Final Design

I initially set out to create my character in low poly 3D, however due to a restrain on time, I had to leave my final design as a small series of interactions between my character and a butterfly. I wanted to show some kind of relationship between Clement and an object that would cause him to express a range of emotions. I decided to take my first three expressions further and push them slightly, as well as adding a fourth expression showing sadness.

I am happy with the character and think that he would be appealing to a young audience. His simple design would allow for easy animating and could be turned into a minimal 3D model in time. I will create a 3D version of the design in my own time, however for now I believe that these designs could take a place in my portfolio or still showreel. I would feel confident including this design in my work to show industry professionals when applying for a job. 

Individual close-up images:

Character Creation

I designed a character inspired by Clement, keeping in mind the 2.5D look I wanted to create as well as the conventions of a children's cartoon character.

I designed a head and hair design that I was happy with but could not pinpoint exactly what kind of eyes I wanted him to have. This was an important part of the design as the eyes are so full of expression and speak to younger viewers who can't understand dialogue. I used a slightly oil pastel/crayon style brush to draw the character to give a styalised and hand-drawn looking design. I was inspired by Jeff Turley's style of lighting in which he places harsh sunlight shown through white lines on to the character.

I experimented with the sizes of the iris and pupil until I found one that jumped out to me. Out of the choices above I felt as though the bottom right was the most appealing and the closest to how I saw my brother, It also suited the cartoon conventions I looked at earlier; large boldly-lined eyes.

I then drew a standard neutral pose and played with emotion. I created an intrigued/shocked look, a tired/unimpressed look and a happy look. I tweaked these emotions to create ones that were the most similar to Clement's natural expressions. For example, instead of drawing a closed mouth smile to show happiness I drew an wide open mouth smile showing the few teeth he has as he would do in reality.

Research for Character Design

I chose to base my charater on my little brother, Clement. He is two years old and quite the character. I found some footage I shot of him last Summer wish was perfect in showcasing his personality. This helped me to study how he moved, talked and reacted to his environment; I sat down with a sketchpad and sketched a few things of interested I found whilst watching.

Contacting Industry Professionals

Whilst completing this project I have also been working alongside a group of animators in animation studio, 'Playback Studio'. It has been very beneficial to already have a taste of industry and be able to showcase my work to them as well as offering advice on their own work. Unfortunately it has taken up a large portion of my time, but on the other hand, it has made me feel much more at ease in terms of speaking to professionals and I believe I will be able to contact future potential employers with confidence.

Existing Industry Influences

There are many concept artists within the animation industry who I look up to for inspiration and motivation to draw. For this project I decided to look at a few artists in particular who I felt suited the look I wanted to achieve.

Jeff Turley

Bobby Pontillas

Shiyoon Kim

I felt as though they all capture the playfulness and innocence of youth beautifully, as well as having a great eye for design and colour. I will use their work to inspire me throughout the process of creating my character.

Existing Showreel Influences

Potential employers receive many similar looking show-reels on a daily basis, often skimming over submissions and looking for something to grab their attention and stand out from the crowd. I decided to have a research of existing show-reels that I feel break the norm and make an impact. I will try to apply some key aspects of these reels to my own piece to create something that will impress employers and make my portfolio memorable.

'Sam Westall Concept Art Showreel'

While I believe this artist could have put more varied original work into his show-reel, I was drawn to it as a whole because of the soundtrack he used which varied with each sketch and added emotional context to his images. The 3D effects he layered over the work created interest and some excitement for the viewer and gave off the impression of movement and action in an otherwise still image. These combined helped the drawings to tell a story without animating them

'Tiago Hoisel CGI Illustration Reel'

This artist has a very noticeably unique style which he enhances through the design of his show-reel. Not only does it improve the viewers experience while they look at his artwork, but it also showcases the artist's talents further and highlights his creativity in all aspects. It shows how the artist considered a 3D extension to his 2D work and how he has knowledge of various roles in the industry and can design his work to suit a 3D environment.

Key Features of my Showreel Piece

Colour

 Consider the power of colour and experiment with the use of it. Ask what the colour choices say about the character.

