Creating Characters With Personality

by Bancroft, Tom; Keane, Glen

• ISBN13: 9780823023493
• ISBN10: 0823023494
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780399578731
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-01
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill
• More Book Details

Summary

From Snow White to Shrek, from Fred Flintstone to SpongeBob SquarePants, the design of a character conveys personality before a single word of dialogue is spoken.Designing Characters with Personalityshows artists how to create a distinctive character, then place that character in context within a script, establish hierarchy, and maximize the impact of pose and expression. Practical exercises help readers put everything together to make their new characters sparkle. Lessons from the author, who designed the dragon Mushu (voiced by Eddie Murphy) in Disney's Mulanplus big-name experts in film, TV, video games, and graphic novelsmake a complex subject accessible to every artist.

Author Biography

Tom Bancroft has been an animator
for more than fifteen years, working
for Disney and Big Idea Productions
(producers of Veggie Tales). Most recently, he contributed to Disney’s Brother Bear. He lives in Franklin, TN.

Table of Contents

What Does A Character Designer Do All Day?

Two Kinds of Character Designers

Where to Begin

Imagining the Characters

Character Hierarchy

Let's Start Designing Characters!

The Meat, Potatoes, and Veggies of Character Design

Shape

Size

Variance

Begin with the Basic Shapes

Doggy Do!

Creating Appealing Character Drawings

Start with a Circle---Again?

Turning Your Character in 3-D

Pushing Your Design

Drawing (Beautiful) Women

Proportions

Curves and Rhythm

Tilts

Faces and Eyes

Hairstyles and Clothing

Four Legs: A Whole Different Animal

Choose the Nature of Your Beast

Importance of Anatomy

Cuteness Factor

Look Your Age!

Babies

Children

Teens

Adults

Older People

Monsters, Creatures, And Personalities?

Creature Questions

Anatomy 101

Shake and Bake

Let's Give 'Em a Hand

Cyborg A-Go-Go

I'm Not Dead Yet

Exploring a Design

Miscellaneous Fun Stuff

Groupings, or Creating the Cast

Variety Is the Spice of Life

It Takes Two

Putting It All Together: Pose, Color, and Style

Pose and Emote!

The Eyes Have It

Go with the Flow

Color Personality

Rounding Out the Cast

Style