Evaluation

For this project, I set out to write a dissertation on designing characters to explore the use of shapes and colours to see if it made character design better. To test the theory I would put it to the test on my own characters. I believe I have done what I set out to do and have informed my practical through my research. I am very happy with the result, especially on the bat. I feel this project has made me a better character designer and I am looking forward to doing more. 
If i were to do this project again I think I would do more non related character designs before I started to design the final one as this was good with the few i did as it helped me learn and practice, i wish I had time to do more of these. 
Overall though I am very pleased with this project and I believe it will be a great portfolio piece and hopefully will be the base of a successful animation.

Academic poster

Presentation of final work

Here is how i wish to present my practical work. This shows the workings through and the final products. I will also submit the final boards themselves i think. I think this booklet is a professional, elegant, concise way of presenting my work that looks good and could even be printed out and still work http://issuu.com/elysejackson/docs/practical_booklet-please_look_at_we?e=16839447/33061000

Quetzalcoatl style sheet

This is the style sheet for Quetzalcoatl that explains his design including the use of shape. I think this looks good and ties in well with the bat one and is informative enough that the animator will be able to draw this in whatever form it needs.

Quetzalcoatl

These are the various facial expressions of Quetzalcoatl. I believe these work well. The eyes were difficult as the sides of the face are not face on the they are slanted back slightly. Cartooning the ultimate character design book by Chris Hart  p 35 was very helpful in drawing facial expressions.

Quetzalcoatl

I then refined Quetzalcoatls action pose which would be when he gets angry and it looks much better than the original design i did with bigger and better wings and a better facial expression. I even moved his tail as i believe this would be a secondary action that shows his emotion much like the bats ears. As Quetzalcoatl is quite a calm and still character that doesn't appear much, this is the only action pose i did as i don't believe others were necessary as he won't use them.

Quetzalcoatl

Next I did the turnaround. I don't expect Quetzalcoatl to move very much as he is more like a deity or idol which tend to be more still that people just go and visit. For this reason I just did a basic turnaround. I like the side view best as it shows his more regal pose with the big wings and head feathers.

Quetzalcoatl

I decided that Quetzalcoatl looked too nice and not important enough to say he is a god. To combat this i decided to make the wings stand up and out a bit to create a more regal feel. I also changed the facial expression so look less cute as this makes him seem more like a friend and not someone that important.

Bat style sheet

I created a style sheet as this is what designers do to put their character across and try and give the animator the best idea they can about the character they have designed. This needs to include, facial expressions, turn arounds, action poses, and possibly a bit about how to draw the character. So here is mine which include all of these things including a few comments about why things are the way they are.

Bat design

Putting the bat into poses was quite difficult but having the turnaround for reference was helpful. Although it was difficult, it is a necessary part of character design as it shows what your character is like in his personality rather than just stood still.

I used 3d shapes the start off these images as it helped to get the positioning right and angles. I learnt this from the book How to draw comics the marvel way which helped me a lot and really improved my drawing abilities. As you can see from the first image, I didn't start this way. This caused my design to look flat and lifeless. A little angling can work wonders! I learnt this from creating characters with personality by Tom Bancroft p.71.where he describes tilts, and curves and rhythm

I think overall the poses work well and this has made me really look forward to animating this bat. I think i could still learn a lot about movement in my drawings but i think it just takes practice which i intend to.

Bat design

I created a sheet with different facial expressions on. This helps me get to know the character and the way his face moves and allows me to figure out how he shows his emotions. I figured out that it would be interesting for the bat to show its emotions like a cat- in his ears. I think this works really well. Then of course most of the rest is in the eyes.

Bat design

It was decided that there should be no texture as it looked more professional but also would make it not so complicated to animate in the future. After deciding this and getting the design down to how i wanted it, I made a turnaround. p57 in creating character with personality by Tom Bancroft was helpful when it came to the side view. it started off really flat but then i remembered how making things stick out farther can create more appeal.

This consists of the front and back view, each profile view, and the respective 3/4 views. This helps to figure out the size and shape of the character in 3d form so when it comes to posing the character later we know its form.

Tutorial #6

Practical needs to be finished including style sheets.
Written - make sure quotations are right, illustrations are all cited correctly. Rephrase a lot of it. Tidy up layout. Needs proofreading. Then binding.
Hopefully I will get this done by Friday.

