Case Study: She-ra!

"She-ra and the Princesses of Power" is a reboot on the1985 television series "She-ra: The Princess of Power".

The show is a prime example of animation evolution, both in storytelling and character development. The characters from the 1985 cartoon are all a similar build with different colour hair. This is because the cartoon was created to market dolls and toys of the show, they only had one doll mould to make production cheaper, hence why all the characters are the same height and body type.

However, in the 2018 version of the show, the cast is formed from a whole range of different ethnicities, body-shapes and diverse personalities. The heroes and villains have in-depth backstories that make their actions understandable but no less reprehensible. 

The characters have been aged down to attract a younger audience, as people tend to identify with characters that are similar to their own age. 

There is also a great representation of the LGBTQ+ community, as there are same-sex couples in the show and the main characters own sexualities are fluid as well.

"She-ra and the Princess of Power" is a great study for character design and development, and I will be writing about it further in my essay. 

Week 7: More Blair and Wren

More Blair work;

Finished Dynamic Poses

Completed Turnaround Blair

I did some experiments with Wren's Colour Scheme:

I have decided on this colour scheme for him;

Most people who took my survey said that they would describe anxiety as either grey, white or black. However, when researching colour psychology, light yellow can actually create feelings of anxiety. He will also contrast with Blair's bold and bright colour scheme.

Week 7: Blair and Wren

The week before I decided to use the characters that I create in Context of Practice for a film I want to create for Extended Practice.

This really helped me think about the characters relationships with each other and how they would interact with each other.

I created some dynamic poses for Blair that I thought showed her personality;

I have also started on her turnaround sheet;

And also sketches for the emotions;

Unfortunately, I have been struggling with my anxiety character; Wren. As I do not draw men very often I have found it difficult to create a compelling male character. I know I want a very tall and thin character compared to Blair, who is short and curvy. He will also be a source of Blair's frustration but he will be a calming effect on her when she is willing to listen.

So I made a mood board to help with designing Wren:

And came up with these head busts for him to:

Week 5: More Blair

I have colour, line and costume tests for Blair;

I decided to go with the coloured line-art design and decided to go with the third design for her, with peer and Instagram comments taken into consideration.

I really wanted to show the contradicting feelings quite literally through her design by using different colours that also compliment each other.

Week 5: Blair

I was really struggling last week to create my characters, I was lacking inspiration and was really struggling to create an appealing character design for either of my characters.

I read a book called "The Little Book of Colour" by Karen Haller, it shows you how to use colour in design, in fashion and the psychological effects that each colour has on subliminal level. I know I wanted my character Blair to be cold and stand offish on the outside but she actually has a warm and vulnerable side that she keeps very hidden under her cold exterior shell. 

I decide to go with the classic complementary colour scheme of blue and orange, to quote the book; (insert quote here about the colour blue and orange)

Using these two main colours, I decide to create a mood-board to further help my art block

I now have a very clear idea of what I wanted Blair to look like, and started to come up with some initial designs for the character:

I realised that my own personal style wasn't really working for a character for animation, I really wanted to exaggerate certain elements so it would be more fun to see when animated. I took inspiration from Tex Avery, an artist on instagram named Susana Rodrigues (@susanarodriguesart) and from the newly released pilot of "Hazbin Hotel" created, directed and produced by Vivienne Medrano and her team.

I decided to make the eyes a lot bigger and the head smaller and rounder, even though she has some sharper features.

I decided to focus on two main shapes for her design; triangles and circles, as they are both contradictory to each other. Triangles are unstable shapes, don't offer much support and signify danger or something sharp, whereas circles are a very welcoming shape, something soft and makes you feel safe, however they are also vulnerable, we associate something like a baby, a puppy or a kitten with a circle, something that needs protection.

I'm going to use this design process to help me design the other two characters, choosing a colour scheme, keeping certain shapes in mind when designing them and greatly exaggerate certain elements of their design.

Case Study: Riley from "Inside Out"

 

Riley is a main character and her mind is the main location of the film. She is a really interesting character to analyse, she looks like an average eleven year pre-teen old however her emotions inside her head are very exaggerated to show which emotions they represent.

As the events of the film continue, Riley's appearance and attitude changes drastically; Joy and Sadness' journey representing her battle with her depression and coming to terms with moving to San Diego.

                            

As her depression progresses, Riley's design get's a lot darker compared to the beginning to the film; gradually moving away from bright and vibrant colours, to muted and neutral tones to finally just wearing black, showing the audience that she is deeply depressed. 

Week 4 - Defining Character

This week I wanted to put down the groundwork for my characters, write up their character sheets, get their initial designs on paper and look into colour schemes that would complement their personalities.

Initial Character Sheets for the Anxiety and BPD characters;

I still need to more research into Psychosis, as I did not get as much information from my first-hand research about the mental disorder.

I decided to give all my characters gender-neutral names as mental illness can affect any gender.