character week 5

For this week we had to understand the curvature and weight of stances that convey different emotions.

I found the lesson interesting because the smallest change in direction of line could be enough to change the emotion entirely. I will have to think about this as I create my final images.

Character week 4

The task given to me was think of all the stuff you would find in a gym and create a design for a hero, sidekick and villain

This is a stepper, which woman nomally use so I create a heroine with it. I tried to draw it in a female stance.

The heavy dumbbell and the bench made an okay villain for the Gym.

Character Design

Theres been a small demand for designs of the centipede and here they are:

I really like this design because it looks so fierce and powerful, it is also a mutation look of the original centipede. I wanted to colour and then saturate the image to show what it would look like in the final black and white effected animation.

This design is more eye pleasing for me because of that powerful neck and extreme pincers. This has been designed closer to the actual centipede.

The result of being reinspired

Recently I have been talking to Phil and Justin about the path I was going down for this character design project and have got some much needed feedback from the two. My main problems were that I was enjoying the character development and everything I tried lead to a dead end. I have been told to look at the animals of the western/ desert locations; so instantly I looked at Texas.

Texas is the home to some beautiful but deadly animals, ranging from Black Widows to Rattlesnakes, from Bulls to Scorpions. I've been advised to look at animals and species to be inspired for my alien race. My initial ideas are to look at venomous and dangerous creatures for the villain but also Justin has pointed out that birds are generally use in character design to show intelligence. Adding these two would mean looking at Vultures could be interesting.

My ideas for the hero is to look at Bulls, Wolves or Bears, mainly because of their build and power, but the nature of a Bull also could be used for the Villain because of the "Bull in a China shop" fiasco. However I had an idea of look at insects because the segments and multiple arms in their structure could be the clue into finding away to create a four armed hero.

For the sidekick I still have the idea for extreme speed, so I want to work around that, even if it doesn't resemble a horse. If I need to move on from that, then so be it. For a twist of ideas I could look at a flying animal, for example, bats are very common in Texas and they could be an interesting animals to work with. If I wanted to character to be agile then I could go with a snake form or a bobcat. Although if I wanted this character to be the hero's defence then perhaps an Armadillo could be something to intriguing.

As I don't want to create an alien that looks exactly like the animal I have on reference, I plan to unravel  the animal from inside out and find the ways it works and its characteristic to make my alien come alive.

Couple of animals I have been looking at:

Spiders - Black Widow

The Spherical body is very interesting and that red marking inspires me to create a logo for the characters to wear. A logo that shows exactly who each character is and acts like.

Lizards - Texas Horned Lizard

 

 

 Although the Horned Lizard looks tame and almost cute, the horns on this animal would work perfectly for the villain, their sharp, triangular shape is shouting out to be a bad guy.

Oxen, Bulls, Cows and Buffaloes

 

 

I have been looking at these animals because of their build and intense power. Plus the horns on their heads could be interesting for any of the characters.

Scorpions

I wanted to keep the scorpion in mind because I use it as a reminder that a character doesn't need hands or fingers to get a job done. Those pincers could be interesting for a weapon...?



New Designs


Villain 1

This drawing came from inspiration of the Alligator Snapping turtle, I found it a perfect starting point for my villain. The animal can grow very old, it is strong, dangerous looking, slow and covered in sharp spike, plus this thing looks like its from another planet as it is! Its just perfect. I also kept the multiple legs in for this design just to see how the two combined together. I'm very happy with the outcome and it has already allowed me to free up my mind and pencil to create a freer character.

Villain 2

 

For this design I took Justin's advice on the birds of intelligence and vultures. What I instantly liked about the vulture was the snake like neck and the way the shoulder points up, it looks like dominance and wisdom. I also like the amount of feathers on the body of a vulture but I didn't want a feathered character so I gave him a cloak that can be made of feathers. I'm impressed with my character design, my favourite part is the legs, I like the alien quality it gives the character. However what I don't like is the position and the length of the neck. The face could do with some worked but so far I think it is okay; the moustache may be turned into drooping skin/tentacles just for an added twist.

Hero Design

 

For my hero design I needed to find a way to have multiple arms and have it work inside out. The insects are perfect for inspiration, so I looked at the Sand Wasp and the Fire Ant. I really like my design and I think the arm are finally working. I thought I would add some wings on the character as well for a twist in design, however I don't like this idea because otherwise he steed is almost pointless, unless the sidekick character becomes something else entirely.

All in all these couple of days have been a lot calmer and enjoyable. I'm finally designing with a new found freedom and inspiration.

Character development

So far I've had a little trouble getting out of my comfort zone and all my designs seem to look the same. I know that I want the hero to not look as alien as the sidekick and the villian because otherwise its hard for anyone to look up to that and relate to it.

However the drawings that I have come up with for the hero are the following:

I like the idea of four arms and the reason for it seems to be understood by everyone; I want this guy to be an awesome four gunned hero because it would look so cool! However with this character when it come to development, I want to move on from western cowboy and move closer to the alien side because the alien part is what wil make this interesting.





And the Sidekick...

Most of these sidekick sketches are more like horse studies. What I wanted to do was understand the anatomy of the horse and possibly understand wht would happen to the structure if there was another head added. I still have no idea how it would be different, so I need to look deeper into the anatomy. So far I still don't know what this thing should look like but I know that I want to peel away from the horse and create some very alien.



