Personal Development and SWOT Analysis: Mushroom Character - Magic Mushroom

In my previous illustration I set two targets once again they were 1. To explore the recreation of the design using a different expression to see how this impacted the design and 2. Explore the development of a magic mushroom based character. I chose to go with the colouring of my original colour scheme which is based around the concept of magic mushrooms with their purplish caps so I felt this would work perfectly.

I reused the pose from my previous experiment as previously discussed and began investigating the use of different expressions. I ended up creating completely unique eyes for this character made from loose spirals as if to insinuate they are under the influence. I also chose to leave the brow line marks as I felt this once more boosted this perception and felt they worked well together. I decided to create a new mouth entirely, one that would fit with the rest of the aesthetics of the design. For this I chose to create a form which portrayed the character as being in a sense of wonder with their mouth slightly agape.

I feel these decisions worked really well for the purpose of this character and so I decided to begin the development of an ‘environment’ for my design. I didn’t want to create anything too detailed or literal I wanted it to more portray and experience of what the character is perhaps seeing around them. I wanted the design to appear loose and free, which is why I chose to incorporate various textures and colours within the completed version of this illustration.

SWOT ANALYSIS:                   

Strengths:

• I really like the way the overall image appears with the background design and I really like the way the textures and colours interact with one another to create a more psychedelic appearance.
• I feel my speed in developing these characters has definitely improved, allowing me to explore different expressions and variations before jumping head on into the development of anything more thorough which I feel is extremely useful.

Weaknesses:

• Most of the original colour of the character has been lost in the illustration with the alterations, losing the subliminal messaging that the mushroom themselves is based around the magic mushroom, which may not be completely effective if I create a realistic series but could work well in a fantastical setting.
• Although the character remains clearly visible within the colourful background I think my choice of using a Gaussian blur effect on my bubble layer has caused them to become far too grainy and no longer as striking as I’d hoped for.

Opportunities:

• I feel there could be great opportunities with this characters design and concept, perhaps I could develop them as part of the narrative or use them in standalone psychedelic illustrations.
• I would be interested in sharing this design on my social media platforms to see the responses of the audience and whether this character design could be something worth developing further.

Targets:

• Return to the development of my villain character pose design and work on colour value before considering the development of fully-fledged environments. I’ve chosen to reuse the pose from my villain character as I really liked its versatility and it was interesting to work with.
• Take inspiration from my brief research into the mushrooms of Blackreach from Skyrim to enhance the colour values and make their species stand out due to higher contrast. I want to try working with both purple and blue for the next design as I find them complimentary and well-suited for the purpose.