Unit 2 - 2D Character design

1. Watch Dogs 2 – Wrench, he is an anarchist and part of the hacking group DeDSec, that work to bring down the system, by using social media to expose their corruption, crimes, and find new recruits. Wrench also wears a mask that gives him more of a robotic sounding voice and uses symbols for his eyes to help him express his emotions, speculation suggests that he wears this mask due to a troubled childhood with debilitating shyness. He also has a collection of tattoos on his arms that are influence by cyberculture (https://watchdogs.fandom.com/wiki/Wrench_(character)). This characters design reflects his past as the colour palette consists of dark colours that make it seem like he doesn’t want to be seen linking into his shyness. His clothing also shows that he is an anarchist as it has a punky sort of look to it. His jacket is covered in spikes, patches and badges these are all generally associated with chaos, as it is no longer symetrical.

2. Madness returns – Alice, is portrayed as a troubled child after a fire killed her family and destroyed her home, which she blames herself for, she escapes this reality by escaping into her twisted hallucinations of Wonderland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice:_Madness_Returns). Her design is a facade as it makes the player think that they are a sweet and innocent little girl, untill you notice the blood stain which make you think that there is something suspicious going on.

3. Doom eternal – Slayer, has to stop Hell from consuming Earth and destroy the (alien) Maykr’s plans to end humanity. The game wants you to actively and aggressively attack. It is a 1st person shoot and as a result the character is supposed to be you and doesn’t have a character bio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_Eternal). This character portrays strength and power with their boxy build and poses. Their simplistic design allows the players to put themselve into the characters shoes more easily.

4. Cyberpunk 2077 – Adam Smasher, he has very little to no humanity, even though he never really had any and has little regard for his own employees. Adam works for Arasaka, who told him he should transformers his whole body into a cyborg or end his own life, with very little regard for his own humanity he agreed. He is happy to kill enemies of Arasaka, to repay his debut for making him a cyborg (https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Adam_Smasher). This characters lack of humanity is show by the fact that the only flesh part of their body left is his head and even that isn’t all there. His massive body shows the player that their newly upgraded body is incredible strong.

5. Road 96 – John, is a truck driver and a member of the Black Brigades and lost his index and middle finger trying to save Conny (his love), in the Peak Collapse of ’86 (landslide). After the accident he begins to regret joining the Black Brigades but is still working with them during the events of the game, as they are no longer who they used to be (https://road96.fandom.com/wiki/John). He has a very basic design but with a strong square silhouette, this makes him appear rather generic, since he is in a gang this is not surprising as they most likely want to present themselves as one front. Although he does have an interesting tattoo that is reminiscent of something in the game which tells the player that their is more to him than he is letting you know.

Character concept art - Research: Starting idea

Currently I don't know what kind of character I want to make, but I do have a theme for their design. This theme blends fantasy/magical elements with mechanical elements (such as a suit of armor, or special gear), into their design. The character has a range of magical/supernatural abilities, and technology that compliments it. My idea is incomplete eat the moment, so to help with the design process I am going to create a group of mood board with different examples of things that I like and might want to use in my character design. I am essentially going to work backwards for this project by doing the design first, then come up with the character bio afterwards. I am also going to create a group of mood boards of character designs I already like, so that I can use them as inspiration.

Character concept art - Research: Mood boards - Character designs

I chose a range of characters that include mechanical elements in their design. This would help me to generate idea about what my own characters design might look like, and visually explain to me how amour fits around a person's body. As my character has supernatural/magical powers I wanted to incorporate natural and organic elements into their design, such as horns, plants, or wings (animal anatomy), specifically organic features that might hint to what their powers may be, who they are, and their mindset, without revealing too much.

Character concept art - Research: Mood boards - Characters: Transformers

Character concept art - Research: Mood boards - Characters: The Dragon Prince

Character concept art - Research: Mood boards - Characters: Dota Dragons Blood

Character concept art - Research: Mood boards - Characters: Tolkien's world

Character concept art - Context: World-building

There are multiple gods and goddesses, that are generally more closely associated with creation or destruction, each god has their own world or galaxy (or galaxies, depending on their importance and where they are in the hierarchy of the gods) that is inhabited by a population that they have made in their own image, their civilizations work a lot like medieval kingdoms. These populations may have abilities, powers or characteristics that their god is tied to, but at a much lower magnitude. Other races like humans still exists but they don’t have a connection to the divine as a result they don’t have any powers or abilities, (although they can forge one with patience and training) their response to this means that they rely more on technology than races spawned by the divine. The fact that they were not directly created by a god but something that the gods made means that the don’t really know much about the god’s existence or in Earths case nothing at all, because of this they don’t have any loyalty to them and aren’t one of their subjects. On the other hand other races that haven’t been created by the gods but have knowledge of the gods and their people’s existence hold them in high regard and if someone from one of the divine civilizations travels to one of these planets they are treated in high regard, because people envy their connection to the divine as it affords them more power and influence over other naturally spawning races. 