Lighting

Use lighting to create a mood and an atmosphere. Lighting can change the audiences perception of a character's personality; think how I want the character to come across to viewers.

Composition

Think about strong composition and posing to create a character that is eye-catching and leaves the audience wanting to know more about him/her/it.

Style

Experiment with different art styles. Be versatile and interesting by offering a range of different interpretations of a character.

Expression

Show the character in a variety of moods and situations that affect the way he/she/it is reacting to different situations. Create a unique personality.

Tools and Methods

For the initial design of my character I will use a program called Painttool Sai; I am very comfortable and familiar with its interface and regularly create my artwork on it. I have created my own custom brushes within the program which give a sketchy, hand drawn texture which is perfect for the look I want to go for on my characters.

Below is an example of the brush I shall use. The above word is in the program's basic brush, and below is my custom brush which gives a hand-written, worn effect.

I have used this brush for character design drawing before, and I have been very pleased with the outcome. Below are some examples of the brush in action.

The three drawings show the brush used cleanly, then more stylised and then even more so in the last picture. I will design my characters more similarly to the last picture although will push it and see how far I can go with the rough texture. I will also use a similar effect to texture the final models.

I am planning to use blended to create low poly models of my characters. I found a few tutorials online that cover the basics of low poly modelling that I will use to teach myself the basics before experimenting to discover what works best for my show-reel piece. These are the two tutorials I have decided will be the most useful for my project.

I will then colour grade and touch up my final character designs using Photoshop.

Existing Media Influences

Firstly I decided to look at existing media in the children's animation industry- I chose four shows that are aired over 'Disney Channel' and 'Cartoon Network'. They all appeal to me personally in terms of character and concept design as I feel they are unique and memorable. These shows are:

'Gravity Falls'

'Adventure Time'

'Steven Universe'

'The Amazing World of Gumball'

When put next to each other like so, it is very easy to recognise a trend in their design. Bold black outlines, bright block colours, small body parts and large facial features make up a majority of the designs. The characters cast shadows, but do not have any on their bodies, apart from the occasional gradient used to emphasise the colour. Because the shows are aimed at young viewers, these key aspects make it easy for the children to understand and read the storyline through emphasised body and facial expression.

The minimalistic design also means that children will remember the characters vividly and even may be able to recreate them through drawings of their own. It also allows for a large range of merchandise to be created from the brand, as the colours and simple lines can be adapted into a range of items.

Away from the children's tv industry, I am also heavily influenced by the art style of 2.5D. Good examples of this style can be seen in the 'Walt Disney Animation Studios' shorts:

'Feast'

'Paperman'

Not many children's tv shows have adopted the 2.5D style but I predict that it will become a lot more common in the near future. It is a style that showcases the sketch-like natural flow of the artist's hand-drawn lines, but combines it with 3D juxtaposing it with clean lines and a glossy Hollywood-esque finish.

I would like to combine this style with the 'Cartoon Network' style to create a simple and appealing set of characters that showcase artistic flair through their design. I could re-create this by creating a low polygon 3D model in Maya, and then applying 2D hand drawn textures to the UV Map.

I would love to be able to create something along the lines of the characters seen in the popular game:

'The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'

This style is unique and aesthetically very beautiful. It was a huge difference from the rest of 'The Legend of Zelda' franchise in terms of art style and became very popular amongst fans. I believe that is a good representation of a mix of my two influences as it contains low poly models with hand-drawn looking 2D textures with block colouring and large cartoon like features. I will use all of these sources as inspiration for my own set of characters.

Project Brief: Animation Specialism

Profession

Concept Artist (Character)

Industry

Film (TV)

Inspiration

I am particularly inspired by the various children's cartoon series than run on 'Cartoon Network'. In terms of design, they are unique, memorable and aesthetically pleasing. They break the norm of character design and play on the weird and diverse to create something that is interesting and beautiful in its own way.

I have chosen to focus on three shows; 'Adventure Time', 'The Amazing World of Gumball' and 'Steven Universe' as well as 'Disney Channel's' 'Gravity Falls'. Amongst other examples within film and video games that influence me, I will draw inspiration from these shows that I believe are pioneers for modern character and concept design within the children's animation industry.