character design 2

It's now time to start getting the basics down, I create my character first in full as it is in my head, then I refine its segments piece by piece until I am happy with the general design. after this I start to delicately draw the character in full and rectify any bits i'm not happy with. for me this is the most important part of any project, being a picky person, I need to have the character done to a standard i'm happy with, otherwise i would most likely stop what i'm doing further down the process, fix what i'm unhappy with, and then have to redo all the after, or continue whilst unhappy and not be able to focus on the final product causing further delays.

this is a process I have been developing throughout my time at uni, I have learnt how I best work through trial and error. finding how you work to the utmost efficiency is built on many mistakes. mainly in my first year I found I ran out of time on projects because I spent too much time on this part, or not enough and wasted time fixing it. it is a fragile balance that I am still working on in my professional practice.

this was the first real image I drew, to get visual indication of what style I was going to use.

then I started making notes of how it could be changed or improved, things I wanted to represent in my characters design, and further animations with each drawing as I progressed.

after I had the colours for the skin/shirt and had an image I liked I looked back on how I wanted the character to change as the animation progresses. this animation being all about change it is important that I keep in mind the end result i'm trying to achieve.

even this very quick drawing helps me to visualize what i want the animation to look like.

to be sure I am producing the best work I can, constant experimentation is necessary, any random idea could snowball into a key aspect of the piece

 then I start experimenting and refining any traits i'm not sure of, the hair in this case. I experimented with different styles, colours, and techniques until I found one I was happy with.

now it was time to draw a full version of the character so that I could see the culmination of the experimentation so far. I chose to focus on the start and middle of the characters change to better see the contrast and visualise the development from A to B,

I then put the character in the first few frames of the animation, skipping quite a few and centering on the keyframes to better see the progression

At this point I wasn't particularly happy with the way the jeans looked, so I took them back to the drawing bored and experimented some more.

to better see the change that would occur I did some sketches from photos of myself before and during chemo. these  again rough sketches help me to see the change in shape and form

taking what I just did, I then applied the stylisation to my fresher understanding of the shape and form.