Character Design : The Doctor

I really don’t know what I was thinking when I set out to create an old man for the malnourished brief,   yet I still wanted to do a doctor-type character. So I’ve popped a mask on him and all is well again.

Here are a few sketches for the character’s clothing. I’m not too sure, it all seems a little bland to me. He really needs something interesting to make this work, like the syringe strapped to his arm [Fig 02], but more immediate.

These were drawn using fine liner and coloured with Copic markers. I have already begun modelling my character and if you’re interested in seeing the progress you can go here.

Charlie’s Walk Cycle

As part of the Design module for Semester 2 we have to create two full levels from the games we prototyped in Semester 1. We concluded with the game ‘Hat Tricks’, where players have an enchanted hat which, when they wear it, will transport them into an alternate world. Unfortunately, we had the horror genre as part of our brief and I’ve been given the laborious task of artist and animator. You can only imagine the amount of work I have to do, not to mention, I can’t animate for…

I had a major breakthrough today and managed to get Charlie Rellik*’s (the protagonist the player will play as) walk cycle into an acceptable condition! Of course, it’s still a bit rough and it’s only 9 frames, but as I have over 30 other animations to complete and around the same amount of static images, we pretty much have to suck it and see.

Here is the walk cycle in action, the .gif is just a test to see if it worked, when the spritesheet is complete it should look smooth in the program.

*It’s killer backwards.

Character Design : Body Studies

So I’ve laid down some really rough cut designs for the character’s figure. I know it’s really sketchy on my Wacom, but it’s really given me some perspective.

Even though the brief asks for malnourished, I think I’m going to make him top-heavy. I think it looks a lot better with some muscle on the arms, and having the stomach and legs sinewy. Besides, in terms of modelling, the more stylised I make it the more it won’t be restricted by realism.

Character Designs : Old Man

Been on major hiatus lately. I thought I could keep up with the whole daily drawing thing, but my mistress, University, is very demanding. I do get chance to draw daily but no time to post about it! So I figure I’m going to change my routine slightly and post what I can when I can.

Here are a collection of old man head designs. As part of my Character Art module I have to design a character with ‘very little nourishment’. After going through the design process I concluded it would be a scientist/inventor/doctor who has spent his whole life working on this experiment and he’s getting close to cracking it so he’s stopped eating and sleeping. As they are, these heads really aren’t malnourished enough, I’ll get working on another set which look skinnier, I guess.

I’m also torn between whether it should be an evil scientist, a cynical doctor or a steampunk inventor. Must go through design process with these options now too.

Sorry for the blurriness, apparently it was focused when I took this.

Day 16 : Hand (Red Biro)

Day 15 : My Left Hand

This is my hand. My left hand. Here’s what it looks like.

Day 14 : Hands Study

A collection of hands with various reference used. I find hands to be my Achilles heel of anatomy. Which reminds me, I also struggle with feet! I’m fine with hands when I set out to draw hands, but if it’s for a whole figure or a character their direction and proportions are all wrong.

I think over this next week I’ll focus on hand studies. I haven’t completely neglected the systems research I was working on, I just really don’t have the time for it at the moment!

Day 13 : Male Torso Thumbnails

Here’s a thumbnail collection of the male torso in different perspectives.

Day 12 : The Torso

Very, very quick sketch of the male torso. Like I said, I’ve literally no time these days! Though every opportunity I am getting to sketch I’m really enjoying it. It’s such a nice breather.

This is a sketch based on this model. He is very much one of my all-time favourite models and his Chippendale Barbarian style get up really tickles me. I really need to know his name?

I have done a lot of sketching today, but it’s been character ideas so it’s been more focused on design as opposed to drawing. I’ll upload some works when they’re less rough.

Day 11 : Male Body Type Study

Today our Character Art module started and I got given the brief of creating an “under nourished character”. That’s it. I already have a tonne of ideas where to go with this, but I figured the best bet is to start at the very fundamentals. Therefore, I’ve done a study of the male form in varying degrees of starvation. I didn’t use any reference in this study so it could be a little off.

The study is only for the male form as, not only are my ideas for either males or robots, I prefer to draw this form because I can draw it better (I know, that’s bad, I should improve the areas I’m weak at, but there is plenty of time for that when my degree doesn’t hang off it!).