Character Design Progress

Quick post on a character I just finished for my Wizard of Oz redesign project. We had to choose two styles to reference and I chose Disney's Mulan and X-men revolution (although im leaning towards Mulan because my instructor worked on it when she was at Disney).



Character turn-around for one of my characters (partial scarecrow kid), I will be sculpting him in clay.


My design for the main heroine 'Dory' (or dorothy). Basically shes a scientist from the 21st century who accidentally discovered how to travel back in time during a tornado experiment. She decided to put her discovery to use and started a business where she would steal historical pieces for her clients. For this mission, she must travel back to ancient China and steal a pair of red shoes for her client...and the story goes on.


Quick color test in PS.

Finally cleaned and colored in illustrator. I wish illustrator uses layers like PS...would make my life so much easier.

Official Mulan model sheets

When I found these sketches and model sheets, I literally felt like I'd found gold. The style is a bit more difficult to manipulate than I'd expected. The line work has a really nice flow to it and everything is simplified and clean, yet does not appear to be too simple.

Theres so much variety in every one of the characters.

These are pretty small (resized to fit my blog -_-), but I was pretty amazed by how strict the designers were with every little detail. Just a slight difference in curve would completely change the original design.

Bigger versions and more here :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tobor68/

http://animationmodelsheets.net/

Shift of focus?

Ever since I was a kid I've been extremely fascinated by game art characters. I can still remember the first time I stepped into Game Crazy and spotted a walk through guide for a video game (unfortunately I can't remember the name of it, but the main heroine had short red hair). I left the store and begged my dad to drive me back the next day because I couldn't get over how amazing the characters looked. After some convincing I bought the book and treated it like it was my own holy bible. Honestly, I'm not much of a gamer because I never owned any video game consoles, so whenever I went to game shops my only purpose was to look at game covers. Dynasty Warriors was another game cover that I fell in love with as a kid. Their character designs were just so freaking beautiful that I almost bought the game just so I could look at the art (back then I had no internet). Of course now I have a giant folder of Dynasty Warriors art saved on my desktop. Whenever im in need of inspiration, I would open the folder and just gawk at the amazing designs. And then Final Fantasy 8 and 10 came out and became ridiculously popular for its bg story and character designs. Obviously, I was beyond obsessed with all the final fantasy characters (still am). By that time I had internet access so I was throwing up rainbows and looking up every single picture, video, info etc on the characters. I'm more interested in oriental style character designs because they remind me of Chinese costumed/ancient dramas which I've been an avid fan of since I was a kid. I've never seriously thought about turning my obsession for cg character design into a possible future career until now. Since taking this course, I've become extremely interested in character designing. I may sound like I'm full of cheese, but I feel like I've picked myself up again and re-found something I've lost since I started college. Maybe it’s that sense of excitement when you draw from imagination with just pencil on paper. But anywhoo, im not dead set on what I’ll be doing in the future since its unpredictable and I still have a long way to go. I’ll still be majoring in media arts and animation, but perhaps I will be focusing more on illustration/conceptual design and 3d modeling. I definitely don’t feel like im cut out for the animating aspect of animation yet, but maybe that will change in the future.

Just wanted to share a few from Dynasty Warriors. Not going to bother posting Final fantasy pictures cause im sure most people have seen them.

(this one is from jade Dynasty an online game)

Just for fun

Promised myself to share more work on this blog and keep it updated with new projects (even if it meant shorter posts)

Just something I finished a few minutes ago...was running out of inspiration for my character design project and happened to sketch up this little guy while doodling. Took longer to color than I'd expected, but he kind of brings back childhood memories :)

Sketch

His right leg is a little wonky, but I decided to leave it because it makes him feel more like a plush. Maybe I will try to give it a little background later.

Its 1:30 am ...time to go to bed.

Super fast post (or not)

No class today but for some reason I feel guilty for spending so much time on the internet. Maybe i'll go make myself some german pancakes, or practice drawing, or clean up my studio and reorganize my toys.

