Character Design
In relation to my protagonist for my practical, I have looked at various different styles and decided on a very blank, simple design as not to detract away from the main purpose of the animation, and the other stylised features such as the set design. I have tried incorporating the same black and white style that I wished on using as this was what made Darryl Cunningham's work stand out to me and inspire me to make a piece regarding mental health.
The character will feature large eyes, making the expression very obvious and clear to the audience. Large eyes have a certain amount of appeal, especially with children, so this will be useful in making my character identifiable and loveable. Their body will very bendy, with exaggerrated movement on the limbs to make their mood very distinct and dramatic. I planned on keeping them androgynous as not to make their story biased towards any particular gender - I want the message to be understandable that mental illness can affect anyone!
No nose is needed, of which I discovered during the 'design and sketching out ideas' period. I felt this because a nose is only really needed to show a clear connection between the character and their direction in which they're facing, and that's not really too important here. I wanted to keep them as simple and minimalistic as possible to contrast with a possibly very-well detailed environment.
I have researched Tim Burton and German Expressionist styles and felt they were too complex and detailed for what I was trying to achieve with my character. Below are some of the sketches I whacked out in the design process.
After playing about with the above style of eyes, no nose, and mouth, various comments and helpful feedback led me to change this design and refine my ideas more. It was suggested that giving the character a nose and no mouth would not only define the face a little more, help it feel more stylised and less "flat", no mouth would help give the impression that the character was "expressionless" and virtually unable to smile, express themself, and show meaningful emotion that wasn't influenced by mental health. The smile was suggested to only appear right at the very end, when the they finally seek help and there is a glimpse of hope. Below are some more refined designs showing the bendiness and fluidity of their body (and fluidity of their gender as none is made obvious in these designs, I feel).
