Character Design Brief

A summary of the Character Design brief

This developmental process will enable you to explore effective design practice within anthropomorphic character design. This process will begin with an in-depth study into the context your character inhabits as well as your chosen mode of final output. This will be followed by a series of digital modelling and rendering demonstrations using Maya, Zbrush and Photoshop.
You will begin by selecting an existing Film, Game or Book and create an Anthropomorphic character which compliments the existing characters.
You will also need to select an output mode of either 1. 3D Game 2. 2D Game 4. Film or Animation 5. Toy or collectable.
Designs will be developed through the generation of iterative sketches, which will then be rendered as a Three-Dimensional output in either a digital or analog medium. Your final design can use a variety of three dimensional modelling mediums, which will be demonstrated within the workshop. 

Animal & People Mash Ups

Anteater with a suitcase, Seductive Bat girl

Drug dealer Vulture, Smart Grasshopper, Nazi Rabbit

Silhouettes

 Silhouette Experimenting

I haven't played with silhouettes before so when I started (on paper with pencil) I actually found it really hard. I couldn't think outside the "normal" silhouette. Once I got under weigh though, I enjoyed different body shapes I had discovered. 

I tried out my silhouetting on my new tablet (I have never used one before) and I found that challenging too. All worth trying though. I ended up with my marker silhouettes being the stronger ones. 

Research of Different Worlds

Considered Worlds:
The Labyrinth, Pan's Labyrinth, District 9, Lord of the Rings, Never Ending Story, Percy Jackson, Dr Who, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands,Tarzan, Frankenstein, Narnia, Death Note, Alice In Wonderland, Harry Potter.

Narrowing down Worlds:
District 9, Pan's Labyrinth, Death Note

District 9                                                    Pan's Labyrinth 

Death Note 

Final Choice:
Death Note: Death Note is originally a Japanese manga series created by Tsugumi Ohba which was then adapted to an anime series. It centers on main character Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook titled "Death Note". The notebook grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face they know once written in the book. After Light discovers the book, a Shinigami named Ryuk appears to Light to guide him with the book. A Shinigami is a "Deathgod" or "Death Spirit" in Japanese culture.

The character I am wanting to create is a Shinigami -not redesigning Ryuk's character. 

Death Note Shinigami Designs:

A range of Shinigami Designs                                                         Ryuk                                             Rem

Shinigami Profiles; Sidoh                                                                 Zellogi

Styles of Shinigami

Traditional Takes on Shinigami

Left: "Shinigami" by Shunsensai Takehara.
Right: "Depiction of Searching in the Blue Sea by Amanonu " by Eitaku Kobayashi. Izanami is to the left.

Modern Approaches to Shinigami
Anime & Manga with Shinigami

Death Note

Bleach

Naruto

Artworks Inspired by Shinigami

Shinigami inspired artworks

Cultural Inspiration for Character

A Shinigami is a part of the Japanese culture but instead of keeping to Japan influenced ideas, I explored the idea to extend it to other countries of Asia. I feel they all have a similar style but are drastically different at the same time.
I am hoping to incorporate different peices of clothing from each culture and also combine their own stylisation of animals that they paint too. An example of this is the traditional Chinese way of drawing a dog.
I researched Asian Gods and Demons to compare and contrast them against each other. I also researched different Asian warriors as I find their clothing interesting and I think that the personality behind my character would be quite tough too -this could communicate this idea.

Influential Imagery:

Thai: 

Thai God Painting                                                                Thai God Statue

Thai Warrior                                                                                       Traditional Thai clothing

Thai God                                                                              Thai Crown

Chinese: 

Traditional interpretation of dogs                                                                    A Chinese Warrior

A Chinese Warrior                                                                               Warrior Inspired by Traditional Chinese Warriors

Zbrush Experiments: Eye, Ear, Lips & Nose

Zbrush Testing

I found Zbrush a little challenging at the start but I slowly got better as I went. This is particularly demonstrated well with my face studies.

Eye Model

Eye Study

Ear Model

Ear Study

Lips and Nose Modelling 

Study 1, Progress shot 1

Study 1, Progress shot 2

Study 2

Study 3, Progress shot 1

Study 3, Progress shot 2