Character Design: Task 1 Personification, Big Idea

[Ng Jia Xuan / 0375273 ]

[Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media]

[Character Design ]

[ Task 1: Personification, Big Idea ]

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Instructions
2. Lectures
3. Progress
4. Final Outcome
5. Feedback
6. Reflection

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1. INSTRUCTIONS

2. LECTURES

WEEK 1:

World Buildings: A fictional place for the characters, it can be from games, books, movies etc.

TWO ways to start building your worlds:

1. Inside-put method: Start the stories first then the world

2. Outside-in method: Create the world first then the stories

Key elements for world building:

1. Location: Where is the story located? A past or future Earth, elsewhere

-Geography: Hot/Cold, Season, Hills/Flat etc

2. Genre of characters: Who are your world's main inhabitants? Are they human? Mythical? Mix?

-Interactions between the characters: Love, hate, peaceful etc

3. Governing system: What is your world's governing system? A monarchy, nothing Earth's ever seen

-Governance: Politics, rules, different kingdoms, different religion etc

4. Social Classes: What social difference exists between people? Are some groups more feared than others

-Different cultures different foos & drinks

-Different divisions: Define by wealth, royal and citizens etc.

-Different appearances: The materials (eg: armor is metal) , color (eg: red remind of sun)

5. History: How have historical event (wars, dynasties) shaped your world?

-Traumatic events: War, conflicts

6. Cultures: What are people's standards of living

-Power structure: Religion, sexuality etc

-Entertainment: Different cultures have different games, art, music etc

-Relations: Influence by which cultures

7. Technology: How does your world compare technologically to our own

-Tech for communication, travel tools, weapons etc

8. Magic: Does magic exists

WEEK 2:

Character Design- Development:

1. Research & Discovery: Search for reference, history or even costumes that suit your character world and theme

2. Characters Key Trait: The characteristic, appearance, settings etc

3. Thumbnail Sketch: Rough sketch about the general anatomy and proportions

-Shape: Round for cute, baby; triangle for dangerous, evil etc

-Gesture Drawing: Simple sketch that capture the feeling, movement energy through different poses

WEEK 3:

Character Design:

1. Story: 

-Understanding audience category: Different groups suit different genre

2. Principles:

-Clarity: Strong core intention

-Contrast: Behavior, appearance etc

-Consistency: All settings should be consistence since start to end

-Change: Characteristic get evolve over the time

3. Visual Design & Symbolism:

-Shape language

-Color Theory

-Silhouette Test

3. PROGRESS

EXPLORATION: 

First, Sir assign us to find a IP that we enjoy and is interested in to create a new character based on it.

Ever After High is one of my favorite childhood animation and I have tried to mimic the art style so many times when I was young, so I decided to use this opportunity to fulfill my childhood dream. 

Ever After High is a high school that full of kids of various story tales. I have came out two ideation for my character:

1. Nian Shou (年兽）

-A mythical creature that that came out before Chinese New Year and the villager use firecrackers to scare it away. 

(Meaning the bad luck or anything negative has been scared away.)

2. Mulan

-A very iconic Chinese female soldier that is brave 

*As a Malaysian Chinese I have always wanted to create a character inspired by my own cultural, so both of my ideation are some well-known Chinese fairy tales.

PROGRESSION: 

First, Sir assign us to find a IP that we enjoy and is interested in to create a new character based on it.

Character making: 

Fig 3.1: Character Inspiration

My character inspiration is Raven Queen, daughter of the evil queen from Ever After High

Raven is a very charismatic character, but the author isn't afraid to give Raven flaws and weaknesses (she is insecure about her family background). I love this kind of character, it's more interesting and realistic, as no one is perfect.

Fig 3.2: World Making

To link with my character, I choose a setting that is suitable for her, which is a more Chinese, Eastern background. Besides that, she is Mulan’s daughter, so I also think about places that are more related to soldiers, such as a fortress.

Fig 3.3: Story Making

Fig 3.4: Character Making

For the story and character making, I wrote a simple story to show how Ping An’s personality is formed. As I mentioned earlier, I want to create a character that has weaknesses or flaws, so even though Ping An grew up in a very loving environment that makes her personality bright and brave, she still has insecurities (insecure about her height)

A small detail about her name:

Ping An is 平安 in Mandarin, which means ‘safe.’ One of the reasons I use this name is because, in my opinion, the biggest wish from parents is hoping their kids will grow up safely and happily. Plus, in Mulan’s story she is a soldier, so wishing her daughter will be safe is quite reasonable too.

Fig 3.5: Weapon Making

The weakness of Ping An is that she is short, and she is insecure about it. So how about I tweak it and look at another perspective . If we can utilize our weaknesses well, they can become an advantage too. Based on this mindset, I chose a short knife as a weapon for Ping An. Being short means you can be more flexible and quick, so a light, short knife will be suitable and useful

To add more depth to this weapon, I also add a small story behind this short knife as a fun detail.

Fig 3.6: Silhouette Study

Fig 3.7: Character & Outfit Study

Fig 3.8: Outfit Study

Moving on to the studies. First, I studied and analyzed the Ever After High characters to capture the features of their appearance. Then I studied their outfits and analyzed how I can incorporate them into my character’s outfit. Since Ping An is Chinese, I also did some research on existing game character outfits that have more Chinese elements.

Fig 3.9: Character Silhouette Thumbnail Sketch

After the setup and studies, I started to draw my character. 

These are the features that I plan to apply to my character:

1. Hair: Ping An is a girl who knows how to fight, so I decided to give her a cleaner hairstyle, such as tying it up or short hair.

2. Outfit:  For her outfit, I refer to some Chinese traditional costumes and clothes such as Cheongsam and Hanfu to capture the Chinese elements. The outfit is short in the front to make sure it is easier for her to run or move freely. Since she is insecure about her height, I chose to give her shoes that will make her taller. Similar to the outfit, I chose boots that are easier to move in instead of high heels.

Fig 3.9: Progression

The 3rd ideation was chosen, and by combining it with sir’s feedback, I have made some adjustments.

Adjustment: 

1. Emphasize the shoulder by adjusting the armor.

2. Instead of making the front armor dangling, I made it shorter but longer at the back.

3. The back of the dress is changed to a pattern that refer to a dragon and fire.

Fig 3.10: Justification of each details

4. FINAL OUTCOMES

Character Design Proposal by NG JIA XUAN

5. FEEDBACK

OUTFIT:

1. Ping An is a powerful character, try to emphasize the shoulder

2. Ping An skirt can play with more design and shape

ACCESSORIES:

1. For the armory, can think about the material is it metal or anything else

6. REFLECTION

I am actually very excited to make a character!! I am really into drawing characters instead of other objects. I also have the opportunity to work on my favorite IP, which is Ever After High. I have always wanted to draw a character based on this world, and now it is one of my assignments. The whole making process is fun and interesting, I enjoy creating all of the fun details based on the story.

It’s just that when drawing the turntable, I struggled with the side view (I’m not familiar with side view TT), and my armor is a bit complex, so I spent some time on that too. Overall, the experience is very nice, and I love Sir Fitri’s feedback too!