New Project- Character Design (SMART Targets)

The long-anticipated character design project. As much as I've been looking forward to this one I think it's going to be difficult for me as I've always struggled with bridging characters and landscapes in compositions. I love creating characters and building a narrative around them but struggle with angles and perspectives so hopefully, during this project, this will improve and I'll become more confident in composing scenes. In the briefing this week, we were introduced to character archetypes which are the core traits, values and responses that generate a certain personality type. These archetypes allow for variety and give a character meaning. Some archetypes include: 'The Magician', 'The Lover', 'The Explorer' and 'The Outlaw'. I started by researching each type and correlating them with recognisable people or fictional characters to get a better understanding of which ones I'd like to use as a basis for my character designs. 

Archetype Research Page

From this research, I created two moodboards for 'The Magician' and 'The Explorer' as seen below using imagery to connote each archetype. From here, I started to develop some rough character designs in Adobe Fresco. 

After this initial research, I had to choose an existing story from either Grimm Fairytales, Folklore, Norse Mythology or Greek Legends. Since this brief was pretty extensive and there were so many avenues to explore, I narrowed it down to Grimm and Folklore stories as they relate to the area of children's illustration I want to pursue and the artwork I create will be useful for my portfolio. Growing up I've read a few Grimm stories and am familiar with the Disney Fairytale versions but I wanted to find a less popular story that hadn't been retold before. This way, I wouldn't be caught up in existing imagery and could start from scratch, generating new characters based solely on the narrative. I took a few days to read as many of the Grimm fairytales as I could and found each story to have a similar narrative, with beautiful princesses in need of saving or characters going on a quest to find treasure and fight evil forces. When I create characters, I like making up creatures and monsters so didn't want to use a princess/castle-based story. Instead, I found a few stories based more on animals and journeys through magical forests that interested me more. Here are the 4 stories I thought would be fun to illustrate.

Jorinda and Joridnel- 1812

Set in the midst of a dark forest, a story about an old woman with shapeshifting powers who lives in a castle. There's a magic circle around the castle and anyone who crosses this border freezes like a statue. As she lures women into this circle, she turns them into birds to add to her collection of over 700 and forbids men from coming near her castle. One day Jorinda and Joridnel trespass to close and Jorinda is turned into a nightingale. After being banished, Joridnel returns to save her using an enchanted purple flower to ward off the evil witch and save his love. 

The Travelling Musicians- 1905

A horse who once belonged to a farmer was growing old, and knowing he was no longer useful he set out for the great city to be a musician. Along the way, he meets other animals with issues and a longing to run away. In danger from their owners, a dog, a cat and a cockerel all join the horse. One night they take shelter to rest in an oak tree before spotting a house in the distance to live in that was once full of robbers. They work together to make a new life for themselves, safe from harm and free to play music each day. 

The Adventures of Chanticleet and Partlet- 1945

Chanticleer and his wife Partlet go to the mountains to stock up on ripe nuts before the squirrels eat them all. They head up and eat as many as they can then make a carriage of nutshells to travel down in. They persuade a duck to pull the carriage but don't treat others with respect and cause trouble wherever they go, running from the consequences. Their selfish behaviour leads to their downfall. 

Fundevogel- 1905

The story is set in a forest and begins with a forester finding a young boy who’s been abandoned and takes him home to live with his daughter Lina. The boy was found in a big oak tree with a bird of prey so he is named Fundevogel. Their friendship grows until one day Lina finds out the cook (a witch) plans to boil Fundevogel alive, so they run away together. Three times servants are sent to find them, but each time Lina uses her magic to transform them, hiding in plain sight as a rosebush, church and finally a pond. The witch resorts to finding them herself and ends up being drowned in the pond, leaving the children free to return home. A story showing the importance of loyalty and friendship. 

I chose to continue with Fundevogel as the characters and storyline appealed to me and I liked the strong friendship between Lina and Fundevogel. I’m thinking of altering the ending with more emphasis on the magical element. Instead of returning home, the children could join a woodland tribe of trolls or creatures where Lina learns to practice magic and Fundevogel is safe. I want to make my own story based roughly on this narrative but its a great starting point. 

SMART Targets

This week I'm hoping to complete all character mood boards, finding visuals that match the aesthetic I'm going for with additional colour schemes, props, clothing and iconography. I also want to start researching artists like Beatrice Blue and Oama Befort who have distinctive styles for creating characters. From here, I'm going to start playing around with character positions and expressions to help figure out how each character will look and act.