Wk 2 Character Design Class: Circles Triangles and Squares

In Justin's class this week we covered how shapes are used in character design to visually portray there specific persona: hero, villain, side kick. We also covered the various stages of realism of characters and how they relate to that characters purpose.

Triangles

Squares

Circles

My own variations of Pocahontas using different shapes, she was already made up of squares so i made her more rounded being fat and more feminine, I also attempted a simplified version too.

Circles - Fat Pocahontus

Softer and more feminine, not so successful as I lost her native American look. 

Simplified Character

Exploring Story Line Ideas

To start with I have been jotting down ideas, some are just the start of ideas that need developing or combined later.


Idea 1


Mutated creatures from a the lake/ocean created from toxic waste being dumped into the water. The creatures are discovered by a scientist part of a secret agency who turns them in to cyborgs to defend the earth against alien invasions from different galaxies. Hideout located in an old abandoned coal mine?


Idea 2


Lab experiment with animals goes wrong fusing them with the labs machinery and mutating there appearance. Then trained to fight evil...


Idea 3


The idea of a mutating cyborg...
A group of cyborgs are struck by lighting allowing them to alter there form.
Inspiration: Batman the Brave and the Bold - Clash of the Metal Men  (recommended by Lyn-Dae)

Mutated Metal?

Idea 4

Two mutant races are fighting over a power source part of the home planet of the hero's race, however the planet is destroyed and the energy source is lost in space. A group of the energy source guardians survive the planets destruction and it becomes there mission to trace the energy sources location to rebuild there home planet. Becoming cyborgs is the only way to trace the source. The team have to stay together as it will take all of them to unlock the energy sources powers. However the power hungry evil mutants have other plans for the energy source and try to stop the hero's from finding it first.


Other Concept Ideas

Clockwork Cyborgs
Scrapyard Cyborgs - Rusty metal (villain concept)

Car-parts Cyborgs - can join together to form vehicles

After having a chat with Justin about these ideas, we discussed that the concept of a cyborg and a mutant are already extreame concepts and trying to combine them into one character could posibally be too much be put into a back story for one character. Maybe the best route is to have the two concepts separate eg. Mutants vs Cyborgs this approach seems more logical and still is open to a range of posibilies. Next step is to create an interesting concepts fot the cyborgs and the mutants, and decide what one would be best for the villian and what would be the hero.

Research - 80s Cartoons

Looking through some examples of some 80's cartoon series the story lines were really out of this world. A common theme is blending themes together to create an interesting concept mix. In most cases you can tell where they got there inspiration from like the visionaries which is a futuristic take on the Arthurian theme knights of the round table. It comes across visually through the characters and the journey they take just from watching the title sequence. Its these traits that we will have to convey in our own characters to portray our own blend of themes.


G.I Joe

Mighty Orbots

Saber Rider

The Visionaries

Tranformers

He-Man

Research - Cyborg Mutants

When looking for examples of cyborg mutants that already exist I found it a bit more difficult than I first thought. Firstly finding the difference between a robot android and a cyborg. 


Android: 'Noun: (in science fiction) A robot with a human appearance.'


I assumed that Robo Cop and the Terminator were both cyborgs but they are actually androids! The definition of a cyborg is a being that has been modified by machinery. 

NOT A CYBORG but an ANDROID

Mutant Cyborgs Combinations

Captain Silver -Treasure Planet

Davros - Dr. Who

Cyborgs

Iron Man is an example of a cyborg who relies on machinery to keep him alive. Whats to say that someone with a pacemaker  isn't a cyborg??   

Pacemaker in 'Crank' for example

Lyn-Dae showed me this video related to the video game Deus Ex, it basically shows what our lives would be like if we could be enhanced by technology.

Wk 1 Character Design Class: The Fat Scientist and the Hobo Ninja

Starting off our Character Design Project today we had a breifing from Justin who gave us great advice that will become very useful in progressing through the Character design unit. My drawing skills at present are ok but there is always room for improvement, understanding more about anatomy will play a big part in developing my drawings. Developing a style is another aim I want to achieve because I feel that im drifting inbetween styles and I could achieve something that is more defined. 


Fat Scientist - The drawing being in black and white I had a little bit of trouble getting the jacket looking like a lab coat which could be mistaken for a trench coat which says detective. The pocket with the pens solved this and the clipboard and glasses helped to finish it off. He comes across as a science professor you would find teaching, as aposed to a mad scientist stereotype.



Hobo Ninja - I had fun with this one... Why would a Hobo be a Ninja? I know he would be hungry and he would probaly go to extreme measures to get food and defend his lively hood toughing it out in the streets. 

Start of the Second Year: Character Design

Time to get the ball rolling! Tuesday this week we were given the brief for our character design project our task is to create 3 different characters, a hero, villian and a sidekick. The era we have been given for reference is the 1980s looking at kids tv cartoon shows such as The Tunder Cats, He-Man and Transformers to name a few.
To create our own characters we picked two differnt concepts at random to mash up to drive our designs, my draw was CYBORG and MUTANT. Im considering this as a gift as the two concepts fit under the same umbrella in a way. They both exist within the sci-fi genre in alien creature design and futuristic technology.


Google Definitions:


Cyborg: 
'A fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities become superhuman by mechanical elements built into the body'  


*does a cyborg have to be human??... Mutant Cyborg :)     

Mutant: 
'Noun: A mutant form.'

'Adjective: Resulting from or showing the effect of mutation: "a mutant gene"

Options: A Mutated Cyborg or A Cyborg Mutant

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