character design - initial ideas

I started researching into character design by looking in various books for model sheets and tips on character designs. I then had a look for different character designs that appeal to me, either because of the way they have been drawn, the style, the colours or even the poses and expressions that the artist has achieved with the character. Below are a few pages that I put together of a mixture of artists designs.





From looking at these, I decided that I really loved the illustrative and detailed character designs more then the simple, block coloured designs. When thinking about a long term solution to the project and character design, it would ultimately make more sense to have a simple character that can be easily and quickly animated. However, in terms of design and concept work, I would really love to achieve something quite detailed and beautifully created, even if it could never be used, or have to be dulled down to animate with.

Having looked at a few styles, I thought it might be best to start working on the designs and look of the characters. I was hoping that with the general look planned out, I can then find a style I really love and try out the character in a particular style and change it according to fit the style. I therefore started to think about the Doctor and his characteristics and background. Having made a spider diagram I then jotted down a few ideas for the character.
My ideas where
1. to have an old scientist guy, bit of a made professor, lots of watches as he is a time lord
2. maybe a bit of a superhero, very typical in hero design, but as he is actually an extraterrestrial, maybe have an alien-type flaw which appears in the most inconvenient of situations...
3. have a real gangster type Doctor who thinks he is the business and Mr cool, and surprisingly knows his stuff, looks good
4.have a very normal looking day to day middle aged, dad type character, very unexpected and not fussed about being the doctor...

So I tried out a few to see how they looked, what I could get away with...








I think from the above designs, I would really like to develop the third one further, play around with his look, do a bit more research into characters and in particular the style that he will be drawn in for the concept art and final turn arounds etc. I think it would make a rally original and different Doctor character and idea, however I still think that it would fit into the script and personality of the Doctor.

I then had a go at designing the assistant. I wanted her to have quite a genuine, innocent look about her, just going about her job, nothing special, but obviously in the script catches the Doctors eye.






I think the design above could work well, but again needs to be a lot more stylised and 3D. I also realise that I need to study in more detail the waitress outfit of the time so that her costume is more fitting for the situation.

I then started to think about the other characters. I realised that the main characters aren't actually dresses in typical 1912 dress as the couple are in cowboy outfits and suits. I think this will make it tricky to get across the era and I think this makes it even more important to focus on the style of the piece, and maybe also look at another character, for example the Captain as I can then research the uniform they wore.





From doing the initial designs I can now see what I need to do to develop the characters. I think the first thing to do is find a style that I want to use. I will research 1912 illustrations, posters, animations and see what kind of thing I can find. I really would love to create it in more of a illustrative style, so maybe look at some design work as well. Having found a couple of styles I like, I'll then develop the Doctor character further and create him in a few styles to see what will work....

Thinking about the characters...

I think one of the hardest parts of doing the character designs for the script and Dr. Who project, is that fact that the characters already exist. With this in mind, even knowing that they can be completely different and nothing to do with the Dr.Who programme, it is hard to not imagine the characters when thinking about designs.

I would like to try and create characters that are completely different and original from the existing ones. I think I'm going to pretend its a completely clean slate and not even consider what the Dr. in the show looks like.

So far, I have found some really brilliant books in the library giving all kinds of tips and ideas of where to start when designing a character. Using these I have made my own notes and quick sketches just for a few initial ideas and to try and get into character designing a bit more...




To get more of an idea of the character I am creating I had a look online for description of him. I found some pretty good ones and even found some of the background to the character...


'The Doctor is a Time Lord, an extraterrestrial from the planet Gallifrey, who travels time and space in an internally vast time machine called the TARDIS. He belongs to the Prydonian chapter of Time Lords, who are notoriously devious.He grew up in a house on the side of a mountain, the son of a Gallifreyian explorer and a human mother. The Doctor has two hearts which allows him to go without air, an internal body temperature of 15–16 degrees Celsius and he occasionally exhibits a super-human level of stamina...'

Using this and by gathering inspiration pictures and character designs by other artists I will decide on the style I want to create the characters in and begin to sketch out a few different ideas.

Presentation of research...

Having finished the pre-production research work, looking into the five different scripts and focusing on particular areas, we then presented the final images and findings as a group, showing roughly where we would take inspiration from when designing the concept work of one of the scripts further.

I think we did well as a group to cover pretty much all of the areas needed to have a basis to work from for each script and everyone did a fair share of the research, however I think we all enjoyed looking different areas and time periods.

Now that I have looked at all of the scripts, or parts of them, I have decided for my own project I would like to look in more detail at the Titanic script - 'The Voyage of the Damned'. I think what draws me to this script is the history of the Titanic. Doing research into the interior design of the ship amazed me, and I really enjoyed drawing out the creating some of the dresses and costume designs of this particular time period. For the project I will definitely need to do more research into the Titanic, how it looked, the design, what was available on the ship and the atmosphere, dress, elegance etc. I have already found some books in the library about the Titanic and peoples memories, but I would also like to visit the maritime museum as there is an exhibition there with some information on the subject.