Wait. I just figured out what the problem is. I didn't have music on.

*opens itunes*

My mind is pretty blank right now. I've been typing up these super long blog entries for the past few days, but im not sure if I'll actually post them...maybe I will camouflage it somewhere under a super long picture entry someday. kwahaha ...

Most recent purchase from ebay. I missed the bid on the other knockmans, but managed to get this one. Its missing a string and the transparent cap...but the string is fixable, and I might be able to make/find a cap for it. The rest of the toy is in great condition You can't expect much from a $7 knockman deal.

With his knockman family. Im trying to get my hands on the beige ones.

Last year's b-day present from my aunt in HK. I finally took it out of the box =) each angel represents a different month.

lol couldn't decide between the two pictures so i'll just post both.

Spray painted an ugly dunny. A bit of a fail because I left him outside to dry but he toppled over, so now he's covered in dirt. Im probably gonna repaint him with high gloss paint.

New magazine rack I found in my uncle's old store's basement. It doesn't hold up the magazines very well, but it looks pretty nice!

I didn't know what to take pictures of, but I wanted to try out my cousin's camera in a brightly lit area. Ended up taking random pictures of stuff in my studio/garage (mostly seen before, but more close-up).

Attempt at an artsy photo. I printed this out as a test for one of my previous media experiment project (back in HS). It says, "We say that time is a great teacher. It's too bad that it also kills all its students."

This awesome to-fu box came from a blind gift set my sister got for me in HK. They were having a special grand-opening event where you get box for around $12 USD and its full of random to-fu items. My sister asked the employee to pick out the heaviest box and I ended up with a large to-fu figure and other mini figures =P heck i'd pay $12 just for that cardboard to-fu box.

I don't own many books. I rarely buy books because I know i'll look at it once or twice and never touch it again. Before I had my own studio, I didn't have much room in the house to store books. Most of the time, my mom will end up donating all my books without my consent so I'd rather just borrow from the library (while praying i won't find boogers and snots inside).

As you can see in the picture, there is my 'Starting Point' book about Hayao Miyazaki and his experience in the field. I haven't finished the book, but its very informative ...especially for animators.

And yes, there is an entire series of the Hunger Games trilogy. I was completely obsessed with them during my senior year of HS and now there's even a movie coming out (i doubt i'll ever watch it). I kind of see it falling into the whole twilight fandom hate phase and people have been accusing the author of ripping from Battle Royale (which I have yet to read). That stuff aside, I can't deny that I really enjoyed the trilogy.

On the very far left, I have around 6 volumes of Ayashi no Ceres from my middle school manga-obsession days. I finally finished reading all the volumes after a few years (read them online) and realized that it wasn't that great of a manga...

This part of my shelves mainly consist of old sketchbooks and drawings. I need to find a nice big sculpture/decor to put in that empty area. Gotta go to a thift store and hunt for a figurine I can spray paint with hi gloss paint (probably in a nice bright color).

Just had to show off this awesome shopping bag from StayxReal in HK. Its a brand created by Shin of Mayday and another designer. My sister bought me the two StayxReal mousy figures there.

Speaking of Mayday, I forgot to share this song when I talked about Starry Starry Night the movie. This is the movie's theme song by Mayday (which has become one of my favorite bands).

If anyone remembers my 3d design salt sculpture from two terms ago...yeah, the one that turned me into a caveman for three weeks and almost broke all my fingers. I left it in my super cold studio/garage and its slooowly melting because of the moisture. Part of the salt melted and turned into square-shaped pieces (somehow it went all the way to my other piece). Thought it made an interesting pattern.

Why is Rody up there? I left rody in the living room when I first bought it, and a few days later the face and body was all scratched up with black marks. My mom and I know both knew it was probably my nephews because she saw them trying to clean and hide it, but I know they probably didn't do it on purpose. I've tried all kinds of cleaning methods and couldn't get the marks off. Now its sitting up on my shelves, showing only its clean side.

