Polar Opposite Characters No. 5

Here's my final polar opposite characters, for this project anyway. The aim for these two characters was to sample two different positions of authority. Lionheart is supposed to represent an order of control and order, passed down to him by his commanding officer.

Here we have Typhoon, a character meant to represent pure power. I created him mainly as a plot twist to represent Storm's alter-ego when he gets angry or stressed, which he rarely ever does. He is also different to Lionheart in that he is not bound by limits or restrictions. I particularly liked the cape as it represents authority.

Here's the final design. I'm not quite sure what to make o him to be honest, as he was created due to time limitations. I also think it may limit Storm's emotions and could be out of character for him. I might replace Typhoon with a different character, but for now he's being shelved for possible future use. 

Polar Opposite Characters No. 4

Next up, the birds. This time I want to focus on the differences within a family. I decided to focus on a son and mother relationship, as I currently don't have any characters that focus on the differences between a boy and a girl.

Here we have Birdbrain, the mad scientist of the crew. After investigating with his design numerous times, I realised his first design was fine as it was. Apart from a thin neck, his design didn't change at all when completed.

Here's Birdbrain's overbearing mother, Featherbrain. Unlike the other girls who looked somewhat tough, Featherbrain had to look sweet and innocent. Her design also had to look like a housewife and fairly traditional, unlike the other characters who looked futuristic. I think I succeeded, and overall I'm happy with her design.

Polar Opposite Characters No. 3

Time for the girls to shine this time. This time I'm starting with the enemy, Princess. My aim with this character was to put an emphasis on her ugliness, despite her name suggesting otherwise. I gave her some slight cleavage in areas to suggest her vanity. I was originally a bit unsure about the breasts, but I decided that they added to the humour of the character.

Not much changed during her final design. She was given a bit more flab in areas and slightly bigger high heels, that's really about it.

Next we have Storm's love interest, Roxie. Unlike Storm which looked more funny and dumb, Roxie had to look more mature and cooler. After much investigation, I decided that the circled design looked best as I liked the spiky hair. However, I felt that her current design wasn't feminine enough, so I knew I wanted to change her final design.

I experimented with her design, and fell in love with it (not in a weird bestial way). Unlike Storm and Marco who's eye shapes were more cartoony, I made Roxie's look more cat-like to suggest her maturity. I made her hands and feet more smaller to make her look less manly.

Polar Opposites no.1 Turnaround Sheets

Well, here's my first two polar opposites in preparation for uni. I took the original images and traced over the lines using the pen tool. Once done, I exported the images to Photoshop to colour underneath the lines. I've measured out the characters proportions using invisible lines, and they're pretty much spot on. I might try and do more turnarounds if I have the time, but for now these will do just fine.

I'm really happy with the way Storm has turned out, and is perhaps my favourite character of them all. I added a gun to his belt just to give him a bit more of a cool factor (even though he wouldn't know how to use it lol). I'm still not sure whether to make him speak or not. I added the S logo to his belt and gun as heroes like to shamelessly promote themselves.

Here we have Blade, the badass fox. I like all the visual suggestions I've added to his uniform and body. My intention was to leave people guessing about his persona and background, which I think comes off pretty well. My only concern is if he's perhaps too detailed to be animated, but I'll solve that dilemma soon.

I should have more character turnarounds up soon, stay tuned! :)

MORE experiments...

Time to show off more of my 10 characters me thinks. As with Storm and Blade (the fox), I drew out the characters first and then scanned them into Photoshop to experiment. Circled designs are ones that I chose to put into further development.

Here we have Hooves, a muscular anthropomorphic horse. His design had to show power and evil qualities. I particularly liked this one as it vaguely reminded me of a rugby player. His hair colour will be different in the final design, at the moment he looks like a zebra without its stripes.

Next is his polar opposite, Marco, a flying lion cub. He had to be cute, even more so than Storm. However, he also had to look cool. I chose this design as it made him look up to date with technology while still making him look cuddly. His design will change in the future, as at the moment his ears look a bit too mousey.

Last of all, Lieutenant Lionheart, a brave and valiant soldier. In the first few designs, my original thought was to make him an American. I then decided that because the show is set in the UK, it might be better to give him a British origin. I made an amalgamation of a soldier and police officers uniform, with patches of silver to reflect his rank. I chose this design as it looked like he's ready for battle.

Polar Opposites Character No. 2

This is a post for my character who contrasts my first one. Unlike Storm who's emphasis was goofy and cute, this character needed to portray a vicious and intelligent side. Originally I was going to make this character a dog, but then I realised this has been done to death, so I decided to make him a fox which are naturally quite sly.

The original drawing of the fox. As I had never drawn the character before, it took me a few tries to make his silhouette iconic. I used a lot of triangles to construct the character to keep with his stealthy look. I left the tail out as the page was too small to make it the appropriate size.

Next, experimentation:

When creating his costume, I wanted it to give visual clues to his background while enhancing his silhouette. The tail was designed to look bigger than him for comedic effect. I personally like the one on the top right, it was inspired by dub-step group Nero (which were AWESOME at Hackney Weekend btw :D). I've thought about calling him Nero in tribute to them, which I hope they'd appreciate.

Just in case you don't know who Nero are, here's a photo of them:

Click Here for their Facebook page

Polar Opposites Character No. 1

Hi all, in preparation for my return to uni next year, I've made a short start on my 'Polar Opposites' task. This required us to come up with two characters who were different physically and mentally. I decided to use a character that has appeared in other projects I've done; he is a personal favourite of mine. I've never had the opportunity to experiment with his design, so this was a great opportunity to do so.

Here's the original pencil sketch I made. He was always a bit of a fatty, but I added glasses and a belt to give him a nerdy look. His posture also suggests he's quite dumb as is intended.

However, I took it a step further and made a character sheet, experimenting with his costume to give him a more unique silhouette. I personally like the one just left of the centre, he looks like he should be in a workshop, which makes sense for someone who's so round.

I should have more characters up at some point, don't really know when, depends if I can be bothered.