Sky-Pirate project [W.I.P] (A character design study)
polycounter lvl 9
F027280, FYP, Character design study.
[NOTE] I was unsure where this thread belonged. I am creating a 3D model, but feel free to move it wherever you think it belongs best.
[NOTE2] I am not a professional. I'm an amateur looking to learn and I am very open to CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and any information helpful people may have related to the subject of my educational project. Thank you.
The pirates of the future, sky-pirates
The purpose of my project will be to study the principles of successful character design, the techniques used to create these designs, and then to utilize the results of my research to create my own successful character. Character design and character models are two very important aspects of modern video games. Including even games without blatant characters, such as puzzle games which often feature mascot or background characters, almost every genre and type of game involves a carefully designed character or series of characters which either drive the game's story or with which players need to associate. Well designed characters can often make the difference between making a game memorable and leaving a game forgettable.
It is because of the significant impact that characters have on video games that a huge amount of time and effort are put into their designs in the games industry. So much so, that whilst concept artists have worked away to create characters for games, different 'design-metas' and techniques have been developed and are widely used by many artists. In order to understand why many characters better impact and influence visual media, I intend to examine the differing techniques,processes and principles involved in character creation and design both in concept and modelling.
I have decided to mix classical pirate themes with futuristic themes.
This should help to focus my project and will provide a challenge.
Let's create the enhanced sky-pirate captain of the future!
There are no strict norms as to what processes are utilized and necessary. The choice of use and order in which to practice these methods are unlimited and interchangeable depending on preference. For example in regard to silhouetting "its not a method used by all concept artists and its certainly not a necessity to design a creature or character purely based off a silhouette shape". The preference of the artist may to be build their character in parts via S.C.A.M.P.E.R instead of configuring a full body silhouette, or any other number of ways.
I however, not yet knowing what is my artistic preference, will investigate each potential methodology so to acquire the fullest understanding possible of what may be necessary to create a successful character. In this way I am unencumbered by what some concept artists face in the industry, in the sense that often an artist's characters may have to be based on the resources and requirements available, for example a story artist or lead artist may have already decided the back-story or landscape mapping before a character is devised, thus a theme may be produced before the visual characterization. Each stage of the production of my character conversely will be unrestrained by others and solely of my own division, thus enabling me complete freedom and creative license.
Theory and principle
"One of the most common theories in design is that form must follow function."
This idea is usually attributed to many famous characters throughout history. Disney, as a prime example, has always, especially in the glory days of 2D animation, relied on basic, simple shapes and designs for it's characters. This simplicity allowed the forms of the characters to be easily processed and memorized by the brain. At the time, the animations were almost entirely hand-drawn, and having simple forms allowed for animators to quickly and efficiently draw their characters from multiple angles, and simplified animation of movement. Take the world-renown Mickey Mouse, for example; the character is completely comprised of simple rounded shapes. And yet, the world over can recognize the character simply from the silhouette of his head, easily connecting it to Disney.
(Leonado Da Vinci)
However, I believe that form can change with function. The technology and storytelling in visual media of today has evolved and branched out in many different directions, creating demand for a vast range of character types. With the theme of a sky-pirate from the future, I already have a different function. Also, as the asset is 3D, the limitations of hand-drawn 2D animation are not relevant, as they were with many Disney classics. Technology has changed the way characters can function. Particularly the introduction of realistic visuals and characters has changed the requirements of form, as the human body alone has complicated shapes and curves, when not heavily stylized as the Disney Pixar characters of today are. These two factors allow form to become more complicated. the characters often need to fit into a living, breathing world with it's own back-story. How can you reflect their game-purpose in their design? The function has changed, and still the form has to fit. I believe this idea ties in deeply into the use of silhouettes in character design, which I will tackle later on.
My character must be designed to suit it's function.
[NOTE] I was unsure where this thread belonged. I am creating a 3D model, but feel free to move it wherever you think it belongs best.
[NOTE2] I am not a professional. I'm an amateur looking to learn and I am very open to CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and any information helpful people may have related to the subject of my educational project. Thank you.
