Character Design - Task 2: Character Design Development

26/9/2022 - 7/11/2022 ( Week 6- Week 10 )

Sasilvia Cheong Pei Hoong / 0345031 / Bachelors of Design in Creative Media

Character Design / Entertainment Design

Task 2: Character Design Development

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Poses

We began task 2 with poses, we were required to come up with 8 different poses for our character which will be used in our final hero pose.

First I started looking at the gameplay and other moves in Genshin Impact that I can incorporate in my character's poses. There are a 5 types of attacks in each character in Genshin Impact, such as their (1) normal attacks, (2) charge attacks, (3) elemental skill and (4) elemental burst. Each and every one of the characters will also have two kinds of (5&6) idle animation. Next, sword characters from Inazuma have an extra animation when they (7) sheath their sword. In addition, I plan to have my character as a boss in a boss fight, so an (8) elemental burst for my character's boss phase. 

Fig. 1.1 Poses, Week 6 (9/10/2022) 

In addition to the poses, I also drew out the VFX effects to have an idea of how the splash art would look like. 

Fig. 1.2 VFX Effects for Attacks, Week 8 (9/10/2022) 

Expressions

Next, I did the bust expressions for my character. The expressions were done based on her personality, which is kind, gentle, fierce and also insane. I looked at a few references from anime characters in order to draw the expressions out.

Fig. 2.1 Bust Expressions pt1 , Week 8 (9/10/2022) 

Fig. 2.2 Bust Expressions pt2 , Week 8 (9/10/2022) 

Alternative outfits

In week 7, we were tasked with coming up with alternative outfits for our characters.  Since my character is from Inazuma which is technically inspired by Japan, I proceeded by looking into different eras in Japan and also coming up with some backstories in order for the outfit ideas to make more sense. All the names that I came up for the outfits have a meaning to it. I used Google Translate for the Japanese names, so I apologize if there is any mistake in the translation. 

#1 - The Calm Before the Storm, Arashi no Mae no Shizukesa 嵐の前の静けさ

The first outfit was inspired by the Edo period in Japan, the backstory is related to my character's past which she was still happily together with her family before the hunt began and none of her family survived. So her past is the "calm" and the hunt is the "storm". 

Fig. 3.1 Alternative Outfit 1 Moodboard, Week 7-8 

Fig. 3.2 Alternative Outfit 1, Week 8  (9/10/2022) 

#2 - Hidden Flower, Kakureta Hana 隠れた花

Next, her second outfit was inspired by the Taisho era which had a modern style of Japanese Kimono that covers the entire body. I was then hit with the idea of creating an undercover outfit for her as her body markings makes her stand out too much as someone who has escaped from a God. The name "Hidden Flower" came from my character's name Hanae Fuji which translates as Blossom Wisteria. Since she is in hiding "Hidden", and she is the "flower".  

Fig. 3.3 Alternative Outfit 2 Moodboard, Week 7-8 

Fig. 3.4 Alternative Outfit 2, Week 8  (9/10/2022) 

#3 - Sealing Fate, Unmei o Fūjiru 運命を封じる

Her third outfit was inspired by the Heian period which had a more formal-looking appearance to it. In my character's backstory, she has to perform a ritual to strengthen her seal every 10 years, so she wears this outfit whenever she is performing the ritual. In addition this is the outfit that she wears in the first phase of her boss fight. So the meaning of her outfit is where she strengthen her seal "Sealing" and she has to be very careful to not do it wrongly or get interrupted as if her seal were to break she would go berserk "Fate". 

Fig. 3.5 Alternative Outfit 3 Moodboard, Week 7-8 

Fig. 3.6 Alternative Outfit 3, Week 8  (9/10/2022) 

#4 - Falling Into Darkness, Yami ni Ochiru 闇に落ちる

In her fourth outfit, I decided to go with something less human and more skin as she is in her second boss phase. As she is going berserk and not being able to control her powers which might lead to her not being herself anymore is where the name "Falling Into Darkness" comes from. 

Fig. 3.7 Alternative Outfit 4 Moodboard, Week 7-8 

Fig. 3.8 Alternative Outfit 4, Week 8  (9/10/2022) 

#5 - Gashadokuro 餓者髑髏 (がしゃどくろ)

Last but not least, this outfit was heavily inspired by the Japanese yokai called "Gashadokuro" which is a huge skeletal structured demon. She wears this outfit in her final boss phase, and there wasn't much thinking needed for the name as I just took it from "Gashadokuro".

