Lecture 08----09 Character Design PDF

LECTURE 8 & 9 Character Design Phases of Character Development Story: learn as much as you can about the character, his story, his world, his motives Design: determine the ideal organization that represents the character Form: get an understanding of volumes, depth, and perspective within shapes...

LECTURE 8 & 9 Character Design Phases of Character Development Story: learn as much as you can about the character, his story, his world, his motives Design: determine the ideal organization that represents the character Form: get an understanding of volumes, depth, and perspective within shapes Gesture: create a gesture or feeling that tells a story and gives a sense of the character's attitude Details: cleanup lines, color textures, and additional elements, like background elements or shadows Phase 1: Story Initial premise, can be a single line Have as much info on your character as possible Understand character’s personality before sketching Complete a character breakdown With a fully developed character we can imagine how they will react in all different kinds of situations!  Do you know your character? He looks like a super hero from the outside He wears super hero clothes But is he a super hero from inside? From the inside, he might be a villain! He wants to take revenge from all super heroes! Do you know your character? 1- External features: Is your character a human, animal, object? What kind of clothing do they wear? How does your character move? What's the first thing you'd notice when looking at them from a distance? 2- Internal features: What do they like to do? What do they fear? What emotion do they most often feel? How would they respond if trapped in an elevator? Do you know your character? 3- You have to know more about your character to make it real! 4- The character should remind people of someone they know so that they can connect with him and care about him. DO YOU KNOW YOUR Sullivan wants to be the CHARACTER? best in his organization. WHAT DOES THE CHARACTER WANT? He actually needs to be a father figure  Character Arc The choices a character makes in order to overcome their obstacles and how they change as a result. Stakes: risks, impacts and rewards involved with their choices. They are why we care about their choices What was one important choice they had to make where the stakes were high? What were the stakes? External: what will physically happen to a character or the world Internal: what will happen to a character emotionally Philosophical: what will happen to the values or belief system of the world Character Arc 2-Design Sketch more developed faces or head-to-toe depictions (clothing and all) Pose more questions to further develop the design Determine balance, rhythm, positive and negative spacing, and contrast of the design Don’t settle on 1st idea or sketch. It’s your obligation to explore 1- Dividing Characters into 3 Sections Begin by randomly choosing the height of each section as either short, medium or tall. Next, randomly make the width of each section narrow, medium, or wide. The 3-shape approach is so effective, you can use it to take one character and generate endless variations! Let’s start with this simple robot… There’s no end to the options, just change the width and height of the three sections! 1-Dividing Characters into 3 Sections If we just draw these as standing boxes, we can already see the range of body proportions. Connect the shapes using either curved or angled lines. With your proportions in place, draw small thumbnail sketches of characters within them. try lots of designs for each shape, it always works! Notice the effect on the feel of the character when you cluster the main volume around different areas. 3-Form 1- Shape Language Shape Language There are also many other shapes Shape Language Shape Language Shape Language Shape Language Shape Language  Shape Language Try to keep the integrity of the shapes.  Shape Language You can deform the shape but still maintain it as much as you can. Shape Language Shape Language SHAPE LANGUAGE SHAPE LANGUAGE SHAPE LANGUAGE SHAPE LANGUAGE Shape Language SHAPE LANGUAGE 2- Turnarounds Five views of the main character: front, front ¾, side, back ¾, straight back Don’t use a prop in sketch unless asked Draw through your shapes, draw from one side all the way to the other Turnaround Model Sheet Developing Expressions Phase 4: Gesture The thumbnail process Focus on whole, not just individual parts Don’t commit too quickly Allow time for exploration of ideas, which come with repetition, not just drawing 1 image Blocking concept shapes for clarity and variation of head, torso, and legs Keep your design loose  1-Line of Action literally is not a line, usually it’s a curve represents a visual guideline for character posing gives clarity in any character’s posture. TILTS: The process of placing the shapes of your character at angles to create a stronger visual interest and/or pose. gives the feeling of flow, rhythm, and yet simplicity within any character’s posture. Line of Action  2- Silhouette Turn it into a silhouette to see how the character ‘reads’ and if you need to make the gesture clearer. Do you recognize the character just from the silhouette? Can you see his pose? Do you understand the emotion of the character and see the line of action? Can things be simplified? Try not to overlap everything, and keep the limbs separate. 3-Costume Changes & Special Poses Outfit will change according to the script Accurately address expressions, proportions, and likeness of intended character 4-Gesture Poses Gesture Poses 5-Drawing an “Expressions Page” Drawings on left and right side should have your characters facing inwards toward the page Don’t overcrowd the page, give space between images Movement on 1 page saves space Gives an overall impression of your character’s feelings 4-Details Cleanup and color Cleanup line, determine what line style, or add the color Don’t rush to get to this stage or you will find that your design is lacking Draw through shapes and erase after Focus on colors for symbolism and mood  Typically, dark colors Colors can help such as black, purples communicate a and grays depict character's baddies with 1-Choose personality. malevolent intentions. Colors Carefully Light colors such as white, blues, Comic-book reds, yellows and blues pinks and yellows might go some express innocence way to giving hero and purity. qualities. Rough Character Line-up Play with costume design Check photo references of people with similar jobs or experiences Know that you won’t keep all of the designs, keep it loose Can mix various elements of designs Choose Colors Carefully 3D Character Modeling 3D Character Modeling Importing to 3D Software 3D Character Modeling Converting to 3D Mesh 3D Character Modeling Smoothing  3D Character Modeling Extrusion and Mesh Manipulation 3D Character Modeling Polygon Subdivision