The pirates of the future, sky-pirates
The purpose of my project will be to study the principles of successful character design, the techniques used to create these designs, and then to utilize the results of my research to create my own successful character. Character design and character models are two very important aspects of modern video games. Including even games without blatant characters, such as puzzle games which often feature mascot or background characters, almost every genre and type of game involves a carefully designed character or series of characters which either drive the game's story or with which players need to associate. Well designed characters can often make the difference between making a game memorable and leaving a game forgettable.
It is because of the significant impact that characters have on video games that a huge amount of time and effort are put into their designs in the games industry. So much so, that whilst concept artists have worked away to create characters for games, different 'design-metas' and techniques have been developed and are widely used by many artists. In order to understand why many characters better impact and influence visual media, I intend to examine the differing techniques,processes and principles involved in character creation and design both in concept and modelling.
I have decided to mix classical pirate themes with futuristic themes.
This should help to focus my project and will provide a challenge.
Let's create the enhanced sky-pirate captain of the future!
There are no strict norms as to what processes are utilized and necessary. The choice of use and order in which to practice these methods are unlimited and interchangeable depending on preference. For example in regard to silhouetting "its not a method used by all concept artists and its certainly not a necessity to design a creature or character purely based off a silhouette shape". The preference of the artist may to be build their character in parts via S.C.A.M.P.E.R instead of configuring a full body silhouette, or any other number of ways.
I however, not yet knowing what is my artistic preference, will investigate each potential methodology so to acquire the fullest understanding possible of what may be necessary to create a successful character. In this way I am unencumbered by what some concept artists face in the industry, in the sense that often an artist's characters may have to be based on the resources and requirements available, for example a story artist or lead artist may have already decided the back-story or landscape mapping before a character is devised, thus a theme may be produced before the visual characterization. Each stage of the production of my character conversely will be unrestrained by others and solely of my own division, thus enabling me complete freedom and creative license.
Theory and principle
"One of the most common theories in design is that form must follow function."
This idea is usually attributed to many famous characters throughout history. Disney, as a prime example, has always, especially in the glory days of 2D animation, relied on basic, simple shapes and designs for it's characters. This simplicity allowed the forms of the characters to be easily processed and memorized by the brain. At the time, the animations were almost entirely hand-drawn, and having simple forms allowed for animators to quickly and efficiently draw their characters from multiple angles, and simplified animation of movement. Take the world-renown Mickey Mouse, for example; the character is completely comprised of simple rounded shapes. And yet, the world over can recognize the character simply from the silhouette of his head, easily connecting it to Disney.
(Leonado Da Vinci)
However, I believe that form can change with function. The technology and storytelling in visual media of today has evolved and branched out in many different directions, creating demand for a vast range of character types. With the theme of a sky-pirate from the future, I already have a different function. Also, as the asset is 3D, the limitations of hand-drawn 2D animation are not relevant, as they were with many Disney classics. Technology has changed the way characters can function. Particularly the introduction of realistic visuals and characters has changed the requirements of form, as the human body alone has complicated shapes and curves, when not heavily stylized as the Disney Pixar characters of today are. These two factors allow form to become more complicated. the characters often need to fit into a living, breathing world with it's own back-story. How can you reflect their game-purpose in their design? The function has changed, and still the form has to fit. I believe this idea ties in deeply into the use of silhouettes in character design, which I will tackle later on.
My character must be designed to suit it's function.
Replies
"...but the designer can suggest personality just by how the character looks, before you know anything else about him."
Personality and aesthetic. These are two more of the commonly accepted principles. certainly, many factors create a character's personality ultimately, from actions, animation style, voice acting, dialogue and more. But it is possible to give a character personality In it's design. To draw again from classic 2D animation, here are a selection of characters from "Looney toons". There is a lot you can take from each character that indicated their personality.
The posture and actions of the characters are a huge insight into who they are. For example, wide, rounded eyes are used to show characters who are cheerful and honest, such as Bugs Bunny and Tweety. the two mischievous characters, Sylvester and Wile E. Coyote have narrow, angular eyes, and are utilizing conventional gestures such as the rubbing of hands to signify scheming and greed. The asymmetry of Taz's eyes and the strange posture and tongue imply an absurdity and "loony'ness" which are true to his character, and Daffy Duck has a guarded posture with crossed arms and angry eyes, showing irritation and a potentially short temper. Aesthetically, they have been made using simple shapes to become what ultimately became very memorable and famous characters.
