Further Character Development

With the points made in my last post about character development in mind I decided to be much more exhaustive in my process. Here I decided to create characters based off of the lists of words produced within the character design workshop dedicating two double page spreads to the various individual words.

Working in the manner allowed me to make adjustments to the characters various features and expressions as well as various different poses and actions. This led to both more refined characters as well as a better idea of how they might move within a gif.

To create a 'apprehensive' character I used mostly rounded features, such as the head and nose, coupled with hands in a idle position to create an impression of both innocence and nervousness. The use of simple dot eyes and mouth I feel also adds to the uncertainty felt by the character further enforcing the idea of apprehension.

With the previous character work in mind I decided to create him in as simple a manner as possible using only basic shapes and keeping a strong contrast between the main elements ie black/stripy bodies and white faces/hands. This simplicity allows the emotion of apprehension to be communicated a lot more directly. Also I can see this character transitioning well in to three dimensional format such clay-mation due to his simplicity.

I decided to include floating/disconnected elements on the above character so as to give a feeling of disjointed chaos which I felt would help convey the idea of of agitation. Although  slightly more complex than the previous character, I still decided to keep the facial features relatively simple with only the key features being described.

Despite being something I was aiming for, these designs seem too disjointed, cluttered and to an extent visually confusing. 

As with the previous characters, the ones created in response to the word ecstatic also felt slightly too chaotic with the various disparate elements creating a almost jarring feeling when viewed. However I do still think they convey the manic sense of joy that is associated with an ecstatic feeling.

In terms of creating a moving image I do really like the idea of having stretching limbs that intertwine and not themselves. With the work of A.F Scheppard in mind I think there is potential to create something quite bizarre and hypnotic once I have refined this character more. I also think the various textures created in the second spread could add to the chaos when applied within a gif given that various different ink swells/pastels marks would be interchanging at random intervals adding to the rhythm of the gifs. 

For the feeling of terrified I wanted to create a character that was darkly funny rather than I more frightening or sinister image. To achieve this a created various versions of the character in a state of shock due to being caught in the nude, something which insights mixed feelings of terror, embarrassment and humour. 

Much like the first character I wanted to create something that when viewed appeared slightly defenceless and created a feeling of pity in the viewer. This was achieved by drawing its his head disproportionately to the rest of the body as well as giving him wide staring eyes. As before I felt that the simpler the features the more effectively the emotion present is communicate ie the simple white circles leave much more of an impression on the viewer than the sightly more realistic oval eyes containing pupils. However so as to distinguish it from the first character I gave him sharper features in places, such as a long pointed nose, so as to give a slightly more disconcerting feel to the images.

I also further experimented with texture using mono print rollers as well as photocopy errors to create grainy monochromatic textures that I felt suited the terrified feeling of the character.