Due: Thursday, October 16

Turn in completed images to the Google Classroom Assignment

WIP Deadlines:

• Friday, October 3 @ 11:59 pm: WIP =1-paragraph character description, and at least one reference image or video (Google Classroom Assignment)

• Tuesday, October 7: Reading pg. 1-28 in Character Animation Crash Course by Eric Goldberg 

• New: Thursday, October 9 @ end of class: Sketches for Character Design

Project Overview:

For this project, you will design an original character you will work with in multiple subsequent projects, including a resolved color palette and shading. The deliverables for the Character Design Project include:

• Model Sheet and animated character turnaround

• Expression sheet (at least 5 expressions) 

• pose sheet (at least 5 poses) (see separate assignment & deadline)

Character Design:

Step one is to brainstorm and sketch to generate ideas for your character. Start with simple shapes, and add one or two distinctive details. Avoid characteristics that overcomplicate the character - articulated fingers, long flowing hair or clothes, multiple tentacles, etc. 

When you have something you'd like to move forward with, scan the drawing and work in OpenToonz, Photoshop, or Illustrator to draw your character digitally. For the first pass, design your character with arms in a relaxed pose, at a ~45 degree angle from the body, as in the image below. This is what you'll use for the turnaround. 

WIP #1: At least one reference image or video, and a 1-paragraph written description of your character.  This description should not be only visual, but should consider questions from the reading (included below) to define who your character is. See some examples here.  By "reference" I mean something like the examples in the slide show - Divine inspired Ursula, etc. Your reference should not be another animation or comic strip - you're doing the translation/ transformation here. As Glen Keane said, "you learn the most about animation when you...look at another field." (He was presuming mastery of fundamentals, but it remains true.)

Questions to help you define your character:

Keep in mind the tips from the BAM Animators, who say that good character design depends on CLARITY, which is made up of 3 things:

• Silhouette

• Palette - should be limited and with a clear hierarchy and wide value range

• Exaggeration

Other tips for Character Design:

• Avoid excessive detail! Points of distinction (hair, accessories, etc.) should be easy to re-draw.

• Identify a clear shape language; commit to one shape motif

• Flip the canvas while you draw

• Check the silhouette to make sure it's readable

• Find references (and use them!)

• Think beyond a realistic human presentation - how can you use simple shapes or stylized drawing to create a humanoid or animal character? 

• "Design your character with the intent to pose them strongly - the fussier the detail, the less inclined you'll be to animate them dynamically, and the less an audience will read the attitudes." - Preston Blair

Model Sheets

Matt Groening quote: Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama has a theory of good character design that has helped him create some of the most iconic characters in the history of animation.  “The secret of designing cartoon characters — and I’m giving away this secret now to all of you out there — is: you make a character that you can tell who it is in silhouette. I learned this from watching Mickey Mouse as a kid. You can tell Mickey Mouse from a mile away…those two big ears. Same thing with Popeye, same thing with Batman. And so, if you look at the Simpsons, they’re all identifiable in silhouette. Bart with the picket fence hair, Marge with the beehive, and Homer with the two little hairs, and all the rest. So…I think about hair quite a lot.”