The Villain

The villain is a lot more interesting to work with because he can look as ugly and as alien as I want. He the bad guy so no one should like him. This character will be old so he has knowledge and he will have more than two legs because the more legs a character has, the creepier and more untrusted they are.




A Talk with the wise and all powerful Phil

So today I had a talk with Phil and he tried to help unlock the trap I was in and unpick my brain to help me out with this project. I mentioned to him the problem of having the same drawing over and over again, so he told me to go back to the research. He mentioned that if he was to do this project with my genres, he would look at the western animals; specifically texas and that region. We took a look at the huge number of venomous animals that live in the texas deserts and we found loads of interesting animals. Especially a lizard that we both thought "Wow that couldn't look anymore alien if it tried". So to unlock my mind further I'm going to go back to the research and look at what Texas and other deserts had to offer.

Insantly I felt better about the way I was going to go with this and now hopefully I have that creative spark I was looking for and hopefully I won't put myself in the same trap.

On the way home I was thinking of having the villain as some reptilian with cactus spikes on it. How much more villianous can you get!!

Phil also mentioned that the horse would become a problem because at the moment itsjust a horse and that's what I'm having a problem with. He suggested that maybe I could go down a more insect root. Now I like this idea because insects already look alien as they are, plus I want atleast the muscle structure and skeleton of a horse in the creature so the blistering speed can still be achieved.

Character Bios

Sheriff Elliot J Hampleton


Age – 30 years old

Nationality – Pridian

Height – 6ft 5inches

Skills – Excellent Marksman

Looks Description – Elliot wears a white cowboy hat, an orange shirt with jean trousers. His families Star Badge with an engraving of “sheriff” on it is pinned to his right shoulder. He holds a Winchester 73/ Pridian style rifle and four large three barrel pistols; one pistol per hand. The Sheriff is handsome, has a strong jaw, large biceps, long brown locks, thin nose and small waist.



Small Description – Elliot J Hampleton is the last member of a long family bloodline of Sheriffs. Every Sheriff before him is famous for their countless battles against the evil Chief Kalugoo. Chief Kalugoo defeated and killed Sheriff Elliot’s Father, leaving him to be the only one that can protect the inhabitants of PRIDE.











Sidekick Bio

Fundder and Lightnin’

Age – 5 years old

Nationality – Pridian

Species – Stalorse

Height – 8ft

Skills – Blistering speed

Look Description – Resembles an earth “horse” but with two heads and with white skin. Both heads are at the front of the body, they are long snouted, strong structured and have a beautiful blue and reddish mane.

Description – Fundder and Lightnin’ is Sheriff Elliot’s Stalorse and was given to him as a present from his father when Elliot became deputy. This was shortly after Elliot’s Grandfather died. A Stalorse however isn’t the smartest of Pridian animals; it’s extremely dumb and is slow at making decision until often or not, making the wrong one. Fundder and Lightnin’ happens to be a very scared Stalorse, the simplest of noises makes them bolt (often into a wall), and they are most frightened of the dark. They have become very loyal and have never let the Sheriff down.











Chief Kalugoo

Age – 1348 years old

Nationality – Pridian

Height – 5ft 1 inch

Skills – Planning the destruction for the planet PRIDE

Look Description – A thin structure with 10 legs sprouting from under the waist. Extremely wrinkled and weathered body, full of scars and dents. His skin is dark yellow and green with brown moles that are doted everywhere. He is covered in spirit emblems for chanting and a large feathered crown on his head, (the feathers are black with purple and red streaks running down the centre and edges. They come from the extinct flying creature, the Èlbâtrix). The many years has caused this character to hunch and shrink in time.



Description – Chief Kalugoo is the cause of every death of Sheriff Elliot’s ancestors. His age has given him the chance to see a lot of change on planet PRIDE but it has caused him to go completely insane with knowledge and power. He is a very difficult opponent for the sheriff. He has his own army of henchman that range from the terrible Guūstil and the disgusting TrŐstelĻ.

Character Lesson 2 - Pocahontas found Carbs and Winnie the Pooh found Steriods

This lesson was really enjoyable, we learned about different shapes in character to improve their status in the animations. Triangles are used to show the evil characters because as we grow up we realise that sharp edges are harmful, and a triangle has three very sharp edges. Squares are used for the hero characters because a square is strong, stable and solid. A circle is used for the funny and trust worthy characters, because a circle is smooth and soft and we know they will never hurt us because it has no sharp edges.

What we also did was mixing two of the shape to create new characteristic, for example adding the triangle shape with a square would show a strong but harmful character. We had a task that involved taking an original character, observing the shapes and then changing that shape to create the same character but with a new characteristic.

The first image I recieved was Pocahontas:

I realised that the shape she creates is a strong square so I changed it for triangles and then for circles.

 The large Pocahontas turned out to be quite popular with the rest of the class. The image of Pocahontas is still there even with the mass change. Using circles to round the previous square stature created a funny image.

My next character that I had to change was Winnie The Pooh:

I chose to come up with a simplistic and a heroic version of this cuddly character. Justin mentioned that it is hardest to create a simplistic character because you have to get rid of most of the design but still know its the character you started with.

Here are my attempts:

Simplistic -

Heroic -

I like the simplistic one because it was a challenge to see if I could cut enough away from the actual character. I think I've done well with the character and I think we can still see that its Winnie the Pooh. the heroic character was a lot of fun! It ended out being very funny to see the outcome and I think that's either to do with the fact its such a dramatic change or because the face is still rounded.