Making of Integrated Practice-

Weeks 7 - 8

After getting the majority of the assets and planning done for my side of the animation in the previous two weeks, I decided to finish that off at the start of week 8 by creating models for all the remaining side characters. The design process for these were exactly the same as what I went through to produce Talulah, though for the human character designs, I produced my own initial sketches to base the digital drawings around, as I was no longer using Chloe's character designs. I made sure to capture all design iterations as I went through them as I knew that they would be essential to show in the making of to show how my ideas developed. 

Tyrone

Tyrone was the dog that we planned to attack Talulah whilst she was out on the streets. In order for the character design to compliment the motivations and actions of this character, we wanted to ensure that he looked; menacing, rough/scruffy, intimidating and mean. The inspiration for this design came from Chloe's sketches when she was creating potential designs for Talulah, where she sketched a dog which appeared far too mean to be a sympathetic character, though oddly fitting for this character. We were originally going to have Tyrone be apart of a small group of troublesome dogs, however we scraped this idea due to time constraints. 

Chloe's initial sketch

Alternate design iterations

When interpreting Chloe's design, I planned to give it a stereotypical 'gangster' look by giving it a large cigar, in order make it easier to establish as the bad guy and add an element of cartoonish comedy to the piece. however as this animation is dealing with a serious topic, and the situations portrayed are centred around gritty realism, we decided to scrap this idea in favour for some sharp bottom teeth, thus adding to the threat behind him. The initial colour scheme was also altered to prevent too many similarities being drawn to the Beast from 'The Beauty and the Beast', as their facial structure and features slightly resemble eachother.

The  facial structures using simple geometric shapes

Tyrone Character turnaround

Overall, I am reasonably pleased with this character design, my only concern is whether or not this dog will be intimidating enough on its own, without the group that we originally planned to accompany him, but hopefully the facial structure that helps to emphasise his angry expression and features will help this problem.

Cassie

Cassie is perhaps one of the most prominent characters throughout the animation, as she has an entire scene dedicated to her, which is where she becomes pregnant after adopting Talulah, resulting in her neglecting and eventually abandoning Talulah. This character was a lot less 'black or white' in terms of personality, as she isn't necessarily an evil character, although is careless and is the main reason for Talulah's life going downhill, meaning that the character design needed to be more subtle. These following factors are what I took into account when designing this character; she's in her mid 20's, she's attractive, she's unsure what she wants in life, she's single and she's careless. Due to my experience with human character design, I opted to design Cassie and all other human characters, so I grabbed a sketchbook and sketched out some ideas for how she could look.

My sketches of Cassie concepts

My two favourate designs were the two on the second row, due to their interesting silhouettes and memorable and unique features. Although looking the most interesting, they weren't necessarily the most fitting, as one looks far to young, whist the other looks too old, unattractive and mean. So it was for this reason that I decided to make the final design using inspiration from the 3rd and 4th designs down the first column, as there are much more realistic and suit the character more.

Original Cassie Design

This was the first digital design that I produced of Cassie, I was happy with treating this as my final design, however after feedback from Josh and Chloe, I realised that maybe this design wasn't appropriate for the following reason, in an attempt to justify her becoming pregnant after a one night stand, I made her outfit and makeup rather 'showy', which in turn, has caused her to look inappropriate for our target demographic. This was solved by making her clothing less relieving, toning down the makeup, and changing her primary colour from red to purple, as red is a colour used to signify lust and attention.

Cassie's turnaround using simple geometric shapes

Cassie Character Turnaround

I am very pleased with how this character design has turned out, and the process of designing her has shown me how important team feedback can be, as I feel like this was made a lot better and more appropriate after hearing some constructive criticism.

Tony

Tony is the old gentleman character that ends up adopting Talulah and the end of the animation, and is the character that cares for her the most. It was for this reason that Tony's design should help portray the following characteristics; loving, old, passionate and alone. Unlike Cassie, I didn't have to produce a page full of design iterations, this was because there was a single design which appealed to me straight away, and it was found in a page of random character sketches that I made with no connection to this topic.

Random Character Designs

The design that I took inspiration from was the third down on the third column. What made me decide that this would be a good design to use as a base, was the fact that he has a lazy eye, which is something that Talulah suffers with, meaning that it would be more understandable that he would sympathise with her, therefore it makes sense that he would adopt her. It wasn't only that factor that made me pick this design though, as I feel that the design relates to all of the characteristics that I previously established.

Tony's turnaround using simple geometric shapes

Tony Character Turnaround

There was very little change in how I initially (and unintentionally) sketched Tony, and to how he looks above. The only factors that were altered/added were as follows;
- In order to show an even greater resemblance between Tony and Talulah, I made sure that Tony was missing an ear (I made it half an ear so that it becomes more clear to the audience).

- Instead of the smart getup that you can make out on my initial sketch, I decided to draw him in an attire that relates more to the everyday person, and had him wear them in a way which is stereotypical of his age (trousers lifted high on the body).

- The colour scheme of the jacket is yet another way of relating him to Talulah

- The body posture is hunched back to signify his age

These factors made for a character design which I think would do justice to the small role that he plays, though not being as impressive as I found my Cassie design to be.