This week please read the assigned reading and respond to the daily questions on the BlogSpot comment replies. Do this daily to make sure you are getting the reading and responses required. Daily responses will be awarded points.
For December 2nd reading/response:
http://www.brianlemay.com/Pages/animationschool/animation/lipsyncbook/characterdesign.html
1. Based on reading Brian Lemay's article, what are the 5 basic body types you could use when designing your character?
http://www.brianlemay.com/Pages/animationschool/animation/lipsyncbook/appeal.html
1. Again, based on Brian Lemay's article about appeal, in the early days of cartoons and animation gags were used to get laughs and engage the audience. But now, appeal means more than just a character that can pull off a gag. What are all of the factors that engage an audience regarding characters?
http://www.brianlemay.com/Pages/animationschool/animation/lipsyncbook/consistancy%20in%20drawing.html
1. Finally, based on Lemay's article above, what is the role of the character designer? What are the basic poses the character designer prepares for the team?
For Wed., December 4th reading/response:
http://fanboy.frederator.com/post/451800685/steve-lambe-interview-part-the-second
1. In the blogger article by the Fanboy and Chum Chum designers, what different expressions do you see represented when the writer/artist talks about mouth charts and expressions (there is an illustration beneath this discussion).
2. What is the benefit of creating expressions for your character?
For Wednesday,
- Please take the handout Character Worksheet and fill out a sheet for the main 3 characters in your story. You should include the protagonist and antagonist and significant other character.
- Create rough sketches in your sketchbook of the top 3 characters.
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For Fri., December 6th reading/response:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2008/12/appealing-character-design-goes-long.html
1. In reading the blogger's post above, what do you think he believes are some traits of character appeal?
2. In the blogger's post, he suggests that the Hanna Barbera characters (some included in his blog) perhaps had more character appeal than the work of the nine of men at Disney, who would have been responsible for movies such as Snow White, The Rescuers, Peter Pan, Bambi, Cinderella and others. Do you agree, or not? Why/why not?
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3. Think about your favorite animated characters of all time (from when you were a little kid to now). Make a Pinterest Page of your favorite animated characters and their related character designers to share with the rest of the class. You will present these on Monday. You may consider these characters inspiration for your own work. As you select your characters to pin, think about their character traits, internal/external motivations, physical attributes/quirks, personality, temperament, etc. Think of the character designers for your favorite characters and the process they may have used to design these characters.
The next step in the process for making a story pitch is to illustrate your main characters. We want to make sure that you design your characters with character appeal in mind. This week's work is intended to help you best understand and apply the concept of character appeal to your work. Character appeal is critical for the story pitch.
1.) The 5 basic shapes are: cylindrical, teardrop, funnel, hourglass and bulge.
ReplyDelete2.) The factors that engage readers and audiences are: story continuity, character development, and high quality artwork which all must appeal to the eye and the mind of the audience.
3.) The character designers job is to create the character from different view points and different positions. It is also the job of the character designer to create various facial expressions. The last job is for the character designer, if working in 3D, is to create the character in a crucifix or a "T-pose" to show the character as whole.
1. Based on reading Brian Lemay's article, what are the 5 basic body types you could use when designing your character?
ReplyDeleteThe five basic body types, a cylinder, tear drop, funnel, hourglass, and budge.
2. Again, based on Brian Lemay's article about appeal, in the early days of cartoons and animation gags were used to get laughs and engage the audience. But now, appeal means more than just a character that can pull off a gag. What are all of the factors that engage an audience regarding characters?
The characters needed a charm or something relatable that the audience can connect to. They need to develop the character to do so.
3. Finally, based on Lemay's article above, what is the role of the character designer? What are the basic poses the character designer prepares for the team?
The character designer’s job is to come up with the idea of the character and to give him his own personality. To show the different poses he/she can do. So that the idea can shaped and turn into the desired character to fit the role.
1) The five basic body types one could use when designing their character are cylinder, teardrop, funnel, hourglass, and bulge.
ReplyDelete2) The factors that engage an audience are easy to read designs, clear drawings, and personality development.
3) The role of the character designer is to create model sheets showing the character from a variety of different points of view and in different positions, as well as a range of facial expressions that the character will use in the story. The character is shown in the front view, a side view, a rear view, and a 3/4 front and rear view, and, for 3D, the character is shown in the "T- poses".
1. The 5 basic body types are the cylinder, the hourglass, the bulge, the funnel, and the teardrop.
ReplyDelete2. In order to appeal to the audience, an animation must include characters that evolve throughout the story. These changes make the character more interesting, capturing the attention of the audience. The animation must also have a high quality of artwork and portray its characters in a clear fashion.
