Expressions of characters

An important thing when doing concept art is to play around with different expressions the characters can have and what will be used. This also gives the artist a greater understanding and comfort for the character. So I decided on drawing a few favourite ones i could use for both my characters and also you will notice that changes in terms of the face also changed at this point as i decided not to include a beard for Wee Eck McGlone. This was because although he may be older he is still trying to look younger so therefore to shave him would also add to the effect in my opinion. I decided aswell that Cornelius had to have a more reserved expression as to follow the brief he is the best behaved resident in London Zoo and has intelligence and maturity.

As my design for Cornelius began to evolve I also bagn to work on my other character Wee Eck McGlone which after many sketches and ideas I finally decided on a chosen one which I would be using for him. I tried to make sure that his characteristics conveyed a balding older male who takes his work very seriously as well as trying to keep it simple but lively.

Experimental concepts

On experimenting different sketches and designs I found a better way of giving my characters more life so began drawing these ideas. At this stage I was also getting used to the form and shape of a gorilla and found it quite challanging. As we can see the concept improves as I am progressing with ideas.

The Early stages of design and research

As I decided on my character design I then began to research characteristics if gorillas and the basic body shape they have in oreder to use it and exaggerate it for my animation. I began also to look at various types of animation for older people and see how and what it is which reveals their age. As we can see I began a very basic early idea of what my characters will look like.

I was a little unsure after how to give my characters more life and how to make them stand out more as individuals. I began then to experiment with different ideas

Character Animation project 2009

Hello I have been set a project assignment to design a character which has been given to us from a brief with several options to chose from. I have begun the design process from these characters. The ones available were all fictional and below I will explain what each individual was and their characteristics. Each character is used for an advertisement for London Zoo. The characters were "Williie Billiams"- a nine year old on his first visit to London Zoo with an obsession for spiders, "Pocahontis Billiams"- Willies sister who is seven years old but much more relaxed and wants to be a gorilla,"Wilhemina Billiams"- Willie and Pocahontis' grandmonther who thins everything smells bad and is worried of an animal escaping and using her hat as a toilet, "Wee Eck McGlone"- head keeper of London Zoo who is a balding sixty year old obsessed with sweeping up dung and last of all "Cornellius"- a middle aged gorilla, the most civilised and sensible occupant of the Zoo. As we can see there are very different characteristics and a good variety to choose from. I decided to design and model both "Wee Eck McGlone" and "Cornelius" as I found them more interesting stand out characters. I began my designs first by drawing rough ideas and sketches of what I would like to produce.