Character development, expression sheet and turn around

When starting my character I mainly concentrated on how to cross a seal with a mermaid, and how this would effect her movements. As you can see I also experimented with different hair styles and how to make her not look like a stereotypical mermaid with long flowing hair. One of my main concerns was her tail fins as I wanted people to recognise the fact that they are seal flippers, so I simplified the design right down.

I spent a long time watching animations and looking at concept art on how I could shape my characters face from the side. In the end I chose a shape which looked more seal like rather than human like, as I felt it added to her character, and would drive her aspiration to look more like a human.

I then went on to do a more detailed analysis of my character by creating an expression sheet with my chose head and facial look. I really enjoyed this process and found it reasonably easy to draw the faces I was hoping. I did however keep it quite simple and stuck with only looking at the faces from a frontal angle.

This then led me to create her character turn around, where I looked at how she would be viewed at the front and back (in a T-pose) and her side view. I found this really difficult to do, and especially struggled with the arms. I think with practise I would probably get better with the proportions and scaling of each part of her.

Character Proformer

Before writing my character proformer, I did a bit of background research into archetypes.

From this I did a basic outline of what I wish my character to be like, which helped form ideas about their personality and background history.

CHARACTER PROFORMER
Name – Shishi Ori

Story Purpose – On her own personal mission to find answers to her background history and species, as well as the disappearance of her father.

Alignment – Neutral/good

Persona – Independent, strong minded.

General Disposition – As the only one of her kind, she is lonely but is yet to realize quite how much. She is a trouble maker at home, often breaking things by accident when dancing/pretending to be a scientist/doing her art homework, but doesn't mean to cause any harm.

Special Abilities – She is one of a kind in her species. She has no 'magical powers' or 'special abilities' as such, but enjoys making friends.

Education/Intelligence – She is at a mixed species school, which covers both seal and mermaid teachings as she was unable to get into a specialist school. This means she has many friends who are very different to her, as she enjoys diversity. Her best friends are an octopus who competes in the bi-weekly roller derby competitions, a seahorse who loves knitting and 'yarn bombing' (political graffiti using wool) and a few other sea creatures who are in the school band but often are at band practice so they are rarely in their social group; but her friends diversity in culture and upbringing, along with their personal hobbies and interests help to shape her own interesting personality and intelligence.

Family – Her mother, a seal, broke all species rules and rebelled against her parents (who since disowned her) by falling in love with a merman and breaking all of her parents beliefs. Her father is on a long buisness trip, and hasn't came home for four years, and it is unclear when he may return.

Aspirations – To find someone like her, but she is quite happy messing around and trying to do well in school at the moment.

Addictions – Milkshake, trying to desperately live like a human (going to extreme levels to attain their lifestyle)

Occupation and attitude toward it (good or bad) – She doesn't have a job at the moment, but trying to search for one in a milkshake bar or cinema so she can have free milkshake. She doesn't really want a job, but her mother keeps pestering her to start searching for one.

Objective(s) – Find her voice.

What does this character want? – For her father to come home, to find another one of her species, to do well in school without trying so hard and to impress her friends. 

Who or what does s/he love? – Her parents and her two closest friends.

What is s/he afraid of? – Finding someone of her kind and it not living up to her expectations.

Why does s/he involve her/himself in this situation? – She doesn't have a choice.

Other roles and identities? – Main protagonist.

Single adjective to describe this character – Playful.

Skills – Clever (doing well in her biology, especially when studying humans, and art classes), artistic, finds it easy to make friends, most characters find her trustworthy.

Reports/Answers to? – Her parents and teachers. She also seeks advice and guidance from her classmates.

Who reports to this character? – Her two close friends go to her when needing advice.

Trademark Object – Her 'lucky' hair bobble, which her father gave her as a child.

Common emotions (picking three) exhausted, confused, ecstatic, guilty, suspicious, angry, hysterical, frustrated, sad, confident, embarrassed, happy, mischievous, disgusted, frightened, enraged, ashamed, cautious, smug, depressed, overwhelmed, hopeful, lonely, love-struck, jealous, bored, surprised, anxious, shocked, shy. – mischievous, hopeful, lonely.

Signature Move or Tic – waves her hand and shakes her tail like a dog would.

Nationality – Japanese.

Ethnicity – Half Japanese half English.

Religion – None.

Favourite Food – Noodles.

How does this character dress? – Wears human clothing tailored to her shape by her mother. She occasionally wears mermaid clothing, but she feels this doesn't reflect her personality enough.

Accent – English, with a slight Japanese twang.

