Character Design

After my past few posts I've really been wanting to narrow down what it is I want to do for my final project. As I personally feel that 3D modelling is my strongest point that is where I started, I wanted to expand on my skills in 3D modelling by learning sculpting software. Although I thought this was a good idea at the time I now realise that this would have only hindered my learning as it would have been split between two areas. In my last post I mentioned looking into character design and 3D modelling but after reading Bryan Tillman's Creative character design I feel inspired to design characters.

Tillman goes on to talk about certain shapes such as squares, triangles and circles being used in character design. They all have a different meaning, squares try to convey stability, trust, honesty, order, comfort, security, equality and masculinity. Triangles mean action, aggression, energy, sneakiness, conflict and tension. Circles mean completeness, gracefulness, playfulness, comforting, unity, protection and childlike. Here are few example of characters that I have found that use shapes in their design and what shapes they have incorporated into them and what that means.

This character is master Chief from the Halo series. The design for this character looks very rigid and square because of all of the large plates of armour. I think that the qualities you can see in this characters design are masculinity, security and conformity. I have chosen these aspects because master chief is a super-soldier that always follows the orders which he is given,

This character is Tahm Kench form League of Legends. One of the first things you notice about him is that he is fat and round, incorporating a circle into his design. In the game this character can potentially consume another player, becoming one with them, in order to protect them. I believe that the qualities that lend to this characters circle design are unity and protection.

This character is Ryu Hyabusa form the Ninja Gaiden series. Looking at this character I can see that triangles have been used in its design. As stated earlier triangles could mean action, aggression and energy. This character has all 3 of these qualities in game as the game is a fast paced action game in which you have to defeat many enemies in quick succession.

When designing a character I will use the three-point turnaround to display my designs because the three-point turnaround is the industry standard for video games (Bryan Tillman, 2011). Tillman talks about using references in everything that you draw and how important it is to understand the human anatomy. I will start using people as reference while travelling to and from university and insert them in my future posts to show my progress.

- Peter Howell

Readings:

Tillman, B (2011). Creative Character Design. Oxford: Elsevier. p67-84, 85-101, 134.