Character Design: The Character Bible of Ada Sar Tsang

Character Design Bible

Character Design: Additional Character Concept- Dumpling

I know ..I know..I named her after a Chinese Dish again but it's funny. :P

Character Design: Ada creating a Sandstorm Concept

I cam imagine the whole style changing when Ada fights or performs he magic powers in the desert. It could be turning into a Chinese Painting on handmade paper. Oh and her green eyes would light up showing the power of the Jade Sun.

Character Design: CD Design

Simplistic, quick, straightforward..done!

Character Design: China Town in Cavern Concept

This is the hidden Chinese town Ada was raised in and was taught all about Kung Fu. The "Jade Sun" is right outside the entrance of the cave, symbolising the power source of the town.

I tried to go for a realistic style to it but it didn't work out so went for a more abstract one which looks more exciting. I am very proud of this one. I am finally happy with an environment I designed. :)

Character Design: Wyatt's Revised Final Pose

I am so glad I changed his pose. Looking back at the first one I absolutely hate it.
Anyway, it's much better now. And with the jade medallion you can see his source power! Whoop!

Character Design: Choice of Template Design

For my template I wanted to use a soft colour to bring out my work. A suttle Brown is the best and it fits my western theme (desert colour) as well as the eastern(handmade chinese paper). It looks almost like a painting with Ada riding her dragon in the desert.

Character Design: Action Poses

Now that's more like it! They are alive now! I wanted to keep it sketchy to show their structure. I think it works :)

Character Design: Wyatt's Final Pose

I am not sure about this pose. It looks boring to me so I might have to redraw him. I don't think he is directly distinguished as the villain in the all 3 pose. EEeek what to do ....

Character Design: Noodle's Final Pose

I tried using colours that compliment Ada as he will be on her side most of the time. I think they fit well together :)

Character Design: Wyatt's Expressions

His face has been modified through drawing it over and over again but I believe he has a completed character now: sneaky, secretive, sly and always up for no good. The power of the Jade Sun is conquering him and he gradually becomes a solid object-but he doesn't know yet.

Character Design: Wyatt's Turnarounds and Colours

So here are his Turnarounds. It took me a while to work out his really distorted face and the design of his arm but he looks a lot better than the first concept. I am plaesed with his final outcome.

And this is a quick concept of him trying to work out his colours. I will use earthly colours for his clothes to create a contrast with his bright green jade parts. Getting there..

Character Design: Wyatt's Development

Wyatt is finally getting more interesting now and more believable. His outfit makes him look more like a cowboy with a poncho than just a monster. Can't wait to refine him.

Character Design: Ada's Final Pose

She is finally done! (I think) I had a lot of fun bringing her to life and colouring her in. Now time to move on to Noodle and Wyatt for a change.
For her lace design I used an image I found online, including the detail on her belt. For the background on the second image I used The Color Of Website and came up with an interesting pattern from the word Asia. I am not sure if it's too distracting but at least it's a good idea to somehow use it in the Character Bible.

The Color of..Asia?

Belt Detail

Lace Detail

Character Design: Possible Logo Title 1

I wanted to combine the Eastern and Western theme onto the actual title so the audience can get a small taste of what the show is about. I used real Chinese Symbols which mean The Sand Priest (According to my Chinese Flatmate) and put it on a wooden plank surrounded by bullet marks. I hope it works :P

The Possible Logo

The Chinese Symbols (Thank you Kate! :D ) 

Character Design: Ada's Final Expressions and Turnarounds

I had a lot of fun with her. I was slightly worried about her face changing completely in the expressions but it turned out ok. As for the turnarounds, I had to pay more attention to detail so I could get the proportions right.

Character Design: Noodle's Final Expressions and Turnarounds

I wanted to start with a Character which is mostly resolved so I picked Noodle as he is the one I am mostly confident with. Ada and Wyatt might go through some minor changes (again).
So, yes! Noodle the teenage Chinese Dragon. I wanted to show him in a lot of different emotions just to signify that his mood changes all the time. I mainly used his whiskers, his eyes and his ears for his expressions. I love the bottom left one with the puppy face :)

And the turnarounds which I found a bit hard to draw, as turning a 2D character into a 3D one is not easy at all. Thankfully, the creature I was working on for the summer project helped me visualise him better.

Character Design: Wyatt's Development into a Jade Monster

I started working on Wyatt's new look into Photoshop but soon realised his jade arm looked like green goo on his body. So alternatively, I looked into Stone Golems and combined their stone arms with that of a jade one. I got some very interesting concepts done and I am pleased with the last arm design which I think I am going to choose.

Character Design: New Direction- Story and Villain Development

Last night, I spent a long time figuring out what was wrong with my villain for not being interesting. And I found the answer: he was boring- a normal cowboy thief. Not interesting whatsoever. So I decided to add a tint of magic and fantasy to him.

Initially he was a thief and  the thing that he was after was the Power Source which sustained the Small Chinese Kingdom hidden in the caves. I had this idea of him being punished for his actions by turning into what he mostly desired- which means less human and more of a mineral. This was mainly inspired by the Greek Myth of Midas, a greedy King who wished that everything he touched became gold and because of his greed he became gold himself. 

After talking to Justin we decided that what would fit perfectly for my Eastern/ Western story was Jade- a symbolic mineral for Eastern cultures. My villain could be gradually turning into Jade after being exposed to the town's power source: The Jade Sun  (or maybe pieces of it). The way this Jade Sun could work was to give powers to whoever was exposed to it, but the Jade Sun only gives power to those who deserve it and to the ones who have a pure soul and are going to use it for a good purpose . Ada herself was exposed to the sun and got the Power to control the Desert (hence her given name which means The Sand Priest). But Wyatt did not get any sort of power. Instead, he started forming into jade and took him a long time to notice that his transformation was actually making him weaker. 

I really like the moral of the story: Being responsible for your powers. (like in Spiderman)

This story could give the potential of more episodes: Who gets hold of the rest of the Jade sun pieces and what powers do they get? Ada needs to make sure the pieces fall into the right poeple's hands.

These are some rough sketches I did for Wyatt as he's being transformed. He gradually becomes a monster with no feelings and is conquered by the Jade Sun's Power.

Rough sketches for Wyatt

Rough Sketches for Wyatt 2

Patterns and Colours from Jade

Character Design: 7th Workshop- Developing a Gang of Characters

In today's workshop we got to develop a whole gang of characters, all of them inspired by sci-fi genres. We seperated all six characters and each one of us in the group got to work with a couple of them . i got to work on Ariana, the Aquatic Spacer Princess and Boltz the robot.
Feedback: Ariana should be looking more normal- not so exposive with her crazy outfit. Boltz is supposed to be an unbanced machine, so assymetry would work better.

Final Design for Ariana

Outfit Designs

Head Shapes

 Boltz The Robot