Character Design: 2nd Workshop 27/9/2011 (Working with shapes and different styles)

Today was rather exciting as we got to work on familiar characters and transform them with the use of shapes. So Iturned mickey mouse into a villain and a muscular guy and I experimented on different styles with Daffy and Pooh.

Mickey Mouse

Daffy Duck

Winnie The Pooh

There is an invisible language behind character design which we instinctively take on board and that is the use of shapes. The 3 main shapes used are squares, triangles and circles. The all provoke different feelings to us even though we might not notice it.

Triangles: They have sharp edges which instantly symbolizes danger and threat. Villains are made of triangular shapes which makes them unattractive to us.

Circles: The shape of the circle is linked with human's affection towards babies. Anything circular means safety and familiarity.

Squares: Like buildings, furniture and general structures have a sort of strength to them the same happens with square characters-if we add rectangular features to them they instantly become strong and stable.