Week 4 – Second Concept – Character Designs Pt 1:

I had decided to maintain the concept of the young girl as the player character, so as to keep the idea of a neutral character, who would have had no control or understanding of the politics of the town, which I hope will subconsciously add to the sympathy of her position and amplify the power of the anti-extremism message the piece aims to convey.

To support these ideas, I want to emphasise the “cute” factor of the character, which I feel will amplify both the feeling of her young age, and the idea of her innocence in the situation. Thus I focused my research on studying how cuteness is traditionally approached in cartoons, focusing firstly on western cartoons and their style. My intentions from this was to pick out what elements combine to create the look of a ‘cute’ character, and hopefully work these concepts into my character’s design.

A sample of the Western-based cartoon artwork i collected for referencing.

Generally, I found that the western cartoons I studied tend to use flat colours much like the propaganda work I have been studying. In many cases, heads are slightly oversized, with a specific emphasis on the eyes and mouth, which are used to express most character emotion and are sometimes oversized. Very rarely were these characters shaded (though backgrounds were in some cases); it is likely this is a choice made to speed production of the media.

To further support this area of my research, I took the opportunity to book a meeting with Mr Don Parker, head of the university’s Advertising Design course, whose career has included major work roles with artistic departments of western comic and cartoon companies (including Marvel and Cartoon Network). The latter link was especially useful, as I had noticed striking similarities between the propaganda style I was following and that of Dexter’s Laboratory; one of Cartoon Network’s main animations. Male main characters (such as Dexter, the main character) are drawn with mostly straight lines and hard corners, much like the propaganda posters I have been studying, while female characters (such as his sister Dee Dee), are mostly made up of softer, curved shapes with almost no hard edges, much like how I am intending my main character to be.

Dexter's Laboratory's main Character Dexter [left] and his sister Dee Dee. Looking at their designs, i can see many similarities with the propaganda styles i have been studying.

However, I found myself quite surprised when Don revealed that I was in fact considering western art in completely the wrong way; Dexter’s Laboratory and similar animations of that era (such as Disney) were in fact western attempts at imitating Japanese Anime, rather than true representations of western artistic practice. For the latter, he recommended focusing my studies on western comic book companies, such as Marvel and DC, and artists such as Dave McKean, Jack Kirby and Brian bollard.

Front Covers of two DC Comics. Note the emphasis on the muscles of the two main characters (especially on the chest and stomach), and the use of jet black for contrasting block shading as opposed to the subtle shading common in anime-style works.

Don explained that the difference between western art and the anime-esque art I had studied so far laid in their inspirations and referencing. Anime-esque art tends to focus on stylised representation, sacrificing realism for aesthetics (such as naturally pink or blue haired characters), or emotional effect (characters designed to be overtly cute, etc). Traditional western cartoons, on the other hand, focus greatly on realism, especially regarding the designs of characters, where renaissance anatomical study is a major reference point. Body shape is based heavily around bone structure, with muscles and bones particularly defined through shading.

While my project’s simplified aesthetic prevent me applying this kind of aesthetic to most of my characters, it may be worth considering when designing propaganda posters to place within the level; many of the posters I have researched include realistic human caricatures, and shading to emphasise the facial features vaguely similar to DC and Marvel’s work.

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While I have been avoiding Japanese art style at the recommendation of my colleagues, Japan-esque cartoons are well known for the ‘cute factor’ of characters. I therefore decided to return to my previously collected Japanese reference material briefly, analysing it in the same way I studied western cartoons; not focusing on the whole aesthetic, but the specific aspects of the art that make a character a desired aesthetic (in this case, cute).

A sample of Japanese-based cartoon artwork, collected for referencing.

From my research, I found that the methods used in Japanese art to create a cute aesthetic were much the same as the style found in my early western comic research. Characters’ heads are generally oversized slightly, especially the eyes, which are particularly large. Whether characters were or were not shaded depended on the atmosphere the artist was aiming to create, though otherwise colours on characters were usually kept quite plain. Backgrounds, on the other hand, were usually quite detailed; likely because background’s normally do not move, whereas the character will move around a great deal. Therefore, having a highly detailed character would make animation difficult, and significantly increase production times.