The Character
The player character from the GDD is an ethereal magical being. She is a young forest keeper learning how to help the animals and environments throughout the game. Her physical appearance is heavily inspired by nature and mother nature as well as fairies.
This is the reference board for her. After looking at it I noted the draped layering fabric, long hair and the faceless nature of the images. I imagine not only does this reinforce the mysterious, mystical nature of the game but would also allow the player to project themselves onto the character easier.
After looking at the reference board I looked for some fabric references these are fabric simulations giving them a dreamy feel.
Initial Sketches
After I had looked at the reference and concept art I began sketching out some designs. This was relatively easy the supplied materials let me create an informed design quickly. As me and the other artist were discussing watercolour I also painted a small colour test, specifically to see how white iridescent hair would look. I really like this and my group also liked it. Though I think the leaf veins make her look sickly.
Designing the Dress
It was clear from the references that the characters dress is very important to her characterisation so I took my time with this stage of development and created a variety of options. The main issue I ran into was how these ambitious designs could be translated into animation, finding ways to make the process easier is important due to the tight deadline.
I began by looking for my own reference images and sketching out aspects I liked from each image, also keeping in mind the original reference board.
This is the final dress design on the character. The layers and material of the fabric will need to be paid extra attention to when colouring as if the translucency of the fabric does not show the magical aspect of the character will be lost.
Even though she is faceless there are many different options for how best to convey this without accidentally entering into creepy territory.
The best current representation I have found is vaguely defining the eye indents, keeping her nose and possibly keeping her lips. Though I think I will end up also vaguely defining her lips.
This is the finished design in watercolour. I began with a heavily watered down green and filled in her whole body I then started on the shadows on her skin slowly building up the density of the pigments.
I used purple in the shadows to bring the impressionist elements in. For the dress I worked in a similar manner being careful to not lose the green underneath to keep the look of translucency.
To make the dress look mystical I incorporated purples, greens and blues. I used a black fineliner pen sparingly only using it to enhance the details in the dress.
Colour Experimentation
As specified in the GDD the character naturally changes colour to match the current environment she is in. Now that I have the finished design – her colours being her “natural” ones, I decided to take the image into Photoshop and change the colours.
I used the object selection tool to select each element that needed to be changed and copy pasted them onto seperate layers. I then used the clipping masks on seperate layers using the blending mode ‘colour’ to change the colours but keep the definition.
Though these werent used in the vertical slice, it was helpful to see how the design could be changed.
First Iteration
Once I was confident I was prepared I began drawing the elements. To ensure the character stays consistent over the two animations I drew them both at the same time. Once I was finished with one element I would draw the corresponding element on the other page.
I then inked both with a black fineliner pen using a gummy eraser to remove the pencil lines.
I then painted both of them using watercolour. As with drawing them I painted each simultaneously so the colours would be consistent. When painting I used many of the same techniques as I did on the final character
Once both were painted I cut them out using scissors, this was somewhat difficult next time I will use a scalpel to get more precise cuts.
Animating the Player
Character Redesign Using Feedback from Playtest Weeks 7 and 8
For the final character design in preparation for the playtest in week 8 I wanted to play around with colour more.
To do this I got images of the environment artist’s backgrounds and checked the characters I had. When I was designing the animals I wanted them to stand out against the backgrounds so that the player can see them easily I am happy with this and have accomplished it.
I am unhappy with the character though as the colours feel far too unnatural and bright – she stands out too much and looks like she does not belong.
After analysing this image I want to create an inbetween of the current design and the first colour test as one is too neon and the other too washed out.
Using feedback from the playtest where it was recommended for me to separate the “puppets” into more parts I began sketching the designs and outlining with a black fineliner pen. The goal is by further seperating each part the character will feel more organic and fluid fulfilling the GDDs vision for her.
Whilst I was painting the character I kept the images and references of both the past versions of the character and the backgrounds so that I could make the correct colour choices. I also painted both at the same time again to ensure consistency.
These are the finished designs, Whilst I wa painting I overworked the face on the first one so I redrew it on a separate piece of paper. I am very pleased with how these came out, the colours are more natural and will fit with the environment better. I will now create the frames needed for the animations from these.
Character Design Reflection
Throughout this semester I have tried to pursue more things that align with my career goals of being an illustrator. This has led me to take on the Whispers project and over the Easter break to create a draft of a childrens picture book. I have greatly enjoyed these two side projects and they have helped inform my work for the games development module.
In these three projects I have created and illustrated characters in all of these projects. The most important skill I have developed and refined further is how to keep character and style consistency for whichever project I am working on. Illustrating the picture book before I created the cutscene gave me experience on drawing the same charater from different angles and helped me get used to illustrating with texture and good colour palettes in Photoshop, where I ultimately developed the cutscene in.
For the Whispers project I learned a lot about how to simplify designs but keep the core character there. As too many details gets messy and things can easily be lost. I applied this to the player character by removing elements such as the flower crown, and other nature elements. However what those elements suggested was not lost due to the green/nature colour palette and how the character carries herself.
I am ultimately very proud of the work I have done on the character for this project, the improvements I have made with each iteration are clear and readable and she matches the GDD vision and the atmosphere of our game.
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