Personal Development and SWOT Analysis: Mushroom Character

I was inspired by the characters created by the artist Jen or ‘Fair Drop Art’ for the development of this character as I wanted to explore the creation of my own anatomical mushroom creature. I wanted to base the colours of my mushroom around the species Cortinarius Iodes as I wanted to work with a more magical feeling colour palette than the usual standard browns of fungi. The type of fungus I chose to base my character on has a purple slimy cap with yellowish spots which develop through maturity. Due to this I wanted to create an expression which appeared more aged due to my choice to incorporate the yellowing spots. I achieved this using various strokes to accentuate facial features of my character such as lines under the eyes for tiredness, and layers to form a hanging chin.

During this experiment I was attempting to further develop my skills and understanding of using textured brushes within my illustration. I chose to combine the use of heavy textures to add detailing but still utilise strokes to define areas of the character. I felt this helped create a more cartoon style which I felt worked well with the concept of this character.

I was really impressed with the creation of this character, considering it is my first time trying to develop a fully-fledged original character to be used within future projects and illustrations. Due to this I decided to complete a turnaround for the character as well, as I felt this could help me in future if I decided to work with differing compositions and layouts. This is something I have struggled with in the past which is why I felt so driven to achieve it for this design as it would allow me to practice this skill for other projects and designs too.

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

• I really like the distinct silhouette I have managed to create with this character which remains clearly recognisable regardless of which direction they are facing.
• I’m really happy with my use of texture within this design, I feel I have managed to combine styles and brushes to create a much more appealing visual unlike anything I have previously explored.

Weaknesses:

• I feel an area which could be improved is my use of value within the character; I feel if I enhanced this to create a harsher contrast it could boost the success of the illustration. Although I originally chose these tones as I wanted the design to have a pastel palette.
• Following the completion of my design I have realised the shadow on the right arm where they are facing away is actually incorrect as due to the lighting on the rest of the design, the shadow should be on the side closest to the body.

Opportunities:

• I would love to develop a series with these characters and use them within a short illustrated novel.
• I feel these characters could work beautifully in a children’s story if I were to alter their designs slightly and make them more simplistic. However, for these experiments I am happy to continue with this style as I feel this is an area of style exploration which will support my current development.
• I would love to eventually develop a set of these characters which are ready to be incorporated into a fully-fledged illustration.
• I feel it would be good to work on a side pose for this character as well at some point to complete a full 4 pose turnaround.

Targets:

• Moving forward I would like to explore the use of colour variations and how this impacts the overall aesthetics of the character.
• I would be keen to explore a different pose for my character to work on my ability to develop actionable poses.
• I will work on my understanding and portrayal of lighting to ensure my next designs shadows are placed correctly.