Embedded Files
Section Summary
Section Summary
Key Learning Points
Character Research
Mood Boards
Character Development - Design Iterations
Design Process
Key Learning Points
Key Learning Points
Shape Language – Shape language played a key role in communicating personality. My initial use of rounded forms conveyed youth but lacked edge. Adding sharp features like the beak and talons helped express Darrel’s moody, eshay attitude. The contrast between soft and sharp shapes added depth and made him feel more dynamic.
Anthropomorphic and Zoological Characteristics – I initially struggled to find the right balance between zoological and human traits. At first, I focused too much on keeping Darrel bird-like, which limited the character’s expressiveness. I couldn’t achieve the cuteness I was aiming for until I embraced a more stylised, exaggerated approach. I’m still not entirely happy with the legs, but unfortunately, realistic bird legs weren’t appropriate for the character’s intended use, so the final choice was a compromise.
Style – I learned the importance of researching and defining the visual style early. One of my biggest issues was not doing this soon enough. I focused heavily on the ibis concept but didn’t collect enough stylistic references until later in the process, which made consistency harder to maintain. I’ve learned to prioritise style research up front to better guide design decisions.
Character Silhouette – Emphasising a strong silhouette helped Darrel stand out as a unique and distinctive character. It also supported his role as a readable in-game asset, with key features like his beak, limbs, and cap designed to remain recognisable from a distance.
Ideation and Constraints – While I thought I had a solid concept, I hadn’t properly worked through the contradictions and limitations I would later encounter. These unresolved issues pulled the design away from my original vision. I’ve learned that, although I enjoy an iterative process, for artistic tasks with fewer external stakeholders, I need to spend more time planning before jumping into development.
Creative Pivoting – I got stuck early on trying to make the ibis “cute,” assuming it would work itself out. It didn’t. I eventually had to pivot, but I could have saved time by doing so sooner. This experience, like the point above, showed me the value of stronger concepting and faster decision-making when a direction clearly isn’t working.
Character Research & Theory
Character Research & Theory
While I had a rough idea of what I wanted to achieve and researched a range of supporting theories and styles to help realise it, I feel that much of my original intention and the application of those theories was lost when it came to putting them into practice. Contradictory imperatives and constraints gradually pushed the design further away from the theoretical ideals. I believe this was likely due to my lack of experience and a limited understanding of how to navigate these contradictions and constraints in a way that retains the core vision, while still adapting to practical challenges during the creative process.
Shape Language
Shape Language
https://neurolaunch.com/shapes-and-emotions-in-art
Used to help determine the general shape of the body & shiluete of my character. Intention was to have a cute, safe friendly & fluffy character, so leaned towards rounded characters and minimizing the number of sharp or angular extrusions.
Style - Chibi
Style - Chibi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibi_(style)
To approach my model in a chibi style, I first looked into what defines the aesthetic. Chibi, or super-deformed (SD), is all about exaggeration, especially in proportions. The most obvious shift is the oversized head, which can be up to half the character’s total height, paired with short, stubby limbs and a general lack of fine detail (as can be seen in my turnaround).
Instead of focusing on realistic features emphasis is placed on bold, simplified key features which are usually kept and exaggerated to help the character remain recognisable, even in this heavily stylised form. For my character this was the neck, wings & feet which i tried to priorities. The whole idea is to push for a cuter, more playful design that feels expressive and appealing, which aligns well with the kawaii aesthetic often seen in anime and manga. Keeping that in mind really helped me rethink proportions and focus more on silhouette and character personality in my model.
Mood Boards / Reference Images
Mood Boards / Reference Images
Attempted to capture stylised versions of ibis characters from various sources to better understand the different ways they could be adapted into anthropomorphic designs.
https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/ancient-egyptian-god-thoth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thoth.svg
Character Development - Design Iterations
Character Development - Design Iterations
While Darrel the "Eshy Bin Chook" is arguably the result of an iterative development process that moved away from my original design, each iteration was informed by theoretical design principles to help guide my next steps.
Simple Chibi Style, to simple for grading purposes - Increase In Interesting Features
The original intent was to create a cute, stylised ibis that would align with the art style of my team’s capstone project a 'chibi'-influenced style characterised by simplicity and exaggerated, prominent features. However, this approach presented several issues. Firstly, the model ended up being arguably too simplistic and uninteresting for the purpose of this assignment and its grading criteria prompting the need to add more features. By shifting the style, more distinctive feat and beak characteristics became more appropriate.
Key elements naturally angular, hard to match with shape language - Characteristics Shift
Secondly, my limited artistic skill made it difficult to make a scraggly, long, pointy bird appear "cute," particularly in terms of shape language. This challenge pushed me to pivot the character’s design toward a different "vibe" something more unpredictable and less trustworthy, which ended up being a more interesting direction overall (As discussed in Character Bio)
Human & bird anatomy is fundamentally different - Design adapted for practical Use Case
From both a zoological perspective and a practical one, given my intention to integrate the character into the game and work with our existing animation system the bone structure and movement had to conform to Unity's Humanoid IK/Mecanim rig. To achieve this, I had to redesign the legs and feet to bend at a knee joint rather than a bird’s natural ankle joint. As a result, I also needed to shorten the feet to provide room for the walk animation to match the expected rigging structure without clipping through itself.
Design Process
Design Process
First Version - Concept Testing
First Version - Concept Testing
After collecting a number of reference images of ibis characters (which were surprisingly hard to come by), I decided to attempt generating some concept-testing 3D models to help visualise how my character might look. Through this process, I was able to iterate away from my more humanoid concept and move toward a character that leans more heavily on its zoological aspects.
First Version Outline Prompt Sketch
First Version Outline Prompt Sketch
A prompt image I drew based on my initial idea and inspired by some of the characteristics I liked from the reference images I collected.
AI Mesh Generation (www.meshy.ai)
AI Mesh Generation (www.meshy.ai)
I used Meshy.ai to generate approximately 12 variants of the design, with prompt adherence set relatively low to explore a broader range of possibilities for what my character could be like. This process helped me quickly conceptualise which elements of my design and those of the generated variants I liked, as well as identify what was lacking or underperforming in my current design.
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