This week, we were tasked with taking 3 characters from media properties we enjoy and figuring out the shapes that make up the forms of those characters.
The 3 characters that I chose as examples of form and shape were Sonic the Hedgehog, Professor Layton and Winnie the Pooh.
For Sonic, his silhouette is made up of prominent circles that create his head, body and hands.
An emphasis on circles is representative of soft and cute character designs that are appealing to people of all ages. Circles are also very basic and universal shapes to use when laying out the proportions of a character, allowing for a sleek and easy to understand silhouette.
The key feature of Sonic’s design, however, is the triangle shapes that are used for his spines, ears and shoes.
Triangles are representative of attitude and action, which are words that aptly describe the speedy blue hedgehog. These triangles are also used for the most iconic and essential parts of Sonic’s silhouette (his spines are as iconic a shape as Mickey Mouse’s ears, and his shoes exemplify his super speed), which emphasises those features even more.
For Layton, he is clearly made up of rectangles and straight lines.
Squares and rectangles are representative of stability and maturity, as characters designed primarily of these shapes are considered to be strong rocks within a group dynamic. As an academic professor with a considerate and gentleman-ly demeanour, the Professor fits this definition very well.
Despite what was stated previously though, the prominent rectangles within the Professor’s silhouette (Hat, Head, Coat, etc.) have rounded off edges, which makes his overall appearance softer and more kindly looking that it would be otherwise.
For Winnie the Pooh, his design most prominently consists of circles and round forms.
This is used to emphasise his soft and gentle personality, and conveys the notion of him being a cuddly teddy bear. His shirt divides the shape of his body, adding a subtle triangular shape that allows the shirt to stand out even more as an iconic part of Pooh Bear’s design.
This very simple design lends itself to memorability within people’s minds, and is a part of the reason to how iconic of a character he is to many people across the world. The simplicity of his design also likely helped in the animation process of the, now, multiple Winnie the Pooh movies and TV shows that exist today.