3. The character designer's job is to make models sheets of a character in different positions and views. Their job is also to make different facial expressions. The character designer draws a character in three T-poses: a front view, and 3/4 front and rear view, and a side and rear view.
1)The five body types that Brian Lemay writes about are
ReplyDelete1. Cylinder
2. Teardrop
3. Funnel
4. Hourglass
5. Bulge
2)The factors that engage an audience when they are watching an animation are an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will captivate the interest of the reader. These factors come together to form the appeal of a character.
3)The character designer is the person who creates images of the character from various perspectives. These images will change not only in the position of the drawer or the perspective but also the facial expression and position of the character. The normal views are front, back, side and from a diagonal angle. The character designer will normally use the 2d designs for the 3d designs to keep the proportions constant. The simple explanation of the character designer’s job is to create clear models of the character that everybody working on the animation can refer to.
1a. I could use a cylinder, a bulge, a funnel, an hourglass, and a teardrop.
ReplyDelete1b. The factors that engage an audience are gags, looks, storyline, and emotions
1c. The Character designer is a person that draws characters and shows how they are in all settings in the story. He or she models the character many times until everyone is satisfied with the end result. The basic poses the character designer shows are happy, scared, love, depressed, bored, and interest.
1. cylindrical, teardrop, funnel, hourglass and bulge
ReplyDelete2. story continuity, character development, and the quality artwork
3.The designer's job is to come up with the idea of the character and model them in 2D or 3D. If the designer is doing it in 3D, he or she should model the character in a crucifix or "T-pose."
1. cylinder, tear drop, funnel, hourglass, bulge
ReplyDelete2. the story and well developed character attract audience and engage audience to watch it. Even story is good, if character is not attractive or not developed, audience would not like the animation.
3. Character designers' job is to design and create the character which belongs well to story. And character designer has to draw all the different points of views and design facial expressions and other body part expressions. The "T-pose" is basic pose.
1.) The 5 body types are cylinder, teardrop, funnel, hourglass, and bulge.
ReplyDelete2.) The character has to have appeal. They can' just be cute or humorous. Characters have to be relatable to the audience and have good character development.
3.) The character artists have to figure out a characters proportions, scale, volume, and style. The designers have to have a variety of different positions, viewpoints, and facial expressions. The most important drawings are the T-poses from a front, side, and back view.
1) Cylinder, teardrop, funnel, hourglass, and bulge.
ReplyDelete2) Easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development.
3) The character designer creates model sheets which show the character from different points of view and in different positions. They also create model sheets of the characters facial expressions. Basic poses are front, back, and side view of the character.
1) According to Brian Lemay, the five basic body types one can work with are cylinder, teardrop, funnel, hourglass, and bulge.
ReplyDelete2) Nowadays, character have to appeal to not only the eye, but also the eye. Characters should have personality and charisma. They do not only have to be cute and fun to look at, but they need personality, whether it be heroic, villainous, funny, stern, etc.
3) The character designer not only develops the character, but also the various poses that come with it. The character designer is responsible for creating model sheets showing the character from a variety of different points of view and in different positions, as well as a range of facial expressions that the character will use in the story. The modeler, layout designer, and other artists will use the character layouts as models and guides for their own work.
1.) expressions such as: happy, angry, pondering, yelling, really angry, thinking, confused, sad and plotting. These are just some of the basic facial expressions of your character
ReplyDelete2.) creating expressions for your character make it that much easier to animate them since with expressions you can get a clear idea of their personality and the way they interact.
Wednesday.
ReplyDelete1. In the blogger article by the Fanboy and Chum Chum designers, what different expressions do you see represented when the writer/artist talks about mouth charts and expressions (there is an illustration beneath this discussion).
-The facial expressions are exaggerated to clearly express their emotion. The point of doing this is to not confuse the audience with awkward scenes. Making the faces different from one another also shows the limits the face can stretch to and can be used as a reference later.
2. What is the benefit of creating expressions for your character?
-Shows the modeler what the face can do and show proportions.
1) The mouth expressions give more depth to the character. Since it takes up most of the face, it really portrays the characters emotion or character as a whole. A big grin means they're happy or mischievous, a frown indicates sadness, a large mouth can indicate a comically character, etc.
ReplyDelete2) Facial expressions are key to character design. They give the character more depth by adding emotion and personality to the character.
1) Some expressions that I see illustrated are anger, happy, tired, confusion, wonder, and an evil look. These are represented by the shape of the eyes and the mouth and also the hand movements.
