Caribou Film Preview

A quick preview of my film!

-Melissa

Film Sketch

Caribou Trot

Here's a quick work-in-progress cycle!

Caribou Thumbnails

Third Year Film Character

Possibly my final design for my film character this year. I'm really excited to see how one is going to turn out, I'll try to keep this blog updated as much as I can with concepts!

-Melissa

Design Thoughts: A Character's Environment

Hello everyone,

I made a post about a year ago concerning thoughts about design, and thought it was about time I make another.

There are so many things to talk about which affect how we view a character. It isn't as simple as big versus little- there needs to be a reason for that conflict, a definition for what makes it extraordinary instead of ordinary. I decided for this post I would focus on one aspect of design and expand on it.

In nature, everything is constructed for function. It does not design simply to make something look beautiful- there's a purpose for everything, and any feature that lacks a use becomes a burden.

The greatest difference between natural selection and character design is what side each approaches from. Nature approaches all things from the outside and selects features based on outward situations. Everything depends on environment- the more harsh the atmosphere, the more specialized the organism. Personality, though present, is not of importance unless it serves a benefit to the organism's survival.

Character design takes the opposite approach. As artists, we enjoy working from the inside out. We ask ourselves "Who is this character?", and based on the answer we begin drawing. The character's psychology is what determines their anatomy instead of the physical situation.

Both methods produce successful characters for their reasons. However, the best character designers are able to take both elements and use them to play off each other.

I will continue this thought later, but I wanted to end this post with a question: When drawing, do you start with the shape first, or the personality/story for the character?

For myself, I tend to work with shapes first. I look for something that looks interesting and enjoy creating a world based on that character's quirks and shapes. These shapes tell me exactly what the character is thinking and what he/she has gone through.


Thanks for reading,
-Melissa

Croc Run Cycle - Second Pass

Here's the second pass for a run cycle for my film character. I tried to imitate a similar cycle to the Jesus Christ lizard.

Animation Test - Croc Run Cycle

About This Blog

Hello,

I've been considering what to post here in terms of content. Currently the big issue is that what I post on blogger isn't any different than what I post on my other galleries, and since this blog is the most personal of my accounts, I feel like it should have a little something more.

That being said, I think I'm going to make weekly posts on character design. I think this would definitely help with not only posting better and more unique content, but also help me to clarify my thoughts in writing. I hope also that it will make a more interesting read overall than just posting designs.

-Melissa

Underground

Lute Hero

For Robert Lence's story class this year we had a project to take two random words and create a story idea out of it. After brainstorming we pitched the idea in class along with a possible movie poster.

I was paired with my good friend Brittany McCarthy and ended up with the words, "Medieval Life" and "Battle". This resulted in a story about a lute player who strives to be heard at a jousting match. The is the poster we worked on. Brittany drew the lute player and I drew the knights and colored it.

I might be posting more visual development for this project in the future. =)