Character Design workshop 1

The first character design lesson focused on a lot of the basics when it comes to creating characters which includes understanding the character you are making before drawing them. Otherwise we looked at different character archetypes such as the hero or villain, different styles that could be used to draw them, the different shapes that can be used to draw a particular kind of character as well as body proportions.

In terms of styles they range from making a character very realistic to being more cartoony which was demonstrated in the first exercise. At random we where given characters that we had to take from one end of the spectrum to the other. I was given danger mouse that was very cartoony so I had to make him more realistic. The main differences from the two styles is that the realistic approach involves making the head smaller, using more complex shapes and realistic body proportions. The second exercise revolved more around shapes. Characters with square shapes look stronger while round shapes makes a character look more innocent. Triangles look more dangerous and menacing which is why they are often used in villain designs. The second picture is of danger mouse again but uses more triangles. The last two examples puts all of the top points together by designing some characters based of a theme we where given, my theme was vampires.