If anyone knows how to get stains/marks off soft rubber (its a lot like tire skid marks) , please let me know -_-. I've tried baking soda, graffiti cleaners, soap, etc. nothing worked.

My dad got an automatic mahjong table from a family friend. These mahjongs are magnetic and must be used in order for the table to work.

...

Anyways, I took several shots of some of my parent's antique/vintage collection. When I was a kid, I always thought antiques were a big "meh" because they made the house look old and gloomy. Sometimes they were even covered in grimes, dust, etc. and I was a big germaphobic when I was a kid. My parent have always loved shopping at thift stores and garage sales... hunting for unique vintage stuff is like a hobby for them. Unlike most antique collectors, my parent never buys anything that's priced high. To be more specific, they don't like buying from places/people that actually knows the value of their antiques because it feels 'meaningless' to them. It's more about finding that gem among the rocks. Mostly, they just enjoy buying things that interests them so they never refer them as 'antiques' as none of them are extremely valuable.

I think my perspective on antiques and vintage objects really took a turn when I went to about 5 different antique shops in one day (this was several years ago). Everything in those antique shops were priced ridiculously high- at least to me they were because I knew my parents would NEVER pay those prices. I don't know, maybe seeing antiques in another environment made it more interesting, but after that I started to take some interest in my parent's collection. Once in awhile, I'll take a look at my parent's display cases and find something new there. Sometimes im like, "ohh i want to take that, spray paint it, and put it in my studio."

This is like...1/6th of their stuff. There are a lot sitting in the garage, under the bed in boxes, on other shelves, etc.. I also had a lot of trouble taking decent pictures because my house isn't brightly lit and most of the pictures turned out blurry and dark. These are the few that turned out okay. Larger fancier pieces don't fit in these cases so they're pretty dusty (which is why I didn't take pictures of them).

We have this ridiculously ugly and big fireplace in our living room that takes up the entire corner. Im planning to paint it during the summer (if I have time). That area is pretty dusty and gross (good thing you can't see all the dust in this picture =P)

My dad especially likes to collect owls figurines. The bottom row belongs to my mom, some are little toys from my childhood (except for lego hello kitty), some are her random garage-sale finds. She likes cute tiny toys ...i think its in our genes hahah

I couldn't open this glass door so I didn't take pictures of the other sections because the glass was too reflective.

Mainly my mom's stuff. The pandas are mine, the two tare-panda looking ones in the middle were made by me in 5th grade.

My dad likes to collect shiny fancy stuff, he have a huge bell collection as well, but I couldn't snap a decent picture of them. My parent never buy things that are made in china, this might be why they love vintage stuff. Nowdays, everything is made in China. With vintage stuff, more often than not, they're made in Europe or somewhere else with high quality materials and fine details.

My 6 year old nephew has gotten really good at building stuff out of legos. He even keeps color in mind when putting pieces together. This is one of his most recent creations, supposed to represent some new pokemon (I dont know my pokemons anymore). Looks pretty good, right?

Such a cute set!! I recently got this off ebay (again, for a good deal). Its the Hello Kitty re-ment confectionery set (comes in a bento-like box). I love how the pieces look like edible Japanese candies!

I used to own a lot of random Pokemon toys and figurines. My mom donated all of them, but this is the only one I kept because it looked so funny and cute. According to my nephews, its a ditto disguised as pikachu.

The figure on the right was made by me. I was trying out my own toy designs and ended up with that little guy. Didn't like the shape of his head though. I'll probably improve him later.

I previously shared a few of my favorite pages from the The Art of Toy Story 3, but its such an awesome book that I wanted to share more pages. Here are a few shots (sorry, they're kind of small) of pages I found interesting. Its totally a book worth buying.

Barbie and Ken scene.

Character clay models. Im taking a character sculpting class next term and this is probably what i'll be doing.

