Character Design Lesson 1 - Basics

   

    Today, we started learning the basics of character design. Firstly, before creating the characters we want, we have to ask ourselves some questions. These questions will determine a little more about the appearance of the character, and how their clothing will fit with them. These questions are as follows: 

                                 Who, What, When Where, Why and How? 

  Once we know their back story and personalities, we have to start thinking about the archetype that they fit. All of the types below are the main narrative characters used in stories. 

Hero's are what the audience mainly focus on, they can be flawed or coming to terms with something. Hero types are often more humanoid, this make them more relatable to the viewer.

The sidekick, very often they are used for bringing the humor to a overbearing situation. Most sidekicks are varied in shape, and can be animal or humanoid.

Villain's are well known for their menencing goals, and like sidekicks can vary in appearance. They will always be the opposite of the hero. not only in personality but in goals. Villains will have sharper appearances then hero's or sidekicks.

Mentors are not a main focus of the story, they will be in the back ground guiding the hero along their path. A stereotypical mentor is often a older character with greying hair/ beard. 

The Love Interest character, although dying out in a lot of genre, these are normally the characters the main protagonist will set out to save. Love interest archetypes are not often interesting, and again are more of a sidekick.

Tricksters can be both heroic and villainous. Mostly self absorbed, they will set out on a journey with themselves in mind, and may become redeemed in some way. 

After learning about the the importance of knowing our characters archetypes, we were introduced to the main styles of character drawing.

Iconic - Simple basic geometry, very limited expression and anatomy. This style is not easy for animating, more for advertising.

                            E.G - Powerpuff girls, Hello Kitty and early Mickey Mouse.

Basic - Stylized (normally 1950' - 60's cartoons), has limited anatomy and a more varied range of expression.  Their characters are often silhouetted, smooth and uncluttered. 

                             E.G - Dexter's Lab, Kim Possible, Ren and Stimpy.

Broad - More exaggerated, has better anatomy and expression bases. There is often a higher amount of detail, having more joints for smoother actions. 

                                   E.G - Garfield, Tom and Jerry, Simpsons.

Comic Relief - A lot more attention to detail, very stylized and a lot of anatomy.

Lead Characters - Coming up to a massive amount of anatomy, and can be more animal-like while containing more realism. This is normally the highest level of design used in animation, more than this makes the character too complex.

Realistic - Illustrational, complex, normally used for computer games/ production art rather than animating. 

  Following these examples, we was each given an animated characters and asked to change the stylisation of it. If it was realistic, we was to think about how to make it more simplistic or iconic. I received Homer Simpson as my character. I felt the Homer was in about the broad spectrum, so I decided to go more towards lead/ realism. We also had to think about keeping the character true to its original persona (so its recognisable), and understand its proportions. 

Homer Simpson

Lead/ Realism

 When I first drew him, I missed his character a bit with the eyes and smile. They was much too knowing and focused, so with some guidance I changed them to give him more of his iconic vacantness.



The lesson then moved onto the importance of shape. Shape can portray what part a character has to play in a story.

Circles - Often used for softer, friendlier types. Circles can represent safety, youth and feminine aspects.

Squares - Strong, powerful, stable, normally used for musculare characters or boss monsters.

Triangles - Can be menacing and mysterious, normally giving a sense of danger. Triangles are used for villains, but not all villains are out to harm. Some just bring ill-intent to what is most important to the main character.

ArcheTypes - Have one shape but their personalities being opposite.
                                                          E.g -  Lotso from Toy Story 3.


  With this new knowledge, the next task was involving taking a character we like (you can use the one previous if wanted) and changing them slightly to a new shape. However, we had to keep to the previous style chosen. Homer is more circular, giving him his appearance to fit his bumbling nature. I decided to go for more triangulare, but also a little bit of square. We was allowed to change some aspect, like brows for examples. This new styles gives homer a more menacing and focused appeal.

Homer Re-shaped (Squares/Triangles)

Now we had fun creating the new style of our given characters, it was our chance to make a line up of characters using these shapes. We was to think bout their personalities and experiment more with style. I got given the category Ninjas.

Ninjas 1

Ninjas 2

I seem to use the same shape over and over again, this may be a little subconscious. But, I'm hoping with enough practise, this is something that will change. It's also important to think about clothing, weapons/ items and any injuries that may add to the character.