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.