Character Design Project - Week 3.

There has been a lot of researching and idea shifts occurring this week. I have moved from the realms of two people entwined as one in a very illustrious taboo image.

I have decided that I need to take this idea even further than that of the devil and the angel. Not only this, but I generally have poor underlying foundations with my characters, on which I load a lot of accessories so that the viewer can't mistake what I want this person to be. I don' t like this method of working, and so I've decided to keep the accessories on the characters to a minimum and use body languages and the basics of character design to show their personalities.

I have also decided that to push this project even further I will have these two twins in a setting where in one is an evil villain and the other is a good hero. They both are twin sisters who are arch enemies. I believe that this is a far more solid idea and I really am feeling a lot more enthusiastic and confident about the project now too.

Here is a design for the villain :
I have given her a strong pose and her eyes are looking away from the viewer. This suggest a confident sly, and not to be trusted person instantly. Things like the spikes on the boots also suggest somebody that isn't very pleasant, but also these little touches are what make character designs aesthetically pleasing. The outline of the character is VERY Important, if you were to mask of the character and fill her in black, the outline needs not be boring. People notice these things, if only at a subconscious level and it really is the difference between a successful character and a not so successful one.

Here are two images of the same boot from the above image. One with the spikes and one without, as you can see the spiked one is more pleasing to the eye because it's not so boring. If this were to be fully colored and rendered, you'd still consider that in the back of your mind. This is why when I'm producing a character I am forever thinking about the silhouette of it.

Consider the following Image that I drew :

The underlying basics are non existent, and it really isn't too great. But all of the accessories and the interesting silhouette makes it far more interesting.

So I feel that using the fundamentals of character design that I have learnt, mixed with some accessories to create an aesthetically pleasing silhouette is my best bet when tackling the design aesthetics.