Whilst it is easy to pick out facial expressions and posture on simple characters to show their personalities, these same nuances and ideas are used in more complicated characters to do just the same. Let's take a more modern, complicated design as an example.
Cloud Strife, of the Square Enix's Final Fantasy series, has often reached the top 10 in polls of most iconic characters. In Japan's Famitsu magazine rankings of the most popular video game characters, Cloud tolled in at number 2. Whilst the original game, Final Fantasy VII came out in the Playstation 1 era, the character has seen many iterations more recently in spin offs and movie adaptations. Whilst the picture above was made as somewhat of a joke, it actually highlights some important and relevant points about personality coming through in design.Through his various redesigns, his character changes a lot, and it comes through in simply his posture and expressions.
The size of his weapon implies great strength, but also the conflict that must exist in his world. Whilst his Armour is minimal, it provides asymmetry, which can make the character look more complex and interesting. Although he has much more variety of form, shapes and complexity than the older character, he has still managed to become one of the most iconic in video game history. Why is that, we wonder. Let's take a look at the next two 'Basic Principles' of character design.
My character must have personality and purpose.
The last two principles are distinction and originality. A character must stick boldly out of the water, or else sink into the depths of irrelevance! Whilst Japan's famous 'Anime' art styles have grown ever more popular over the years, Characters like Cloud Strife were distinct enough to be set apart and remembered, where so many other designs have been left and forgotten. Infamous for clutter and far too many belts, whilst many over-complex Eastern characters lack any impact and are completely forgettable, there are many legendary character designs that struck the perfect balance between complexity and simple form.
In the Western world, another famous character known as 'Master Chief' of the Halo series, broke free from the mold of generic space marines to become renown the world over. Again, this character managed to be detailed and deep, without over-complexity. Donning a symmetrical suit of battle Armour and no visible face, the master chief blew his way onto the screens of xbox owners again and again. Being faceless allowed players to more easily place themselves in the chief's boots and, whilst he also retained a simple form and silhouette, upon closer inspection his Armour was intricate and textured. Memorable, simple, but also able to keep up with the graphical demands and quality demanded by modern the gamer. Though the role of 'Space warrior shooting guns at loads of aliens' had been common for years, Master Chief's design was visibly distinct enough that he could be easily told apart from characters of other universes, such as 'Gears of War' or the Warhammer 40k universe. It takes a concoction of all these factors to make a truly groundbreaking and memorable character. So how do people go about actually making them?
My character must be distinct and unique.
For some excellent resources and the source of much of my information (and quotes), check out John Kricfalusi (JohnK), Chris Oatley(.com).
A lot of other people on the web are also sharing their views. Oh, and Disney have a bunch of stuff too.
One of the most prominent methods of character conceptualization lies in silhouettes and silhouettes thumbnails. As previously mentioned, there is no strict criteria to decide how to begin physical character development, however, for those who choose to utilize it, silhouetting can be a very rewarding preliminary technique. This technique is very widely used in many art forms across media, so it seems a natural starting point. The idea is to create base forms and shapes in black to create potential 'silhouettes' for characters. This is important because it is believed that a well designed character can be recognised purely from its silhouette.
Marvel and DC characters
Take for example this collection of popular super hero characters. Many of them are very simple in form, but I guarantee most people browsing this forum could tell you who each and every one of them are, or at least most of them. The basic shapes and features of these silhouettes is enough to recognize and remember them by. Even characters such as spider-man, who have no unusual protrusions beyond the human form can be recognized purely by his posture. This is testament to how well designed and settled these characters are in our minds. This idea ties deeply into the founding principles of distinction. Even as simple as they are, they are distinct.
However, when designing a character who has yet to become well-known, silhouetting has other value has a design technique. "Silhouette thumbnails are among the most helpful and productive methods of design when it's necessary to produce a large quantity of variations of concepts within a short period of time". It is a quick and effective method for putting out a large number of base forms from which to eliminate options and narrow down the selection of designs that stand out as prominent and distinct. often, the 'stand out' factor is not always important at this stage, as promising silhouettes can be taken and developed further. The important thing is that they fit the creators criteria and provide many quick options.
