Personal Development and SWOT Analysis: Magic Mushroom Character Development

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Following on from my previous explorations into this character I decided to address the colour values of my character in order to see whether a bolder palette would work better for their design. I chose to reuse the villain pose and facial expression as I felt this could work well with the darker colour palette, not only this but I felt it could be an interesting way to explore the villain character concept further. I used my references from the Blackreach mushrooms from Skyrim as inspiration for my new colour palette, combining the use of light blue and purple within this new experiment.

I really like the impact this had on the overall aesthetics of my character, it made them feel much more mystical using a blue light rather than pure white.

I was inspired by the completion of this design using my villain pose to create a secondary character which would be their supporter. I wanted the aesthetics of this character to contrast heavily against the design of the other character though, which is why I decided to create an intensely thin creature to contrast the weight of the other one. I wanted to convey that perhaps they were not as intelligent as the other mushroom through their design; hence I chose to create their eyes as different sizes as I feel this really helped convey the concept that they were a follower rather than a leader. I also gave this character simplistic pupil designs in the centres to create a 1000 yard stare impression.

I chose to create this secondary character using my original colour palette before making the necessary alterations so it utilised the new palette, as I found it much easier to work this way. I also felt it could work as another community mushroom design using the paler colours with some alterations, if I decided to maintain this colour palette for the villain instead.

SWOT ANALYSIS:                   

Strengths:

  • I love the concept of having a mushroom subordinate as well as the possible inclusion of maggots within the design. I feel this will help provide more narrative opportunities if I decide to work on this project in the future.
  • I’m really pleased with the contrasting silhouettes I have been able to achieve for these two characters, as it helps them remain easily recognisable against one another.
  • I feel these colour options work much better than my original attempts, if I were to continue working on the development of this project I would like to explore the development of my designs using greyscale before adding colour, rather than using the purple theme. As I feel this could really help me build on my colour skills and values.

Weaknesses:

  • I feel there is definitely room for a lot more exploration and experimentation within these characters before incorporating them within some sort of environment, for example it could be interesting to explore more poses and composition styles, as I currently only have a standing pose for my secondary character.
  • I’m not sure whether the clean line work of my initial character and the wavy texture of the secondary character match very well. Perhaps if I intended to have these characters working together I could explore the use of a more waved style on the smaller, wider villain as well to ensure their designs complement one another.

Opportunities:

  • I am feeling much more confident with the ability to incorporate these characters into a complete illustration or short graphic novel following my explorations into colour. I feel the choice of colours I have made during this experiment would work much better when printed which is important when considering the development of print-based media.
  • I would love to explore the creation of this character series further, using the technique of developing them using greyscale before adding colour variations so I can focus on their silhouettes and expressions more in-depth.

Targets:

I will aim to complete these targets once I reach the summer holidays as I feel it is important to work on catching up and keeping updated with my current university modules rather than focusing on the development of a personal project at this time. The two targets I have set myself to work on for this project over the summer would be:

  1. Start working on a short story narrative based around these characters, so I am aware of all the necessary environments, poses and characters that would be required.
  2. Create at least one full illustration utilising these fully developed characters.

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