Character concept art - Context: Character biography

Name:

???

Race:

This character is not a god or divine figure, but they are from a population that was made in the image of their divine master (who is more closely related to destruction).

Physical characteristics:

This character has a connection to a god that is more closely associated with destruction. Meaning that their overall appearance will be more dark, spiky and chaotic, they have a semi large build and are quite tall amongst humans, but about average in their own civilisation. They have long, thick and messy hair. Their head is also covered in these sort of naturally forming, shell, plates, they are pretty tough and do a good job of protecting their head from damage, but nestled inbetween them are some thin horns that stick out of the top and aim backwards.

Personality characteristics:

This character is loyal and passionate by nature. They have an attraction to chaos. They are generally quite quiet and are violet when cornered. With a strategic mind they are able to quickly decide on how to best handle the situation, but when they become overly stressed their link to the (demonic destruction gods) come out and they begin to rely on the embedded animal instincts, this is because the destruction gods still rely on the animal instincts and their madness making the chaotic, hard to predict, and very aggressive, as a result my character has inherited some of these due to their connection to the divine.

Character background:

There is little known about this character, they appear human but there is something almost alien about them, they appear to be more of a chaotic neutral. Their actions up and till now have been erratic and irregular. This is because they personality makes them come across as 2 separate people because the further away and the less interaction they have with their god the less influence they have over them and as a result their own personality is starting to come through as it was never given the chance to develop before that, it makes them come across to other character as rather conflicted (as they don’t know what nor understands what this connection to their god is and how it influences them). No one knows what they want or where they come from, but their actions are interfering with the war effort causing both advances and delays, in both sides progress. All anyone knows is that this character is inhumanly strong, fast, and skilled in the art of combat, as some of the people they have targeted and killed were previously considered virtually undefeatable. At the moment they not considered a main priority, although that doesn’t mean that their presents doesn’t concern people.Little do they know, that not only has this character been interfering with the war effort for the benefit of an unknown divine source, but they have been spying/observing both factions and gathering intel, although not even they know why their master wishes to cause discord on Earth at the moment.

Character concept art - Context: Character design demographic

I want my character to have mastery over a range of different types of weapons. As an assassin warrior type character inspired by samurai, knights and demons they are a very quick and considered to be slightly above the average of strength within their own race. On the contrary, they are very powerful compared to the rankings earthlings and natural races.

Character concept art - Research: Mood boards - Weapons: Guns

I am using black, grey and purple as the basis for my colour palette. I have chosen these three base colour because they represent different aspects of my character. My character works for a god who is associated with destruction I chose black as it represents evil (although destruction isn’t wholly a bad thing, that is how most people interpret it) and is the first thing people think of when they hear/see destruction as once something has disappeared there is only nothingness, usually represented by the colour black. 

I chose the colour purple because it represents royalty, wealth and power, as my character is part of a race created by the god that they serve, and to some if not most of the rest of their race feel superior to other races who don't have a connection to the gods. 

I also chose the colour grey because it means neutrality and balance, creation and destruction must always be in balance (like Yin and Yang), and to the other characters fighting in the war, who don't know who this character is, they would come across as a chaotic neutral character. I wanted the overall value of these basis colours to be muted, because my characters affiliation shouldn't define or overshadow their personality.

Character concept art - Research: Mood boards - Colour palette: Final choice

Character concept art - Silhouettes

Character concept art - Silhouettes: Silhouette 1 (Top left corner)

This is my second favourite, I like the design of the horns as they give my character a fantasy feel, but the hair doesn’t match it as there is to much going on and it’s hard to tell the hair apart from the horns. I did go for a spiky look this is a little to much and plays to much into the stereotype that a villain must have spikes all over them. I do like the design of the leg strap and utility belt though as it is unique but functional. I also liked the idea of my character not being completely symetrical as I think it adds some gravity to the character and make him seem relatable. I chose an overall triangular pose for this character as it lets the viewer know that they are a very quick fighter, is a manipulator, while it also tells the viewer that they are battle ready.

Character concept art - Silhouettes: Silhouette 2 (Bottom middle)

This character is my favourite as well as everyone else’s. They have an overall samurai appearance to them, as I they are a clever and calculated fighter, but once they lose their composure they become more aggression than reactive. There head design combines plates and horns with long, thick and messy hair, which lead me to quite an interesting overall bust design. I wanted to keep the design of this character simplistic, but with unique shapes for its focus points, that is why they only have a simple chest plate design, with a body suit and baggy trousers with lots of pockets to add more dimension to their figure. Their overall pose is squared to express their strength to others and make them appear strong, confident and intimidating. Their body include a mixture of squares and triangles to show that they are quick, while strong, honourable and yet devious. This is the silhouette I have decided to uses for my final design as it was the one that me and everyone I showed it to was most drawn to.