The Skillful Huntsman, Mike Yamada
Though it is very useful for creating characters, it has vastly more potential when creating creatures that are not human, as they have no requirements for shape and form. For some excellent examples, look up Mike Correrio and Feng Zhu.
Do you have any art that you've done?
Kathryn Hulme
A sword for a samurai, or a tutu for a ballerina, are typical shapes with distinguishing features with no detail necessary. Such striking iconic shapes allow for a particular design to stand out among other characters or creatures. Similarly, my goal is to find a silhouette strong enough so that it becomes easily recognizable from a distance to the person playing the video game or watching the film, for example. In this vein, knowing my basic conceptual idea of a futuristic sky-pirate, I felt it would be beneficial to incorporate iconic images within my silhouettes. I adapted the shape of a peg leg, manipulating the image into a gun shaped peg leg, and used a classic pirates hat and captains coat. the third of my silhouettes has a sort of 'desert pirate' theme, with a bandanna and eastern feel to it. I'm considering adding a robot parrot too!
I made a number of messy black scribbles using many different brushes in Photoshop. I chipped away at them all with the erase tool to try and make sense of the mess I had made. I managed to feel like "I can't even scribble as well as the pros...". I completely removed most of them, some even coming out like complete gun-dam robots and chose the only three I thought were decent. I cleaned them up, and made small alterations with images that had influenced me for them in mind. These three were the ultimate results.
I have used silhouettes before and to varying degrees of success. I feel that there is probably a trick to keeping the original shapes constrained enough to be useful, and that it is not as random as I have made it myself. Whilst using different brushes was probably a good experiments, ultimately I found it difficult to find useful shapes in the large black messes I made. Ultimately, It was required that I vastly alter the outlines of the silhouettes to make my forms. Also, I did not have a specific set of requirements in mind when drawing them, which probably would have aided the result. Instead, besides the gunleg, other 'pirate-y' assets were added in after the initial doodles.
I can certainly see the value, particularly when you need a large number of quick designs. If I were crating a whole cats of characters, for example, a huge quantity of these silhouettes would probably result in many great options to advance. I thought it was better to only take a few through also, because the next stage actually builds upon this one, and it would be a lot of work to develop many silhouettes that will simply be left behind when I also have other techniques to try out. I'm not too keen on no.3, but I very much like 1 and 2.
The second stage, or second technique, is often used alongside or instead of silhouettes due to their similarity. Adding 'Value' to silhouettes is also a natural next step, as they compliment and fit into one another very well. Value is present in all design, it is the lightness or darkness of an object, regardless of colour and saturation; the idea behind value design is to lighten the colours onto a black silhouette usually with different shades of grey where details would exist on the character. This is most commonly translated onto the character from where light would be reaching the design, or from where the viewer would be perceiving them. It can also be used to outline specific aspects of a silhouettes, such as equipment, patterns, and clothing. You could consider this stage to be where the actual 'design' of the character begins. You fill in the darkness.
Feng Zhu
This wonderful example by Feng Zhu shows a strong use of value. As there are still many dark areas, you can get an idea of what the image was like as just a silhouette, the outline still exists. Usually, value is used to show strength of light and shadow on a design, but on mine I focused more on detailing what lurked within the silhouette. This is because I intend to cover colour and light separately. The example below shows value used in the same way that I have, as I almost feel like I need to justify my lack of depth! I'll improve, I promise.
Mike Corriero
Don't worry, I've already done most of the work, I'm posting retrospectively because I was supposed to be keeping log as I was going and had no idea. You will have work to critique sooner rather than later!
The important thing is each of the designs have aspects that stand out even just from their silhouette. the value work has added depth and detail to the silhouettes, and have layed out a good foundation to build upon should I choose to take them to another stage.
Though value designs are often used where light may hit a silhouette, equally, value design may be manipulated so that any part of the design could be the focal point i.e. on the garments and costume of the character to provide depth and detail. I decided that using the value to focus on garments rather than just the lighting itself was more visually striking and served the important purpose of adding a sort of 'Pecking order' between the designs. Moreover, I felt that using value flatly i.e. using blocks of differing shades of grey is in a sense easier for the eye to understand as the entire model is on display, therefore there is no guesswork as to what could be hidden in the darkest parts of the image lacking highlighting. Most importantly, I felt that by separating each unique piece on a character into its own unique value would also help it read as its own distinct element.