Plan B

Unfortunately the man i asked to use his story about the bat didn't respond so i have had to resort to plan B. This is to find a folk tale such as "how the leopard got his spots" and then animate that for children.
Now the first already animated version i see is this. It is very old fashioned, long winded and a little racist with poor almost animation.

This is more the tone of voice and pace i am looking at

As discussed in my tutorial, doing a story from a difference place in the world would make me have to do a lot of research which would inform my designs more. Like Tinga tales which is very african based.

I really like this i love how the culture is all in there and i would like to do that too. However i don't think i would like mine to be quite as long as that. There are lots and lots of tinga tinga tales and i don't want to copy them but i do really like how they are done. 

These all come from the Just so stories by Rudyard Kipling.

I found this website that has all of the stories on 

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2781/2781-h/2781-h.htm#link2H_4_0002

Tutorial #3

Mike suggested i read Good girls and wicked witches and Handsome heroes and vile villains (update: again these weren't particularly helpful)

Think about writing a whole chapter on archetypes, think about anthropomorphism, look at blogs in your face princess.

plan b for practical could be looking at myths and folktales from different cultures. What media will i be doing this in?

Tutorial #2

In this tutorial we spoke of cultural understanding and how it could be important to my designs. 
I need to research into character archetypes and break my work down into the chapters i want to write. Mike said everything seems okay so far.
In the practical element he said i need to identify what world my characters live in. Also think of a plan B incase i can't get hold of the man who told the story.
Start researching bats and audience.
Read 99 ways to tell a story by matt madden  and skilful huntsman. (update: this book was okay but not very helpful at all)
Look at other folk tales and how they are told.

COP3

-Chapter about practice can be first person

-Write up tutorials on blog

-Academic poster, bits of practice research and essay

-Bring new proposal form on 14th october

-Write 500 words on something you've learnt about

-28th october- have a solid idea of what your doing

-Write 1 chapter in rough by the end of the month

-Send 3 days before tutorial for feedback

-Presentation on practical 12th november

-Half done by mid november

-9th december- full draft uploaded to turnit in

-10th december- progress crit

-11th december poster exhibition+practical work

-6th January- tutorial feedback on whole thing

-7th Jan- present to peers and tidy it up

-14th Jan 1pm- Hand in

Practice characters

I have just read Creating characters with personality by Tom Bancroft. It was a brilliant book because it gave you tasks to do which help you to learn through doing. It was such a good idea. Here are the characters i designed using this book. I decided to do the cowboy and the cowgirl. They are not perfect and I would love to go and revise them both at some point in the future. They are definitely better than when I started this project though.

Drawings from research

While reading How to draw the marvel way by John Buscema and Stan Lee I learned soooooo much! This was one of the best books I read for helping me learn to draw better.
My faces became more realistic as I learned the proper proportions and the triangle technique which is how you place features on the face. I thought that was so clever and it really did make my drawings better!
This is really good reference for figuring out face angles which is something that I struggle with so I saved it as a note and also practiced to see if i could even copy images like this and still have them look right.
 I also learnt about action poses and how to use shapes to build them up. I am still learning about this but I think I am better than I was.

I used all the techniques I had just learnt in this book to create a picture of Catwoman. I used the shapes to build up her body and then the triangles to do the face. I was so impressed with myself! These tips really do help!!

Learning character design

Wile i have been reading The ultimate character design book by Chris Hart, I have also been drawing as it helps me to learn what he is talking about in the book. Here are a few things I drew. I tried to put down on paper what I had learnt about the difference in ages mostly. But also the technique of going from paper to digital.


Firstly theres the grandma. Her eyes are small, her torso is rounded, her hair is short and permed. This was inspired by both my own and my boyfriends grandmas and I combined the two.
 

This is a toddler so she has big eyes, big head in relation to the body and short limbs with long hair. This was inspired by my 3 year old niece.

This character is a stroppy teenage girl. The eyes here are still large but getting better proportioned, her head is still a little large for her body, her hair makes a statement and is long. This was inspired by people I see around leeds and what i remember from people at school.






I also made visual notes to refer back to at some things I struggle on.