The objective of this exercise is to take some first steps into character design and development. This is something that has always intrigued me and inspired me since well before I decided to do this degree, but I have never felt it was something I was going to be good at.
The first step in the exercise was to assemble a reference set of different characters. I saw this as a good opportunity to build up a reference set that I could use for a long time into the future, and keep on adding to. So I made a big list of different jobs and characters and then created a section in my Pinterest board for each. That way every time I think of a new stereotype I can add it to the board. Click on the link below to see how I have organised them.
Once I had the list, the next step was to pick a character to design. At work a colleague of mine has been putting together ideas for a business parable in the form of a children's book. Different dysfunctional stereotypes would be featured as characters in the book, but turned into squirrels. So I challenged myself to try and create one of these characters - The Chief Financial Squirrel.
I was a little overwhelmed with how to go about the process of character development. I bought a really useful book in character design[1] that helped me a lot. It gave me some stepping stones that I could follow:
Idea
Research
Thumbnails
Basic Shapes
Adding Detail
Expressions and Poses
Values and Colour
Final Design
Using this as a guide to my efforts I set to work in my sketchbook:
From the thumbnails I tried to refine the character, looking to keep a recognisable silhouette. I got to a reasonable place, but I was still not happy - I wanted to refine the line of action so I decided to move to the iPad so I could refine the gesture until I was happy.
From there I proceeded, as instructed by the exercise, to show the rear and side of the character. I tried to capture different poses for each, but this didn't really allow me a good opportunity to explore expressions, so I made sure to do some facial close-ups too. I copied the first pose and explored some different colour schemes before deciding on a final combination for the main illustrations.
To say that I struggled with this exercise up to this point would be a massive understatement. I was really struggling with getting a quality to the rendering that I was happy with. This seems to be, at its root, the same problem I faced in the last exercise. Once I realised this, I reminded myself that the main point of the exercises is not to get a perfect render, it is to do my best and experience (and learn from) the process and activity. The more I can do this, the better it will be.
So I moved on to the second character. I used my art prompt book[2] to give me inspiration that I could guarantee would be different. I had also been watching The Last Kingdom whilst working through this exercise, so I was also inspired by vikings.
Again, to be able to refine and build upon the gesture and pose I moved to my iPad.
I felt a lot freer creating the sketches for this second character, and I am really happy with the poses and proportions. Using the shapes in the skeleton really helped me, and I think I will take forward structuring my work in a more procedural way in the future until it's become second nature. Once I got the rendering stage I struggled again, but instead decided to move forward so it was good enough.
I didn't take either image to step 8, the final image because of my lack of faith in my rendering skills. But I think I am ok with that. I realised when writing this that the best way for me to learn the rendering techniques is to find examples of things I like, and then copy it - work out how I make those effects. I have been afraid to copy so far, it felt like cheating. But I think it will be a productive way to learn.
References
1. Creating Stylized Characters. (2018). Worcester (England): 3dtotal Publishing.
2. McNee, T. (2016). Art Prompts. 10th ed. London: Portico.
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