Character Design Workshop - Week 4...

At the the beginning of the workshop, Justin introduced us to how shapes were used in weaponary/objects to suit the different characters. The examples he used were weapons in The Lord of the Rings pointing out how the battle axes for the dwarves were square, representing power and strength and the swords for the elves are curved/rounded representing elegance and finesse. Other examples included Gandalf the Grey's natural staff and Saruman's sharp and dangerous looking staff. Each design was made specifically to match the attributes of each character. We were then introduced to The Brave Little Toaster because of the objects which have been turned into characters and given personalities. After this, we were given randomly selected rooms, and asked to turn objects associated with these places into characters. My room was the kitchen which was kind of annoying because a lot of the objects in The Brave Little Toaster were kitchen appliances and i didn't want to copy these so i had to think of some other ideas. In the end i decided to draw a chair, fridge and a spatula. I drew the fridge first, but it seemed to cute and child-like, whereas i was going for femininity and elegance. I then moved onto the chair which i tried to make look quite clumsy. When Justin came round, he helped me develop these designs further and afterwards I had no problem with the chair which seems to be quite shy/scared now, however i still don't think the fridge works, although you can tell it's female and quite elegant. The spatula works quite well in representing sadness and the gaps seem like eyes. I then made good use of the time by getting some tips off Justin about the designs for my sidekick and villain, and he drew a few ideas for me. These were helpful because I was struggling with drawing the horse and wasn't really sure what path i wanted the villain to go down, with Justin convincing me that he would look better if he was big and strong, not thin and tall.