They took inspiration from a real day-care/school.

Ken's house

Lotso concept sketches. hahaha they're awesome!!

(image taken from vinylpulse, but I photoshopped the ugly original bg)

Spongebob x UNKL collab series!! I quite like...although spongebob looks like a funny bald cheese.

Woohooo one entry down! now i can finally start on my homework =X

Best.Term.Ever.

Im only taking four courses this term, but this is by far one of the best terms so far. I love almost all of my classes...yes, even art history *throws up a little*. Actually, art history isn't as bad as most people make it out to be. Its actually quite enjoyable and definitely one of the more 'relaxing' classes for me. There is no homework (only reading assignments which I rarely actually do) so the toughest part is just memorizing all the works and facts. The whole 4 hour class time is just lectures/slides on historical pieces. I personally find it interesting (most of the time) except im not very interested in the Romanesque through Gothic era because its all about cathedrals, churches, and religious art.

Im also taking environmental science which surprisingly turned out to be a fun and interesting class. I have to confess that before I took this course, I was the most un-environmentally friendly person ever. I couldn't care less about going green and I loved my plastic bags. I only took this course because I couldn't fit anything else into my schedule. This course definitely changed my mindset on the environment...and now I finally believe that the world may come to an end. Anyway, good to know I am no longer a disgrace to Oregonians.

Character design class is definitely one of my favorite courses. Even though I still suck at drawing without reference, I've definitely improved a good deal within these last 1-2 years (since I started college). Since awhile ago, I've secretly dreamed of becoming a character designer (next to toy designing). Currently, my skills are nowhere near the professional level, but its probably an attainable goal if I keep working hard. Anyway, this class is extremely fun. Seeing everyone else's work and style, getting productive criticism, being taught by a great instructor, understanding what makes a 'good' character design. I really enjoy the challenge because character designing isn't just about drawing an appealing character, you have to understand and take note of every little trait and detail about your character. If your character is lazy, how will he/she stand? How will they dress? What would their normal expression look like, etc. Its a process of bringing life to written character.

My fourth class is lighting and texture. Maya is still the most annoying program I've ever used, its a sad thing to say because I will probably be using it for the rest of my life. Before taking this course, I knew that I was a little 'lighting-challenged'. I just can't seem to understand whats good and whats bad lighting. Well im still lighting-challenged, but I'd like to believe im slowly grasping it. Texturing im okay with...except right now we're learning how to do UV unwraps and I am still slightly..or very clueless.

Next term im taking character sculpting (omg im so excited), intermediate 3d modeling, art history 206, background design & layout, and an online writing course (will be my first online-course experience).

And finally....on with pictures!

SO POOP-MY-PANTS-HAPPY!! I asked my cousin in HK if she could get me one or two of these TokiDoki x Hello Kitty figures from HK 7-11's and she actually got me the whole set!! She knew somebody who worked at 7-11 and they got me the whole first series without having to get stamps. Me so lucky!!

Nice picture huh? I used my cousins Nikon D80 =P he let me borrow the camera for work purposes.

My favorite four!! The donut one is my favorite but she can't stand on her own (i added sculpey to her foot).

The thunder on the cloud broke =( but its okay.

Went back to Toys R Us before the sale ended and bought another Uglydoll fig.

Some tomagachi toy I bought at Target for like ...50 cents. Brings back good'ol childhood memories.

Testing out nikon d80 at home. Strange vintage toy my parents bought years ago. I forgot what they're called, but the legs and the head moves when you hold it horizontally. The camera's quality is so sharp that you can see individual specs of dust...

*suddenly blinds everyone with crap quality picture*

I finally made german pancake!! It turned out delicioussss and it was SUPER easy to make. The best part is watching it rise super high although it deflates when u take it out of the oven. I ate it with condensed milk and whip cream...yummm

I made these several terms ago for an intro to graphic class. Learned how to make 3d bottles in illustrator. We had to design a label for an energy drink called 'Rocket Fuel' and then map them onto the bottle. I made these at like...2:00 in the morning and pulled an all nighter because they were due at 8:00 (i get ready for school at 6:00). There were actually around 6 designs but the last two turned out terrible...for obvious reasons.

