Week Two; Character Design - Silhouette

Hello again, here is my reflection on week two! At the end of the week, on Friday, we were given a lecture on Character Design, and how to do, and not to do it, therefore for this post I’ll be speaking my mind on character design.

So first off, we were directed towards Blizzards’ DOTA 2 Character Design guide (http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2CharacterArtGuide.pdf), which took me through all the key aspects of a character, silhouette, value, colouring and pose. To start off I’m going to be talking a bit about the silhouette of a character.

Below are the silhouettes of three very famous characters, needless to introduce. 

Mickey, Bugs, Bart Silhouette
Source: http://www.spellbrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/character-designs.gif

What strikes me as important are the unique attributes and poses each of these silhouettes has, making them recognisable. For instance, we have Bug’s ears and comically large feet and pose, Mickey’s famously stylised ears with big outstretching but helpful hands which imply that this character is friendly and helpful. Last of all we have Bart, his lounging pose against his skateboard tells the viewer what this characters traits are; a teenage boy, folded arms give almost defensive body language so we may extrude that he is expecting trouble, which tells us something about his personality, along with his prop of the skateboard which adds recognisability to the character.

This individuality is also carried out by the DOTA 2 silhouettes, which are all posed differently with different forms and unique props (swords, shields, etc.).

DOTA 2 Silhouettes
Source: http://media.steampowered.com/apps/dota2/workshop/Dota2CharacterArtGuide.pdf

As a conclusion, when silhouetting for a character, one must give a unique pose and props with a recognisable and clear outline of form. When searching for the design of a new character it is important to try different poses, body proportions (to indicate power, weakness, masculinity or femininity), props and forms, as to find the best most recognisable character with good design.

A good example of variety and clarity
Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WL518062YcGFjGGUoWgReKlgpCfaOyxdJRrfQumiFodo4CuCxZtqAlgixoGiQYq3bF1R_IArCVsYj9r0pN4qvEXnZCEtsbiM8uEzJ4Dp79fvBP8WOrUF-voFPcqIYHW15Y34IhV-IOY/s1600/character_silhouettes_demo.jpg