Having chosen this script, I felt I really needed to know and understand it so that I know exactly what's happening in it, who all the characters are and where they are,what their purpose is etc.
So having read it through again, I wrote my own much simplified version of it. I figured this would be a good way to get my head around it, and maybe even change it slightly to my own version, as would naturally happen when you write something out. This can also be used as a short summary in the pre-production bible at the end of the project.

Having decided on the script and having a few ideas of the kind of image I want to create, I now need to really focus on the concept art and looking at examples of styles and designs that I like and think could work well.

character design...

I really enjoyed Dereks talk on character designs and seeing various characters throughout animation and to see what other people thought about them.
Since then I have done some research, looked at some of the names of the character designers mentioned and sketched out a fair few of my favourites or interesting designs from books and model sheets that I think work well or that appeal. By doing this I hope to get some practise of drawing characters, but also to get more of a feel for the shapes and ideas used to create a sucessful character.



To create something more original I thought about finding a really detailed character desacription and working from that to make a character of my own. I may take a character from a book I know well so that I have an understanding of the story and personality, or take a shorter description and develop it into something I can understand and create a character from.

I think I may make this a challenge for myself and maybe have a go at a few until I find a style or something that really works.

life drawing...

pre-production research...

Having already started getting a few bits and bobs together for the pre-production research pages, I realised in Kathy's lesson that I need to delve a little deeper into each area and really focus in on the architecture of the particular places and costumes etc. As there is such a range in the scripts, countries and time periods it's hard to focus in as each area is so wide. I think it is probably best to approach it by looking at one at a time.

Today I took the advice and website Kathy mentioned and had a good look through as well as finding some more images on other pages. Using these I managed to find some really lovely costumes or dresses for the Titanic script, and some much clearer images or representations of London Streets. Using these photos I then re-drew them or made quick sketches, making the odd adjustment here and there.
I like working and researching in this way as it enables me to take the examples I find, but make them exactly what I need or my own.

Using these I can then think about the angles I have them at and what I need or what would be best for each scene. So, now that I have some more resources to work from, after drawing them out and getting them to my liking, I will think more about how they may appear or would be filmed and re-create them to match the storyboard.

I then need to do the same for the other scripts and areas I am focusing on...


Pre-production pages so far..all still being worked on...

storyboarding and character design...

I really love both storyboarding and character design and really want to get a lot better at both. I want to do a lot more research into how artists have come up with and created such amazing ideas for film and in particular character designs that just seem to work so perfectly for what they are designed for.

Derek's lesson on storyboarding was really interesting and it was great to use our script as it meant we could see how it could have been done and greatly improved. It was good to see how everyone else would have done some of the shots we used and I definitely learnt hat there should have been much more thought about the set up of each frame.

I understand now that it is important to focus on the meaning behind each shot and the reasoning behind every object or position. There is a reason for everything that is placed in a film. It would be interesting to watch a film with this in mind and think a lot more about why certain angles it is filmed at or objects in the background.

For the next lecture we are looking at character design. This is an area I'm really interested in and have had very little practise at. I want to learn as much as I can and do a lot of research into it and get lots of my own ideas down and develop some characters of my own in my spare time to try and improve.


I think in the past there have been loads of very well designed characters. Many of them extremely simple, particularly for 2D animation so that could be drawn by many, however recently the character designs have become so detailed and realistic it can be quite shocking. I recently saw Avatar and the character designs I found to be stunning.



They wouldn't look right to be human, and the skin and colouring used just works so well to create a new and completely different creature that everyone can feel emotional towards and have an understanding for.

Another character that I love is Wall-E. His design is to technical he could be a real-life working structure. The fact he is very square and mechanical and one of many that is made for a specific purpose almost makes it hard for him to become humanised, but there is such a character to him. I think the texture of his design works perfectly and is so wonderfully detailed.




Another character I think is well designed is stitch. Although the design is a lot simpler and also changing through the film a fair amount, he doesn't really clarify as a dog or alien or an anything, and at the beginning of the film he is characterised as a menace and not that appealing, however again this is a character that you love by the end of the film for such a simple idea.




Having said that, Pixar's luxo Jr. is a character that is very hard to beat. Although the design is very simple and could be a real desk lamp being filmed, the character and animation of it is so brilliant that it becomes an object that the audience can relate with and feel emotions for.



I would love to be able to create or design a character that people can feel some kind of emotion for, whether its love or hate, and that works well for the role it's created for.