Character Research

Since I have decided to create a chase scene, I have decided upon the theme of Little Red Riding Hood for the character. I don't think that I necessarily need to have her traditionally represented, but I think it might add to the theme. She is one of the traditional characters of a story of a chase, or of a victim, so is the perfect pre-written character for my animation chase scene. Without having to create a background story by using the little red riding hood reference - a girl in a red hood being chases - I can focus on the animation and the acting by using this simple and already set out rough character template.

This character is called Taokaka and is from a game called blazblue. I liked the hood and face designs as it is an alternative version of the red riding hood image. The face is also simple without detailed features, which I think would be good to portray in my character as I want to concentrate on the body language and movement - so facial movement and detail isn't really relevant. The dress is also a nice shape to model, and I think it balances out the shape of the body and the hood nicely.

This character is Black Mage from Final Fantsy. I think it is a good example of a simple and almost expressionless face which is what I want to portray as body language is the main focus, not the facial expression.


This character is Raven from the Teen titans, and she is just another example of the little red riding hood - girl in a cape and hood. She just gives me different examples of how I could shape her clothing and her body.


This character is a pokemon called Lugia. I have referenced it because I liked the shape of the wings. I was playing around with the shapes of the arms and the hands of my character and someone mentioned to me that they looked a bit like these wings. I like the blocky shape of them - this could make the model much more simple to make, but also aesthetically better. Simplicity doesn't draw away from the animation and the acting, it just supports it.

This character is from a game called Kingdom hearts - which is a cross between Disney and Square characters - making the animations and designs very cartoony and exaggerated like Disney cartoons. I particularly like the design of this character known as a heartless, as it is simple in shape, but the shape still allows it to make some effective poses. I also especially like the eyes as they really stand out, but don't take away from the pose of the character. With this I can create emotion just using body language, but the eyes are a nice simple touch that wont interrupt this.

BUSTER KEATON

In his films, Buster Keaton always kept a completely emotionless face. It was said that this added to the humour of what happens to him, allowing you to emotionally react to his body language rather than watch him have an emotion first. This also meant that he would focus entirely on his movement and body language - which were the most important in those days as his films were silent ones. Meaning that he had to rely on hid actions rather than his speech to portray the narrative of the film.