Toolkit 2 - 2D week 1

 Week 1

Our first session of 2D toolkit this week was covering character design fundamentals and annotation of character designs. The first thing we looked at was how to make an effective character design. 

What makes an effective character design?

- A good understanding of the setting the character will be placed in:
This includes considering what sorts of tasks they'll have to be taking on, what sorts of materials will be available, how strong the charcater will have to look for it to make sense, their expressions will also probably be effected by the area they're in

-An interesting costume:
The clothes they wear will be effected by their role and the timeframe they live in

-Use of shape and colour theory:
Shape and colour theory can be used to portray ideas of strength, reliability, morality, role etc. Making it very important to consider when designing a character. 

-Heierachy/ Composition/ Balance:
These areas consider how each part of the charcter design is done, for example, if the character does a lot of long distance travel on foot, their legs will probably be proportionally larger than the rest of their body as they will be relying more on their legs in order to achieve their goals, where as a character which is more combat focused will most likely put more time and effort into building their upper half. 

-Depth:
Depth in charcater design refers to the different details on the character design that can be used in order to assertain a better understanding of what a characters role is, for example, if a character is dressed in armour, it most likely that character will be going into combat, where as a more casually dressed character will probably just be going about more day to day tasks.

Once all of these have all been considered in a character design, it should lead to a more comprehensice character design that people can look at and tell what they're meant to be without asking any questions or reading any annotations. However, annotations are still a very usedul device to use on a character design, as you can use them to explain different sections of a design in more detail. There are three different types of annotation when it comes to design.

Types of annotation

Descriptive annotation: 
Descriptive annotation is just telling someone what something is. This could be used to say what material something is made out of, or what colour it is if it's just a sketch

Technical annotation:
This form of annotation is used in order to explain what something's function is, for example, if a character design has a mechanical arm or something with different devices on, technical annotation can be used to explain the functions of the devices on that mechanical arm. 

Analytical annotation:
This is used when explaining the meaning and impact behind different design choices. For example explaining the used of specific symbols and icons in a character design, and the implications this might have for the character's story or what they're based on. 

The team character design challenge

Using what we looked over this session, we were asked to get into groups of four, and tasked with designing 1 character each, covering the 4 general character traits in a team. Leader, Brawn, Brains and Wild card. For this task, I chose to work on the Brain character. We also decided to go with a scifi post apocalyptic setting for the characters, this means the setting will be more run down, and the characters will probably be more prepared for combat.

The idea behind my character design was that he lost his left and arm during an apocalypse, but using his knowledge of mechanics, he was able to make a new arm and leg. I also outfitted him in a more casual outfit, as before the apocalypse, he would have just been a normal person rather than a soldier, he just happened to survive the apocalypse. 

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