Start of Year 2! - Character Design

After a long summer break, I am now back at Falmouth Uni for my second year studying Animation! I chose Animation as my pathway, and my first modules are Character Design and Short Film 1 where we work in a group to make a film for a client. I am especially excited for the Character Design module, since I would love to do concept art as a job in the future. 

For the Character Design module, I started off doing some research into themes I wanted to tie into my character. I love music, so I wanted to explore this being a main theme for my character. My original concept was 'an old soul in a pop world', so my character would be heavily influenced by classical music and Renaissance fashion. For these themes I collected images of musical symbols, art influenced by music, and Renaissance fashion. 

 Slide 1 - Musical Symbols and Renaissance Fashion

I then researched the pop side, to see what fashions and styles I needed to avoid when creating my character. Additionally, I thought about having my character try and adapt to the pop world by altering Renaissance clothing to fit the modern day style. I liked the bright colours from the Pop Art era, but I also wanted my character to try to fit in with the present day, so I collected some images of recent celebrities on red carpet shoots.

 Slide 2 - Pop Art Era and Pop Fashion of the Present Day

I then thought about other eras, and if they would be better to focus on rather than the Renaissance era. I also like a lot of Jazz music, and remembered the art style from that era was very interesting and would be quite good to interpret into a character. I like the bold colours and shapes in the artwork, and it would translate well into an animation style. Additionally, I could use the instruments used in Jazz (saxophone, trumpet, bass, etc) as base shapes for my character. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the fashion, and I still preferred my original concept of a classical soul in a pop world.

 Slide 3 - Jazz Era

I moved on to where my character would be from, and I was instantly drawn to Japan since I have a fascination with Harajuku Street styles. With Harajuku Fashion there's just so much variety (to list a few styles: Lolita, Gyaru, Yami Kawaii, Vintage Remake, Mode, Colourful Layered, etc) so it gives me a lot of options on which direction I want to go in. Also, Harajuku Fashion already plays on up-cycling old fashions, so it helped me see how I could adapt Renaissance clothes for modern day. I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go (black and white Mode style, Colourful Layered fashion, Cutesy Yami Kawaii), so I collected images from all the styles.

 Slide 4 - Harajuku Street Fashion and its' variety

I then started collecting images that combined Renaissance and Harajuku Style, to give me an idea for how I could incorporate them into my design. Funnily enough, this combination was quite hard to find, which I was glad about since it makes my idea original, however it makes the designing a lot harder! I found some runway images of fashion designers who have incorporated Renaissance elements into their designs, such as puffy sleeves, big skirts, head scarves and hoods. I also found some images of Harajuku styles which have some Renaissance elements in them, which seemed to be more colourful than the runway looks.

 Slide 5 - Renaissance and Harajuku Fashion combined

However, I really liked the Mode style, so I decided to explore this further. The Mode style usually uses just black and white, as it focuses on the shape of the garment. I found a lot of the pieces had the big skirts or sleeves seen in the Renaissance. The biggest designer of Mode has to be Yohji Yamamoto. (his official website: http://www.yohjiyamamoto.co.jp/ ) Through his work he defined the Mode style, and he also clearly kept elements of Japanese clothing in his pieces. The combination of heritage and modernization really interests me and I knew I wanted to include it in my character. However, I didn't just want to copy Yamamoto's work, and I wanted my character to be original, so I kept in the blend of present day and Renaissance. Researching the Mode style helped me see how clothing could be adapted and completely reinvented to suit its environment. Additionally, I want my character to come from Japan, so it was helpful to look at fashion that is currently on trend.

Slide 6 - Yohji Yamamoto's Mode Creations

Slide 6 - Yohji Yamamoto's Mode Creations

I also found some books on Yohji Yamamoto in the library, to further my research. The books were a little less current, but they still had some good images. I particularly like the silhouettes of Yamamoto's pieces as it lets me see how I can experiment with shapes, and it shows how important form is to Yamamoto and in Harajuku fashion. Unlike the other pieces I looked at, these books included clothes that included colours. I think the black and white fits the present day, however the colours are a good idea to show the rich royalty colours in Renaissance clothing for my character.

Slide 7 - Book Research for Yohji Yamamoto

After doing all this research I wanted to move onto designing my character and bulking out her backstory.