ReplyDelete2) Creating expressions for the character helps to create the character's personalities and appearances that the character would show throughout the story.
1.The characters are all expressing different moods, such as anger, funny, tired, and evil.
ReplyDelete2. These expression are all illustrated through their facial expressions, which helps the audience understand the personality of the individual.
1. There are many expressions: angry, happy, sad, thinking, surprising(?), smile. Mouth shows expressions and shows what the character is trying to say.
ReplyDelete2. Expressions shows emotion of character and it looks fun if the character has dynamic facial expressions. And also using correct facial expression in correct story/situation is helpful to understand(?).
1. In the image, I can see the character feeling happy, feeling angry, getting an idea or looking at something in awe, complaining, feeling the after effects of eating something disgusting, fuming, contemplating, feeling sheepish or sad, feeling dreary and listless, and feeling sinister.
ReplyDelete2. The benefit of creating expressions for your character is that the audience will be able to interpret the character's emotions clearly, bringing the character to life. It makes the character believable and relatable to the audience. Also, you, as well as the audience, get a better picture of your character's personality by examining the way he conveys his emotions. For example, a sinister character could laugh evilly with his chest puffed out, his hands facing upward, and his arms spread wide. A different sinister character could laugh evilly with his back hunched over and his hands brought close together under his chin. The first character would have a more bold, courageous personality while the second one would have a more sneaky personality.
1. The illustrations in the interview article show happy, angry, interested, disapproving, having eaten something spicy, angry/severely annoyed, thinking, hopeless, tired and greedy expressions.
ReplyDelete2. Giving a character a expression could help tell the story with fewer actions. Expressions add to the mood of the scene and describe the intensity or calmness of a certain moment. They would also help give the scene more energy, since our facial expressions reflect our energy levels. If we are tired and boring, we have dull facial expressions and when we are happy or energetic, our facial expressions tend to be more lively. In conclusion, facial expressions would help tell the story in a more effective and lively way.
1. The characters express many moods such as happy, sad, plotting, evil, angry, confusion, etc.
ReplyDelete2. This better expresses what the characters are feeling through visual context. No one can look into the minds of each character. This creates a personality of each character along with dialog.
1.From left to right: Happy, angry, enlightened, complaining, crying, fuming mad, thinking, desperate, tired, scheming something.
ReplyDelete2. It can make people like the character more. Also it makes the character more relatable. It shows that the character is dimensional and deep.
1) John K definitely believes that just because a character is simple, flat, and designy, doesn't give it appeal. It is a combination of geometric balancing of shapes and creativity and innovation. You need imagination to give a character appeal, otherwise it would just look like a generic character.
ReplyDelete2) I partially agree. The Disney characters have a lot of appeal, but a lot of them are generic cutouts with slight detail changes. For example, the Disney princesses in essence are all the same, their stories are the only differences. The Disney characters are fun to watch, but they lack imagination.
1.) He believes that character appeal has to have some imagination and creativity behind the characters being designed and that they should not look flat, boring, no color etc.
ReplyDelete2.) I think it completely depends on the person whether or not they agree and that both the 9 men at Disney and HB are both appealing. Disney's characters at the beginning, were mainly humans, which is both appealing but at the same time boring since we see humans all day everyday. HB is appealing because most of their work are animals acting as humans which is creative and a different kind of appealing than that of Disney's early work. Overall, I disagree because I think that both are very appealing in different ways.
1. John K. believes that animators must use creativity and a balance of shapes to create appealing characters.
ReplyDelete2. I agree that the Hanna Barbera characters had more character appeal than the Disney characters to a certain extent. Although Disney does have some creative characters, the style and shapes of the majority of the characters remain the same in all the Disney movies. There are not big differences between them, which is why when one Disney animation design appeals to us, the others do too. On the other hand, the Hanna Barbera characters are made up of an assortment of shapes, making them creative, fun, and appealing to people.
1) He believes that the character should be a balance of shapes and contrasts so that the each character varies in design. The artist must be able to be visually creative in his designs.
ReplyDelete2) I don't entirely agree that Hanna Barbera's characters had more appeal tham Disney's characters. But Hanna Barbera's designs had to have that unique design in each of the characters because their characters were different kinds of animals but when you look at Disney's animal characters, like Bambi, the characters have a softer appeal to them that Hanna Barbera's characters don't really have because they have comedic look about them.
1) The body types are cylinder, tear drop, funnel, hourglass, bulge.
ReplyDelete2) The character has to have appeal.
3) The character designer creates character's facial expressions and poses.