After getting doing a lot of research on characters and getting a lot of feedback from Sara and Hayley, I decided to start designing my own character. Hayley and I decided I would do the little sister for our narrative and she would do the older brother. I did a quick little mood board on all the 'sisters' and 'daughters' I could find in animation and I noticed that a lot of them have very round heads and faces to portray their innocence and simple nature. Since Hayley and I wanted to trick our audience, I think designing a little sister who looks innocent and naive but in reality is a bit cunning, is a great way to do this.
To begin with, I just got my pen and paper and drew shapes and objects that I thought could work with my future character. I experimented with different head shapes, different props, and outfits, just so I could get a good visual in my head of the direction that I wanted to go for. This was literally the blank canvas for me and I struggled with a starting point, however once I had some vague ideas of what I wanted my character to look like, I went into Photoshop and started to refine them.
I started off experimenting with head shapes because this was the main part of my characters body for me that I could really have a go at crafting. I could not do much with height because she is a 'little sister' and 1 minute is not enough time to distinguish it in another way. Therefore I played around with head and hat shapes. I really liked a good few of these and I stuck to rounded shapes from my research and experimented with different animal silhouettes. I didn't favour the hats with long ears because I felt like they would hide a lot of the background in the animation, so I ended up choosing the top middle hat because it is VERY round and also has a party hat which I thought would go with the carnival theme.
I started off by drawing a big head because this was an idea I had in my mind for quite a while now, and Sara also advised me that having a big head links to having a lot of knowledge. I also wanted to take this brief to draw a character with very spindly legs and arms, again keeping in mind that I want to throw the audience off into thinking she is anything but powerful as that is the gag at the end of our animation. I decided to put my character in a hat because I want to be realistic with Maya and be able to create a fun character but not complicate it too much with trying to animate hair, first time around. I also added a party hat, to again, trick the audience into thinking she is immature and a typical child. I also focussed on having a distinguishable silhouette, especially if we are working with lighting and shadows within the animation as this is an important feature for making a successful character.
Once I had the overall shape down, I decided to add some colour which is my favourite part! I also feel like I have brought my character to life and given her personality. Because I know I want her to be a bit deceiving, I definitely can see it in her face (big smile and poised facial expression). Whilst I was choosing the colour palette for my character, I put some swatches of some carnival colours Hayley and I were thinking of using at the side of my screen so that I could choose other colours that would allow my character to stand out but also not clash with the environment!
Overall I really like my character! But I will be showing Hayley to see if she has any feedback and ideas on things she would advise me to change.
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