Breaking Character was an introduction into character design. I hadn’t done much character design prior to this rotation so I was really looking forward to stepping outside my comfort zone and trying something new.
On the first day we were introduced to the different elements of design such as contrast, balance, colour and movement. We then began creating a story and building a world where our character would come from. My story was about a childhood teddy that got forgotten over the years.
Observational studies of my own childhood teddy.
Our next session was all about taking a more mixed media approach to character design. Using a more wide range of materials and instead of trying to draw a physical being, we were trying to capture the essence of our character. We had to pick three different words to describe our character – we had to use these to refer back to when designing. My three words were endearing, sentimental and forgotten.
Using scrap bolts, screws and wood to create faces.
Trying to capture the essence of my character using collage and paint.
In between the sessions, I worked on finalising my character design.
At the end of the first week, Jess gave us an introduction into photoshop and how we could create character sheets and turnarounds on it. It was super useful for me as someone who doesn’t have much experience with digital drawing.
The second week of the rotation was focused on the 12 principles of animation and motion plans and how we could apply these to our own characters. This was super helpful to learn and helped me understand and visualise how my character might move.
I created my motion plan writing out all the principles that would apply to my character, trying to be as specific as possible.
Ending the rotation with feedback from my design.