloaded the brushes used by this person as I thought they would help me to get better detail in my work – which they did!

 

 

Here is another video that I found helpful.  It explains how to use clipping masks in photoshop, which made making the concept art for the snail much easier.  This is a technique that I can see myself using a lot in the future.

 

 

I next had to come up with a back story and personality for this character as then he would feel very shallow.

 

 

I’ve decided to name him Copernicus as that is a main-sequence star in the constellation of cancer.  All characters in this world who possess powers of the constellations are named after a star in that constellation. 

Similar to Wren, who included a rock held by the tail of her creature, I needed some way for Copernicus to defend himself from anything that might attack him.  This was possibly the most difficult part; however, I came to the idea that he could use his antennae to act as whips.  I got this idea from remembering how quickly snails can retract their feelers into their body, and thought Copernicus could do the opposite and instead have them become longer to attack his predators.   

He is going to have a scar that runs from his back, near his shell, to the base of his feelers in the shape of the cancer constellation.   

Copernicus is going to be like a timelord in the sense that he regenerates, but slightly differently and not as flashy as Doctor Who.  He is born from a seed buried deep in the ground and has to make his way up to the surface.  He has only a sapling sticking out from a crack in his shell which grows as he grows and becomes older.  Eventually, when he has reached an age of around 100, his tree will begin to wither and die is he declines in health.  Once he is near death, he digs himself underground (which will take him a long time considering his size) and eventually the cycle will begin again. 

I included a human scale in the sketch to show just how large this character is going to be.  Designing this character was very difficult considering I am scared of snails.  

 

 

 

For my second character I experimented with some simple shapes.  I had originally imagined creating a penguin character and so I created a mood board with references.

 

 

 

 

After a while of trying out different ideas, I wasn’t happy with any of them.  None of them seemed to spark any kind of excitement and I thought they all looked too simple and boring.   

I decided to start over and create something entirely different.  I began thinking back to my previous character, Copernicus, and what about the way he was designed made me like him. 

I think beginning with the silhouettes is what really helped me and so I started to do this same technique again.  I decided this time that I wanted to make a more intimidating creature, a shark – more specifically a hammerhead shark.  I came to this idea after having looked at the different constellations to get some inspiration.  The Scorpio constellation in my mind has the same general shape of a hammerhead shark. 

Here are some images I gathered to help me design this character.

 

 

 

 

 

I tested some different head shapes which I think completely changed the personality of the shark.  I decided on more sharp features to make the character scarier and more threatening.  I also thought of putting a city on his back and having him a similar size to Copernicus, however I eventually decided on having a more realistic size to make him different.  Another idea I had was to have him swim through the air instead of in the sea, however, I think this would look very out of place in the world so this thought was very quickly dismissed. 

 

 

I then decided to focus in more on how this character would tie in with the constellation.  I thought it would be a good idea to, similar to Copernicus, have the shark have a scar of the constellation marked on its body.  I thought the underside would be the best place to show this because it is easier to see (the skin being lighter) and the thought of looking up when in the water and seeing that scar shining down would be something to both fear and admire. 

His name is Jabbah as this is the name of a multiple main-sequence star in the Scorpius constellation.  It also sounds like quite a harsh name which ties in well with the fact that he looks like something to be feared. 

 

 

 

I wanted to create one more character, but this time it would be one more fit for a larger role in the world.  When designing this character, I thought more about qualities that make a character likeable.  Disney is brilliant at making iconic characters that are often unusual and so I wanted to look at some of their characters to get some inspiration. 

 

 

I was able to get loads of great references from a website called characterdesignreferences.com.  There was a section for the art of Brother Bear which had concept art and building up character designs.  This is a website I have now bookmarked as I think it will be very helpful again in the future.

https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-8/art-of-brother-bear?rq=brother%20bear

 

After looking at some Brother Bear character designs, I was inspired to make a bear character.  I used the older bear as reference when designing my own.  In order to make mine unique I needed to look at other references as well and combine some different ideas.  To do this I began by creating silhouettes to experiment with different shapes and possible add-ons (such as armour) to bring the character to life. 

 

 

I began with a simple bear silhouette and then started to add in more interesting details to the shape.  I thought that having armour to protect the bear from attackers, and possibly having a saddle would be a good idea.  The bear could belong to the main character, Orion, allowing him to travel across the world faster. 

However, I wanted to continue expanding on ideas before settling on one. 

 

 

I looked into a more cartoonish style; however, I think this looks too much like the elder bear in Brother Bear and so I quickly went back to looking into different ideas.

 

 

I am very happy with this character!  I think it looks quite unique with the droopy shaped eyebrows and more teddy-ish body.  I connected this character to the Capricornus constellation – therefore naming him Nashira after one of the stars. 

I did a front and side study of a bear skull to give me a better idea of how their heads should look and of the proportions.   

 

 

Sticking with this character, I tried some more poses.  On Nashira’s left side there is a scar which is in the shape of the constellation he possesses the power of.  As I was creating this character, I was trying to design him to match the personality I had in mind for him.  He will be an older bear, therefore being wiser and having lots of experience.  The eyebrow shape, I feel, shows this and makes him look more tired out.  He will walk slower and his steps will need to have visible effort as he is very large, tired and heavy.  I made his stance more hunched to further show this. 

I have since decided that he won’t have a limp, but his movements will be more exaggerated in the sense that it takes more effort for him to move around than other characters in the world. 

Aside from the Brother Bear references, I created a mood board with all of the other images I used to help me when creating Nashira, as well as adding references to the Pinterest board I made to help with character design.