Thought it would be interesting to show a comparison between what kind of drawings you can get when using Photoshop and Illustrator. For years I've been drawing in photoshop cause I didn't know how to use illustrator (thank god I finally learned how. I will never do vector art in PS ever again)

^ top drawing was done in photoshop.

These 3 burgers were done in illustrator. Our instructor made us draw hamburgers on the first day of class. My first time ever using illustrator. Added bacon in the last burger cause... whats a burger without bacon?!

Bike Tour map design, an illustrator assignment.

My first lighting assignment for lighting class. Had to model the room and the accessories. Bloke (character) was provided by the instructor. The assignment was to use lighting to express an emotion without changing the characters facial expression. I managed to fix this 45 minutes before it was due because the previous version was SO bad. I spent hours on it and it turned out like crap...it bothered me for the rest of the night/day so I knew I had to fix it. I added the fog and a few more light sources, turned out better. I personally thought it still sucked and could've been more dynamic, but my instructor told me that its one of his favorites o_o *still lighting-challenged*

Speaking of lighting, I really wanted to share some pictures from Ratatouille. The character designs AND the lighting were amazing. The lighting in the scenes were done so beautifully. I love the softness and how sunlight spills from the window.

Okay so now I have an idea of what really good lighting looks like...

I really wanna rewatch the movie right now. Probably will do so after this entry.

My character line-up sketch for my own version Wizard of Oz (just found out its not called Wizard of "the" Oz...wow ive been calling it that for years). Lots of things need to be redrawn/changed...

Five sketches of the villainess.

Final concept. My instructor thinks the legs are unnecessary and the head accessories need to be simplified cause there's too much going on. I definitely agree. Im not too happy with the way she came out...looks like the kind of drawing I used to do when I was in middle school or something.

Five sketches for the monster/lion. Inspired by Chinese lion statues.

Final concept. I need to shorten the legs...

I was a bit hesitant about sharing these drawings/sketches because im not too proud of them. We will be working on improving these characters for the rest of the term so it will interesting to see how my final character line up will turn out. My instructor pointed out one VERY interesting thing to me. She pointed to my drawings and said, "Too much twinning! You tend do a lot of that in your drawings.". I found out that twinning is basically drawing poses that are symmetrical. If you cut your drawing in half (vertically), the arms, legs, head should not be completely symmetrical. For example, in my lion drawing...I should've raised or lowered one arm cause right now, they're at the same position. Funny thing is, I've NEVER noticed this in my drawings. I always thought my drawings seemed stiff even though the poses are not straight...now I finally know what the problem is.

Some VERY awesome character designs from Kung Fu Panda and How to Train a Dragon (I still need to watch this movie). These were done by character designers of those movies. The shapes...the poses...really great designs. Good inspiration for me.

This blog shares more great character designs.

http://characterdesignnotes.blogspot.com/2010/11/nico-marlet.html

Im so brave for posting my designs alongside these ones =P

I watched Starry Starry Night, a taiwanese movie based on an illustrated book. Definitely one of my favorite Chinese movies. I really like watching films about coming of age because its such an important and difficult time in life...yet in the end there is always something beautiful that goes a long with it. The cinematography was just BEAUTIFUL. The CG was a bit strange in the beginning, but it worked well with the story. The actor and actress were both great. The storyline was simple but meaningful and deep. The theme song, Starry Night, by Mayday is one of the best songs I've heard in years. Its just a must-watch.

Finally watched Hayao Miyazaki's latest film. The storyline was very simple, but it was a beautiful movie. Since Ponyo was aimed towards kids, Arrietty was definitely aimed towards an older audience. Its another film with coming of age theme and the ending was bittersweet. Spirit Away will still forever remain as my favorite Hayao film though.