Fig. 3.9 Alternative Outfit 5 Moodboard, Week 7-8 

Fig. 3.10 Alternative Outfit 5, Week 8  (9/10/2022) 

Here are the 5 outfit studies and variations. 

Fig. 3.11 5 Outfit Studies and Variation, Week 8  (9/10/2022) 

Weapon

For the weapon, I decided to give her a Japanese katana since she is a character from Inazuma (Japan). I did some research on the structure of the katana to know what I should be having in her weapon. Other than that, I also looked through the Inazuma (Japan) weapons from Genshin Impact to give me an idea of how a weapon would look like in the game. 

Fig. 4.1 Weapon Moodboard and Studies, Week 8 (9/10/2022)

I did a total of 5 sketches for the sword. The first sword gives off dangerous vibes which suited her personality very much, the second sword was inspired by her second and final phase boss outfits with the veins, the third sword was just boring, the fourth one was supposed to look like blood but instead it looks like water, then for the fifth one it looks like Inosuke's sword from Kimetsu no Yaiba. In the end I really liked swords 1 and 2 so I combined both of them for the final sword. 

Fig. 4.2 Weapon Sketches, Week 8 (9/10/2022) 

Here is the coloured version and description for the sword. 

Fig. 4.3 Final Weapon, Week 8 (9/10/2022) 

Colour and turnaround

I decided to go with alternative outfit #5 for the turnaround since I was really fond of the outcome. 

Fig. 5.1 Turnaround of Alternative Outfit, Week 9 (9/10/2022) 

Since she in her final boss phase she is using her own powers which is electro, geo and anemo and not her vision. Ms. Anis suggested that I used the colours of those elements and incorporate it into her outfit and add some patterns so that it does not look too flat. 

Fig. 5.2 Coloured Turnaround of Alternative Outfit, Week 10 (31/10/2022) 

At first I only had this as a sketch for the VFX effects and didn't plan to refine it. But after Ms. Anis made me scale her with the skeletal golem it made me very inspired and motivated to refine it further as I was having so much fun with the module. 

Fig. 5.3 Final Boss Phase with Alternative Outfit, Week 10 (6/11/2022) 

Tainted by the Storm, Arashi ni Yogosa Reta 嵐に汚された

Here is the coloured version of the default outfit turnaround and weapon, along with the outfit name "Tainted by the Storm". Where she became a different person after being traumatized "Tainted" by the hunt "Storm". 

Fig. 5.4 Turnaround of Default Outfit with Weapon, Week 9 (9/10/2022) 

Final

Fig. 5.5 Final Task 2: Character Design Development - slides. Week 10 (6/11/2022)

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FEEDBACK

Week 6 (9/10/2022)

Poses: Looks alright. Need to see how the outfit hang and animate with it. 

Week 8 (23/10/2022)

VFX, Body Poses, Expressions, Alternative Outfits, Weapon: Good designs, good job. 

Week 10 (31/10/2022)

Colour of Alternative Outfit: The purple is very saturated, add colours that are related to the elements she uses like greenish blue for anemo, and yellow for geo. Add some textures so that it has more volume, can look at Signora's boss outfit as a reference.

Colour of Alternative Outfit after changes:  Looks much better. Try overlapping her on top of her skeletal golem to indicate the size ratio. It's optional if you want to draw the skeletal golem properly. 

Week 11 (7/11/2022)

Everything looks so good. Now you can start working on the hero pose/ splash art.

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REFLECTION

At the beginning of this project where we started out with the poses, I was so frustrated because I could not get the poses I wanted right and had to go through many references in Pinterest to get inspired. In the end, I just sketched out many of the poses that is separated into the type of move my character does and just pick my favourite ones from each and every one of them. The expressions were tough on me too because I keep drawing her eyes wrongly. But I had so much fun coming up with the alternative outfits, I did a lot of research on Japanese culture like the different time period's fashion styles, where I looked up each accessory and clothing name and meanings to see if it was suitable for my character. The weapon was pretty fun to draw as well as I took inspiration from Japanese katanas from Kimetsu no Yaiba and Genshin Impact itself. Other than that, I was already a huge nerd for Japanese yokai and have been wanting to incorporate that into my design for the longest time. When coming up with colours for my outfit I do realize that I always go for dark colours since I am more fond of them instead of bright ones which sometimes will end up making my character look dull. This project was definitely an enjoyable one but also extremely tedious in time as I spend my entire Independent Learning Week just grinding on this one project.