Dialogue Tics and Slang? – It is very colloquial, and varies with the species she is socializing with.

Locations where this character is mostly likely to “blend in” – She never feels as if she fully fits in, but feels most at home either in her bedroom or at her local milkshake bar with her two best friends. 

Where was the character born? - Japan.

Where has the character been? – Japanese waters.

Where does the character live? – In the island area Oki, under the sea in a cave house.

Where will (did) s/he die? And how? – Her cause of death is unknown, as she is still alive, but it will most likely be due to her mischievous antics.

Objects the character wears on his or her body – She occasionally wears jewellery, but always wears a hair bobble in her hair given to her by her father.

Dichotomy of character (inner conflict in the character) – She fights with her knowledge of her species situation, yet wishes to know more about other species that she longs to be.

Relation to other significant characters – Daughter, pupil and best friend.

The innocent (character to be determined) – Sushi (cat), one of the humans on the mainland's pet, who helps her secretly to understand the ways of humans.

What we’d think if we saw this character on the street. – Confident, chatty and happy girl, but unsure what species of mermaid she is (may not fully realize that she is crossed with a seal).

Three days before the party started: About one of the peak moments in the character’s life. What s/he was doing before it all started? – Madly searching for answers to where her father is.

How did this character lose his or her virginity? – She hasn't.

Morality: – Tries to make the right choices for her, based on her feelings and how it would affect the people around her.

Emotional Stability – She is strong, but has deep falls in her mood due to loneliness.

What do they do to comfort themselves? – Drinks milkshake, plays with her toys, watches humans from afar, talks to her two school friends or Sushi the cat.

Phobias: heights, snakes, darkness, etc. – The jellyfish bullies at school, growing up, and watching horror films.

Vanity – She takes great pride in the clothing she wears (especially when human clothing).

Epitaph: What will go on the character’s tombstone? – “The last of her kind. Cared for by so many”

Actor Suggestions – None.

Impressionistic Age and Health – In her childhood still, around 8 years old (13 in human years). She has an expanded lifespan compared to her mother who has 40 years, as her father has 80, meaning she averages at 60 years. She is in good health, but her mother worries if ever she becomes ill the medicine won't be able to adapt to suit her needs.

Impressionistic Height – Human sized upper body, but small stumpy tail like a seal. Around 4.5 foot.

Impressionistic Weight – Rounded tail, which looks as if she may be over weight, but it is just her species characteristics.

Body Type – Curvy.

Hairline/Colour – Black/dark brown.

Eye Colour – Dark blue.

Facial Hair – None.

Concept art 5/5

Last but not least, the overly over used Disney. How could I miss them. They are the masters and founders of the animation we know today. The first ever film I watched (not that I remember..I was a matter of months old but my Mum used to watch it with me determined that I would like Disney animations) was Bambi, and consequently it has became my favourite Disney film (closely followed by Snow White, who doesn't love her!?).

I have found a fair few images of the concept art for Bambi, however I am still trying to find out who actually did each image, I can only assume that it is one of the talented people listed here: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0034492/fullcredits#cast

These first four images are the very beginnings of the development in character. As you can see in the second image, many different angles and styles have been drawn separately and then brought together and collaged into one piece. The last two images really show the movement and posture of how deers move naturally, but it still doesn't really resemble the Bambi we know and love today.

The next few images are later developments of the character, and show an in-depth depiction of the expressions and movement differences from when Bambi is in his infancy to his adolescence. I particularly like the wrinkles on his noes and how his leg movements still stay uneasy and shaky once he has grown up.

The next major component in the development of Bambi was the size difference between him and his mother. This comparison also leads to them developing his increase in size and change in shape and muscular form as he develops throughout the film.

The most interesting development process they went through though in my eyes, is the spots on his back of all things! They have so accurately measured the positioning of all of his markings, so from whichever angle it won't be inconsistent.

The final two images (I promise I will finish this blog post soon!) are also really interesting. Rico LeBrun produced both of these images, looking at the bone structure of deer, before the animators can even look at the exterior. I love the amount of research that has gone into making the movement realistic.

Concept art 4/5

After watching Paranorman in the cinema, I have become mildly obsessed with Laika the amazing production company behind the film. Before seeing Paranorman, I hadn't actually watched their first feature film Coraline, which at the time I was desperate to watch but just never had the time to. So I brought the DVD soon after my cinema trip, and was equally blown away by the skill behind the animation team. In the DVD extras however, they had a really great and in-depth 'making of' section, where they went into great detail on the processes of illumination they go through to get the perfect character. For the life of me I cannot find this video on line (they have every other section though, how annoying!), but I have found a few of the sketches shown in the video.