Character concept art - Silhouettes: Silhouette 3 (Top middle)

I don’t know how to feel about this character design, while I like the head design and the arm band, anything below it feels like a cheap imitation of my favourite design. There poses is triangular to so the viewer that they are dangerous and cunning, I tried to make it seem like he was investigating something. I tried to make the make seem like on of the masks attached to the helmet of a knight, I did quite like this and might include it in my later designs. I also started messing around with the design of weapon, with this silhouette.

Character concept art - Silhouettes: Silhouette 4 (Bottom right)

Character concept art - Sketches: Feature options

The most basic and common ideas I had to include very elf ears and human, although I drew two different types of elf each, since in media today they either have very long ears, this is more of a cartoonist one or just human ones with a very small point on the top like the elves in the lord of the rings films. I then started experimenting with other types of animal ears I could use like a bats or this sort of king cobra head piece, then I tried using the wings of bird one with the with the wing facing forward the other upwards, I then decided to try the same thing but with a bat. Then finally I decided to try it with elf ears again but with multiple points on them. My favourite ended up being the long elf ears, traditional hit, the multiple pointed elf ears, unique and something I came up with, and the upwards facing wing ears, cool and unusual, so I drew them from 3 different angles to see what they would look like in each. 

For my horn design I wanted it to be unique something no one has scene before. My first try was to over complicate thing, I really liked this design but thought that it might be a bit to bulky for someone who is surprised to be quick, and skilled it would make my character come across as a bit of a brute. My second design was was some very simple horns I liked the positioning and the fact that a horn had grown out of a horn but hated the shape. My third design was the same as the previous but the shape was much more natural, I really liked these. Next I went back to simplicity with 3 small horns running down each side of the head, I quite liked the design but it wasn't right for the character I was trying to create. Then I tried to do Loki's horns but the other way up I hated this it just doesn't fit the shape of a head right. Sixth I started experimenting with horns more in the shape of plated than actual horns, I absolutely loved this, because I only know of one other character who does this and that is Zarkon and the shapes you can create by doing this instead of actual horns. Seventh I tried like a ringed horn this was quite nice but it didn't quite look right and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Eighth was me trying to fix the problem with the ringed horn so I added another two and messed around with its position and scale I really liked this but a halo is a little angelic for an assasin. Finally I tried experimenting with plates again but with more curved edges to give it more of a natural feel, although I loved this I didn't think it was right for the characters motives. 

I wanted 3 very long options, 3 medium lengthen options and 3 short haired options. My 3 long haired options were long, straight, flat or long, thick, meshy or long, thick, braided/dreadlocked. My 3 medium length options were emo or flat straight, bun or spiky, mullet. And finally my 3 short haired options were common, fade or half shaven, comb over or short, spiked. In the end I went for long, flat straight, long, thick, messy and short, common, fade as my characters race is quite traditional I thought they would be more likely to keep long hair than cut it off, but I still wanted a short haired option just so I had the choice to change it if I wanted to. 

Character concept art - Sketches: Poses/action

These were the poses I chose to try displaying my character in each has a different expression/feeling that the character is showing. The first is confidence, at their ability to win against their opponent. The second is the I'm loving this face, enjoying beaten the hell out of someone. The third is done with this, something stupid is obviously happening in front of him and fourth as enraged and is leaping to land on someone and smash them into the ground using both fists. The all have a strong and intimidation aura to them which was the vibe I am going for, they are a character the revels in their method of creating pain. They are someone to fear.

Character concept art - Sketches: Weaponry & Expressions

This page includes some of my characters expressions that weren't shown before (I am not the best at portraying emotions in facial feature, I prefer body language). The first is their resting face, how they look when they are calm and just going about daily life, the second if anger/agitated, they aren't someone who show extreme emotion, and the third is when they are happy this emotion is rarely scene on my character unless there is no work to be done as they are alone. The other thing on this page is my characters weapons designs, they do have quite a few. My favourite two are the sniper rifle that packs up and becomes a sort of across the chest bum bag, although my character doesn't always carry it as it gets in the way and the knuckle dusters because the outside metal becomes red hot to burn his opponent. The is also a detail long sword since to wield it you need to be very skilled with a blade, a mashcete there is little detail to this because it a weapon that doesn't involve skill it is used to angrily hack people to bits and do some damage. The other thing on there is a pistol but it's not that accurate of a weapon, so he only really uses it a a tactic to stun people in battle. The last weapon are throwing knives since his guns amo isn't limitless, while knives can be retrieved, they are a backup way to incapacitate people.

Character concept art - Sketches: In an environment