One route you can take towards designing a character is building from the outside inwards. What I mean by this is to consider the world the character has come from, their origins, their personality, their lifestyle. When you think about what you character needs to be, you have a stronger starting point from which to develop. This lends itself well to the first principle of character design, the characters form must suit their function, and this can be taken in reference to their in-story needs. I'm uncertain if there is a name or term for this method, so I'll just call it 'Need based' design.
So, let me consider now what you could expect from a pirate theme and from a futuristic theme. My character is a male 'SKY-pirate'. Firstly, let's consider that my character is a pirate captain. The conventions of pirate captains dictate that, generally, they have a hefty pirate captains hat, a captains coat, usually a long coat, and often they have a companion animal such as a parrot or monkey. Features such as missing eyes and peg legs are not limited to captains and can be used for any pirate, same as with bandannas. However, as they will help to distinguish my character as a pirate I will try to contain as many of these factors as I can. For cybernetic or futuristic aspects, 'm thinking either of sleek looking Armour types and visors, or of cybernetic enhancements, such as replaced limbs and enhanced organs. However, what we are talking about is a pirate, ultimately. And whilst they may have an airborne ship (sky pirate!), pirates are bands of criminals and thieves, so whilst the future aspects may be present, I suspect it would be more fitting for them to me more rusted and 'out-of-date'rather than pristine and top of the line, like you would expect of a future soldier. The idea is that they stole what they have, and it needs to last them a long time.
Sam, Metal Gear Rising (Platinum games)
This early concept art from metal gear rising shows a very good, albeit more 'over the top' example of cybernetic enhancements. Whilst the game has many good examples, I chose this one because the character's only significant enhancement is an artificial arm and some slight armoring. I choose this earlier concept art because, compared to his final design, it appears more blocky, more human and much less 'clean, pristine and clinical'. he looks more rough around the edges than his final design, which is appropriate for someone who is a pirate!
So, I will not compile a list of features for my character specifically, which I will utilize as a foundation. I will draw these aspects separately and then attempt to tie them together. I will not be writing an in-depth back-story for this character, beyond the fact that he is an experienced sky pirate captain with several enhancements.
BASIC CONSIDERATIONS:
Peg Leg, eye patch, worn weaponry, captains coat and hat, physical fitness.
Cybernetic enhancements, replaced limbs, rusted technology.
Strong and imposing, leadership, physical strength OR cunning.
Experienced captain, should probably have scars and muscle definition.
IDEAS/BRAINSTORM:
Peg leg replacements, ether full limb replacement, or makeshift replacement. (I still love the gunleg idea, could consider other weaponized bodyparts)
Cybernetic eye-patches make sense, or a fancy eye replacement instead. Maybe even a whole chunk of the face could be replaced. -> Wounds could show internal changes, wired and cables, organ enhancements?
I can't imagine pirates having sleek suits of battle Armour or anything like that, and they would lose their piratey-ness without the classic hat or coat, which better suits the need for ruggedness. They still need to be identified as pirates. I would consider having some partial armoring though, such as a guarded sword arm or shoulder, or life-support functions like respirators would be OK, a-la Darth Vader. That sort of large, imposing 'more machine than man' type idea would suit the character very well.
I will keep thinking and draw up some more designs with all of these considerations at the front of my mind.
While I'm assuming this works REALLY well for the class that you're providing this for, just hopefully recognize that this flood of text with some images may NOT be the best way to communicate your idea for characters quickly. If you can, just provide thumbnails and at most some text over a reference sheet explaining details here and there.
Might want to number your thumbnails so we can quickly call out the one we write about.
Thanks for the numbering suggestions. I would not normally bother posting much in the way of 'research' full stop were I posting my personal stuff, but you are right in that I'm posting it all to tick boxes and get me marks on my course. On the bright side, maybe someone will find it useful, you never know!