Shane Prigmore's character development is the ones I find most interesting. I love the first image as it shows how much her character has developed in style, yet you can still familiarise that that is Coraline. The second image is later development sketches, still by Prigmore, showing her different facial expressions within the same framing of the hair and face structure which doesn't change.

Other sketches he did was ones of Coraline's parental figures. The first of these examples being her real father, and the second her 'other mother' from the other world. I love how just from comparing these two characters you can see the dullness and boring expressions on the fathers face, matched with the tones used to depict him, contrasting with the vibrant colours and postures used to show the over-the-top personality of the other mother.

My favourite image of all though has to be this one, showing the drastic differences between the usual mother and the 'other mother'. Even with the image on the left having a coloured background, the expressions on her face showing tiredness and unhappiness brings the feel of that character down to a negative. Whereas the well kept hair, rosiness of cheeks and wide smile of the twisted and slightly (in-fact very) scary other mother, makes us perceive her to be the better of the pair, which is very important in the telling of the story.

Prigmore's blog is: http://shaneprigmore.blogspot.co.uk/
Another useful blog if you are interested in the concept art of Coraline is: http://nicocartoons.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/coraline-concept-art.html

Concept art 3/5

Fantastic Mr Fox really is fantastic. Wes Anderson did an amazing job to bring such a well loved book and childhood favourite to life, whilst retaining all the character and emotion that Roald Dahl created for the characters. With this being another animation based around a book (but this time not a picture book), it was so important to please all the fans.

I have 'The Making of Fantastic Mr Fox' book, where it outlines the character design process for each character, however, annoyingly my scanner has broken so I have posted images that I have found online from the book instead of the scans I hoped to show.

For this film (as it was a feature), there was a number of character designers, with Wes being one of them. From these three images (although not necessarily character development) you can see his thoughts on how the characters move, and how the props and costumes interact with the characters.

The main character developer, who's work I love, was Felicie Haymoz. The main reason why I love his concept work is that he sketches the said animal first in their natural positions and poses, and then exaggerates and recreates these poses to suit the more 'human like' characteristics that Wes wanted.

My personal favourite of his character developments, is that of Ash, the misunderstood youngest child of the fox family, who is always described as 'a little bit.... different'. Not only is he my favourite character of the film, but Felicie uses human references rather than focusing on fox references to create his personality and character in his facial features.
For more of Felicies's work please visit his website: http://www.feliciehaymoz.com/index.php?/character-design/fantastic-mr-fox/

Fantastic Mr Fox is spot on with character design. I love it. The end.

Concept art 2/5

My second example of concept art is the work Julia Pott (another personal favourite, in fact she is my favourite illustrator/animator of all time) created before her latest short animation 'Belly'.

Although these are again only rough sketches to get an idea down on paper, it really shows how she has developed her idea (especially when looking at the faint rubbing our marks and her own unique numbering system to help organise herself). There are no T-pose examples which she has created, however you can see that she has experimented with different poses for each character (which can clearly been seen in the first image, and again in the second).

Belly from Julia Pott on Vimeo.
Again you can see the similarities and differences between the concept work and her finished piece.

http://motionographer.com/2012/07/24/julia-pott-belly/   In this article Julia talks about her work in general (not so much the character development side however), and it contains more images taken from her Flickr, of concept sketches, backgrounds and her at work.

Her website is packed with work from the cute to the creepy and is well worth a look: http://www.juliapott.com/

Concept art 1/5

For the second section of the 'Fundamentals for Film, Games & Animation' module, we are expected to  look at creating our own character, in reference to the seven different archetypes. To gain an understanding of character development, we have to show five examples of concept art which inspires us.

The first concept art I wish to show is from Oliver Jeffers' (one of my favourite illustrators) first animation produced by Studio AKA in 2008.

The concept artwork itself is rather simplistic, but still in his distinctive drawing style, taking reference from his pre-produced children's book with the same title 'Lost and Found'.

Lost & Found from Georgina Lloyd Parry on Vimeo.

Here you can see the whole process of making the animated film, but it also goes into the details of how they designed and developed the characters

(photo credits to Oliver Jeffers)

This has to be one of my favourite short animated films in a long time, and the concept artwork has clearly influenced the final finished piece a considerable amount.




For more of his work (and concept work on this project) visit his website: http://www.oliverjeffers.com/projects/lost-and-found-film

To watch the full animation visit: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmrrbi_oliver-jeffers-lost-and-found_shortfilms   Or alternatively support him and buy the DVD!