During highschool and all the way till my first year in college, I was extremely addicted to reading manga. This year, I've only been following 2-3 mangas. Skip beat and Cheese in the Trap (korean webtoon). I think i've grown out of reading shoujo, I definitely prefer reading josei and slice of life genres. There are rarely anything good to read these days, most of the mangas being scanlated are shoujo or seinen which im not interested in (with the exception of Yankee to Megane san). I believe that a good mangaka is both a good artist AND a good storyteller. Unfortunately, it is very rare to find both qualities in one.

Anyway, I've been a HUGE fan of Yumi Tamura since I read Basara around 2 years ago. Calling it an 'amazing' manga is a complete understatement. I cannot put its epicness and amazingness in words. No exaggeration. After reading Basara, I basically felt like I could stop reading mangas because I know I will never find a better one in this lifetime. Yes, thats how amazing it was. Yumi Tamura makes all the other action/adventure shoujo mangas look like a complete joke.

Her art style takes awhile to get used to. While I was a bit turned off by the art in the beginning, I've become an obsessed fan of her style now. I can't believe the amount of people who thinks her art is 'bad' or just 'okay'. Yes, its different from what most of us are used to...but her art is anything but 'bad'. In fact, i think its beyond good. Besides Soda Masahito, mangaka of Dance Subaru, I don't think I've seen such confident and expressionistic line art from any shoujo mangakas. What makes it amazing is that you can tell she doesn't hire assistants to 'trace' over her sketches like most artists do (not that it makes them any less of an artist), shes so confident and skilled that she just draws as she goes. I definitely think that she puts her story telling alongside the art, sometimes her drawings are sketchy cause she doesnt bother drawing it out with a pencil and then carefully trace over it. In my head, I kind of picture her as this crazy passionate artist who draws straight and fast from what she sees in her head. I think its the rawness / sketchy-ness of her art that makes it come alive.

So anyway, I've recently picked up 7 Seeds again...another epic manga by Tamura. Her storytelling is so good that I think she would've made herself a fine living as a novelist...but shes gifted in both areas so that makes her double times more epic (how many times have I used this word?). 7 Seeds is just as good as Basara, the characters are so well-developed, they all have their distinct personalities, they go through experiences that make them stronger as a team and as an individual. GAH my raving does the manga no justice, its just a must read. The end.

Came across this 'new-ish' character series by San-X. Really like the whole sentimental circus theme.

Yoshitomo Nara doggy radio!! Omg its gorgeous but I can't afford it :( If i had a job, I'd spend all my salary on this.

Love Bandit x Hello Kitty. Hahaha this made me smile. Was thinking of buying one, but too bad they're sold out everywhere.

Cute Hello Kitty tshirts...but I wouldn't wear them because of the huge "HELLO KITTY" font, i think it would look way less tacky without the writing.

Im a big fan of FriendsWithYou so naturally I'd want to own this collab series... but im too poor at the moment.

Cute Hello Kitty collab. I also have a lego headphone organizer thing, definitely makes my life easier. Sometimes I wish i had an iphone just to use all of those cute iphone cases. Hate how they never make cute cases for itouch.

LOL wtf. I like though.

Uglydoll collab with Pop! They look verrry cute...but hopefully the paint job is worth the price they're selling it for. I remember seeing the Disney Pop! collab in stores and was extremely disappointed by bad the paint job was (and they weren't cheap either). Too obviously made in china.

I've been seeing these on strapya a lot. They're cute little characters thing to stick on your phone's headphone jack. When I first saw them I thought they were super pointless...but I guess it makes sense if you never use your headphone jack...might as well put something cute there right?

*phew* finally done with this entry. I feel like I just grew several strands of white hair. I think its been awhile since I've typed so much in a picture-filled entry. Excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes, im lazy to recheck.