First thing is first, all of the hairstyles (marked with H#) could be valid. I don't want to eliminate any of them this early, because whilst they all function well enough alone, it is hard to say which would function well with the final design. With the awful combination-design, H3 looked best suited, but we can forget about that existing for now. The two different arm replacements (A#) look interesting, but I feel that A2 looks much too clunky for what is already a bulky character. It could be used, but probably not in tandem with other changes, such as leg replacements. On this note, I think it is important not to overload the character. I think perhaps one limb replacement, one eye replacement and a couple scars is plenty to be honest, or else there may be too much going on.
I was actually quite fond of the life support and respirator, but I feel that it's way too star wars inspired, and again, makes the character much too clunky in tandem with the rest of the features. With regards to the scars, I do like all three sets. I feel as though the eye scar justifies the eye-patch / eye replacement, so I't could be necessary, but I'm also very fond of the three slashes from the neck up, which I took from one of my silhouettes. I may use both, I shall ponder the matter. Whilst the classic eyepatch will always look good, I feel like it would be a slight cop-out not to mix it up a little. lastly, I was fond of both the rifle and shotgun leg designs. With the compilation I tried to combine both the shotgun and the cannon designs (G1 and G3). It looks alright, but having the cannon functioning might be a little over the top.
I made the following page up using the work I have done so far, and pointed out the places where I utilized aspects of scamper to combine and rearrange between the designs.
The majority of the design uses the second silhouette as a foundation, as it is my personal favorite. the red, circled aspects are ones I have chosen to keep in the final design. This includes 3.(the coat) with the trim design of 2. I have not drawn this on this page. I decided to replace silhouette 2's trousers with the more decorative design of silhouette 3, but I'm unsure about keeping the studs all the way around the main leg area. I ultimately opted for the gunleg idea rather than the leg replacement. Honestly, I was fond of the idea from the start. I ended up using the Shotgun/cannon combination for the base form, but I removed the actual cannon. This makes it seem more like a huge stump with a shotgun attached, which I think is about right for the design. Besides the image, I'm considering adding leg Armour to the un-injured leg.
Due to the nature of S.C.A.M.P.E.R I feel as though it makes a fitting final stage to the design process. As i have strict deadlines, I must speed on to the building process with this design, the culmination of previous stages!
This is the base mesh I created in 3DSMAX for the main aspects of the character.
I'm missing a large number of screenshots that I had of the early modelling stage. I will just power through and try to post stages that I have completed. Here is a closeup of the face. I kept it simple as It will change a lot during sculpting.
Whilst the anatomy is not perfect, I managed to sculpt it much faster than previous models, which I feel means I'm improving!
I modeled the coat resting on his shoulders, and began the other assets too.
This screen capture shows most of the base forms done! I've tried to model the folds of the trousers tucked into his leg armour, but I'm having a VERY hard time with hard surface as I have little experience and I'm a bit lost!
This is my polypaint reaching it's end. Honestly, I feel as though at some point towards the end, it changed direction completely from what I wanted, It seems to look much more stylized now, and less serious than I had intended. Take a look at the difference.
I feel like he ended up looking like a Pixar character, his face most of all. REALLY not what I was going for, but it shows my inexperience.
Whilst I'm certain that there are many methods I did not manage to find with free resources, I actually have become quite fond of the ones I have researched. Besides the 'plot based' design, which I feel should be used more 'in conjunction with', I' like using all of them together. They all seem to flow naturally into one another, particularly Scamper, which wraps up a design nicely. I feel as though these 'methods' of character design could ultimately be stages of character design instead.
The modelling stage was all a bit inadequate in the end. Whilst it's one of the better models I've made so far, and only my third complete model, That's not saying much. The coat was left dull and uninspiring; It could just as easily been a red blanked at been as significant, but less of a hassle. I missed aspects of the design such as the shotgun shells and walking stick, the latter of which I did not bother to add because I had so much trouble posing my model that I gave up and kept the A pose. My first full polypaint also left much to be desired as I had a great deal of trouble finding and matching colors together, especially for the skintones. Instead of wasting what precious time I had left on fiddling with it, I kept it simple, darkening crevices and warming up blood pools in the face for a bit of colour.
The main thing I need to learn is how to sculpt and paint metal, because I simply cannot do it currently. As for things I did well... perhaps just the bodu sculpture, which is the only thing I had done once before, so it makes sense. I'm going to keep this design, and use an older save file to recreate it to the level and design that I intended, but that will be in my own time unrelated to my assignment.