Mini Brief (AP)12 – Appeal pt1

Mini-breif – CLANK WEAVER & MORT

Appeal / Character Design – Mini Brief. – Part 1

The “Appeal” of an animated character (whatever the medium) could be said to be analogous to charisma or charm in an actor’s portrayal of a character.

That said, a character that is “appealing” does not necessarily have to be sympathetic or “good” – antagonists and/or monsters can also be appealing (for a number of reasons) – the important thing is that the viewer feels the character is “real” or “authentic” and interesting.

There are many techniques for developing character connection with their audiences; for example, in likable characters, a symmetrical or particularly baby-like face tends to be effective (see studies about the “consensus on human beauty”). A complicated or hard to read face will often lack appeal, it may more accurately be described as ‘captivation’ in the composition of the pose, or the character design. Colour/palette choices and information on audience demographics (age, ethnicity, interests, social background) can also play a part in what makes a character attractive to an audience. So consider all your options. Do a little research.

Initial Development:

You are to choose one of the following character names:

• 1 – Clank

• 2 – Weaver

or

• 3 – Mort

…and then design a character to be used in a mainstream 3D Stop Motion or Digital 3D animation that reflects that characters given name.

Your characters can be highly figurative, stylised, abstracted or anywhere in between.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/87178317″>Elliot The Bull – Colourblind</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/ohyeahwow”>Oh Yeah Wow</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

You might wish to consider using found objects yourself or to design a character based on more traditional armatures/shapes.

Things to include in your design:

• Preliminary sketches/and final design image produced in your sketchbook/daybook and developed into conventional presentation sheets.

You could include in your submission sketches, ideas, quick storyboards to show movement/interaction and/or concept development work.

• Any relevant experimental animation/modelling work, all of which can be brought as is, or recorded as photos, video and brought in your digital/printed portfolio.

• Plus… a list of influences/artists/animations that you have looked at should be submitted with examples of your work.

• Before starting your should read > Chris Oatley’s blog posts on Character Design – Several interviews with character designers and p18-19 (at least) of The Illusion of Life – F. Thomas and O. Johnston (1981).

 

PART 2 of this brief can be found >HERE<