Character Design: Evaluation

The aim of this module was to create a fully realised character and backstory to influence the development of my illustration.  I chose to investigate two different ways to respond to this, one was to create a children’s style illustration to support the development of these skills, or to create a horror themed illustration based on my current skillset.

I chose to merge these two concepts by combining the theme and style of a children’s illustration whilst incorporating elements of mild horror suitable for the target audience. I had aimed towards the realisation of 2 main characters for this design, my mythological creature which is what I had based my story around and a young girl that lived in the home who fit within my chosen environment for the creature.

I tried to create my illustration based on similar design principles around pre-existing children’s books and illustrations in order to support this process. I was heavily interested in exploring the theme of children’s illustration considering it’s the specialism I aim towards entering in the future. I challenged myself by attempting a brand new style alongside the use of human anatomy and a fully realised environment. I chose to do this considering they are all elements which I have been driven to practice but haven’t yet had the opportunity within my previous modules.

I aimed to complete a continuous self-reflective cycle during this module in order to ensure I was continuing to develop and grow as an artist, with the ability to understand the desires of a target audience. By doing this I was able to work a lot more efficiently which resulted in a much higher quality illustration overall due to the constant re-working of my concepts.

Concrete Experience:

I wanted to ensure I practiced my use of human body form within my characters. Due to this I made sure to base my story inspiration and character designs with this in mind so I had the opportunity to explore these skills. I still made sure to keep my character designs stylised using inspiration from the structure of the human anatomy to create their forms. I felt it was important to maintain a stylised version of these characters considering the purpose of my illustration was aimed towards children; due to this I felt a hyper-realistic approach would be inappropriate. I developed my skills by using lots of primary and secondary reference image sources of both human and illustrated body forms which helped me develop my skills working with the basic structure of a character, by being able to accurately reference particular parts of the anatomy. I feel this skill will definitely help boost job opportunities in the future, which is why I feel it is so important to begin working on.  

The majority of my tasks were completed digitally for things such as sketching and refinement, however I was still able to work on my traditional skills such as my drawing and watercolour during this project which I found incredibly useful as I am trying to be less reliant on digital software for my illustrations. I really enjoyed my exploration with watercolour and fully intend to continue working with this medium in the future as I love the effect it has on the visuals of the characters. I would love to explore the development of a full watercolour environment without the use of harsh borders and outlines to see whether this could be a direction I move towards with my development of skills within children’s illustration.

Reflective Observation:

Strengths

Good use of composition to frame the canvas and direct the viewers’ attention, which is extremely useful within a children’s illustration.

There are plenty of visual elements within the environment for the children to explore; due to this I feel it successfully meets the requirements for the target audience.

Weaknesses

I spent a lot of time working on my original attempts which utilised heavy black outlines which became clearly ineffective during my continued investigations and research. Perhaps if I had identified this sooner I could have improved my final illustration even further.

I had bad time management during this module, and was left with almost all of my annotation towards the end of the project which was incredibly difficult to catch up on. This was unavoidable due to the pains I was experiencing due to my recent injury. However, in future I will make sure to prioritise my annotation to ensure I do not face this challenge again.

Abstract Conceptualisation:

I found I was still really interested in completing an illustration based around the same characters and environment but utilising a stronger ‘horror’ theme so it was suitable for an older audience. I took inspiration from my research findings from the book ‘Behind You’ and the work of Jamie Hewlett for the style of my design. I also reused the cell shading technique I had explored during my editorial module for the development of lighting on my character and I feel it worked incredibly well.

I would love to continue working on this story in the future, I really like the narrative I have formed around my character and feel it could work really well as a fully illustrated children’s book.

Active Experimentation:

Target 1 – Explore the use of watercolour

I was inspired by my short explorations into the medium during this module and would love to continue exploring its use further within the development of my illustrations. I am interested in seeing how far I can challenge myself with this medium considering it isn’t something I have ever had to use for the development of a detailed project but I am looking forward to seeing the results.

Target 2 – Continue my development and experimentation with traditional sketching

As my hand continues to heal I am keen to jump back in to the development of my traditional drawing skills. I am hoping to develop these skills to the point where I can confidently draw fully-realised detailed concepts rather than having to rely on digital support.  

Conclusion

I have been able to set myself active targets to hopefully influence the practices I use within my next project, which I am excited to begin although I currently don’t know the brief for my next project or its requirements. Overall though I am very happy with the results of my final illustration, there are areas I would like to improve upon but given the challenges I have had to work through I am definitely pleased with what I have achieved and I am excited to continue my growth as an artist.