Character Ideas

   I have begun my research into creating my own character by essentially giving myself no limitations on what I draw. The animation is to be shown on the childrens TV network CBeebies so I am aware that later on this might require me to refine my characters if they are unsuitable. However, at the moment my aim is to create something that I really love and want to develop. Here are some of the drawings I have come up with so far.

The Demon King Sketches

The Anomaly Character Sketches

Different Head Sketches

Character Parade 1

Character Parade 2



Character Research

As mentioned previously my aim at this stage of the project is to create characters that are both  unique and individual. I began by focussing mainly on the "heroes," of animation between 1930 and 1960. Now however, I'd like to draw focus away from this and move onto something slightly different.

   To create a character that is orignial whilst maintaing the style of classic animations the best direction for me to take my research in is towards animators and their characters that have already achieved this. Looking back at animations that I loved as a child seems like a logical way to go about this task.

To name just a few, Thomas the Tank Engine (possibly my favourite of all tank engines) made his first story book and TV appearance in 1984, and, like many of the old school characters remains quite an inconic figuire even today. The Pink Panther made his celebrity debut in the opening credit sequence for the original 1963 Pink Panther movie. This title sequence was so widely enjoyed that he was subsequently given his own animated short series, winning the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film for "The Pink Phink."

   "Hack n Slash," are two characters of particular interest to me as during the 90's they pretty much pulled off what I am trying to do here and now. They are a villanous tag team from a TV show called "ReBoot." They are not by any means widely known characters today but at the time Reboot was the first fully computer generated TV series and this made a distinctive impression on me. These particular characters, despite being villains were also a source of comic relief by continously failing to carry out their schemes.

   What I'm really hoping to take away from this stage is a definitive, solid atmosphere for my animation. I do not want the characters to feel in any way disconnected from their environment, like they do not belong there or vice versa. Instead I want it to feel like a whole finished package, like the characters would not belong anywhere else and for their personalities to be unquestionably theirs. Inconsistency in this area is something I notice frequently from practicing animators and in my opinion is something that will make or break a good piece of work. Quite often an environment will look as though it was made before it is decided who or what will inhabit it, or an excellent character will not have enough supporting substance to the environment around it to make it look at home.

HND 3D Animation - Funny Foibles

   The aim of this first project is to create a 45 second 3D animation, the main theme of which is to be "The Chase." The basis for this theme is that we are looking and taking inspiration from animations created between 1930 and 1960.

    The most famous animated features of this era were undeinably the works of four major animation and film companies. These were Disney, Metro Goldwyn Mayor, Warner Brothers and Hanna Barbera. From these companies came works of art that captured audiences and remain legendary to this day. To name a few, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and Tom & Jerry have all gone down in history as icons of their industry.

   The first step in my research so far has been to indetify these iconic characters, look at what made them famous and see what they had in common. What I found was that where the characters themselves are very different from each other, both aesthetically and through personality, they all have a unifying bond that keeps a similar trend running through their cartoons.

    What makes these characters, all of differenet shapes and sizes (even species,) similar to each other? I find that it always seems to be style in which they are portrayed and more importantly the way that each character moves that keeps them alike. Almost every character from Bugs Bunny to Felix the Cat has the ability to bend, twist and run in ways that would be unimaginable in real life. The ability to morph ones form to suit each exact situation is a real staple of the time period. Exaguration of movement is emphasised to a point where the motion itself becomes the joke. This could be considered the purest form of comedy within animation as it requires nothing but itself to create humor.

   A personal goal I have set myself with this project is to create something completely unique. Whilst I would still like to convey alot of the classical animation influence through the personality and movements of my character, the character itself I hoped would be more reflective of modern animation and our current stage in the industry. A modern animation remineniscent of the golden age in summary. I feel that this is probably quite fitting as one of the first issues I  identified was that while we are looking at characters such as Bugs, Daffy and Mickey, these guys were all animated in classical 2D which was where their charm and hilarity came from for me. Trying to transfer this atmosphere over into 3D and to not lose to much of the effectiveness is a challenge I look forward to.