Design influnces and analysis
- Emma Cook
- Jan 17, 2018
- 3 min read
This exercise is to show how designers have used key elements to describe a characters personality visually.
Maddies design clearly shows two design elements. she loves tea and she's crazy. The crazy element is shown by the clashing prints and the loud colours. the round elements also show that she is well rounded and bubbly, the hair shows this well. The teapot bag and cup shoes along with the headband and earrings shows a tea motif and links to her character trait of being the mad hatters daughter.
Talias design is more basic and thus would appeal to a wider teen audience . Her colour palette displays a warm and over all happy tone which is appealing and makes the character seem more approachable along with her wide eyes of an accenting colour bringing interest to the face and showing her curious character type. Her hair is swept into a ponytail and has messy edges to suggest she does a lot of movements and she is adventurous. A visual reference the artist (Bertrand Todesco) took visual inspiration from American pop idol Ariana Grande in the show Victorious.
Draculaura (designed by Garrett Sander) has a very pink design. the palette is kept desaturated to be in keeping with the fact she is a monster and I assume pink was chosen as a more girly approach to the typical blood red used for a vampire; this could also be a reference to the fact that she is a vegan vampire and doesn't drink blood. she is very kind and caring (thus the heart motif) and the playful pigtails suggest a youth even though she is thousands of years old. her design shows influence to classic gothic culture in the shirt and cuffs which ties into her cultural background of vampiric influences.
Rose Quartz's character type is very motherly and calm and caring and this is echoed in her design. As a leader she is very physically large. her palette is soft and feminine; exuding the motherly persona. her shapes are very soft and round which is very approachable.
Velma (designed by Iwao Takamoto) very classically dressed as a pretty "nerd" character. she shows little to no skin and wears classic Mary Jane shoes. she's very feminine. The "nerd" element comes from how neat she is such as in the perfectly laid pleats, perfect socks and glasses; this also emulates a classic school girl look. The bob is a hairstyle synonmous with more buisness savvy women as long hair would get in the way.
Grell Sutcliffs design is very confusing to new viewers of him. visually he has very femenine traits such as long hair and clothing that flows around him, his physique is also slender with a thin waist and long legs. These lend to the idea of femeninity and thus blur the lines of gender which shows his personality as he is a very gay flamboyant man. His wasitcoat implies he has some kind of important job but also lends to the idea he is from an older time period. The red colour gives off the grim reaper vibe that he is but also gives off his lustful nature and perfectly displays his main attribute. sexuality.
Mabels character is very fun loving and warm, her round shapes and warm colours mirror this very well and you can tell by looking at her she is a happy child. The round wide way her eyes are drawn lend to the connotation of childlike curiousity as well as the rosy cheeks she has.
Vivi is really broken and lost character; this is reflected in the use of the colour blue. The warm shade of blue reflects that she is a bubbly curious personality which is true to her. The pop of magenta on her glasses displays a connection to her forgotten love interest of the series with that colour palette. Vivi was designed by MysteryBen on Youtube.
Planchette is a happy go lucky witch created by Haley Mewsome also known as LavenderTowne on Youtube. She is young which is implied by her short hairstyle and wide child like eyes. Her main colours are yellow and a warm blue to show she is a happy and not hateful character.
Ronald knox is a carefree character who's outfit is classy but also work appropriate. He is very stylish man and likes to feel and be attractive. He often tries to pick up women and his tailored suit and loose tie lend to this. The tie also lends to the idea he is lazy and is more concerned with fun than his work.
looking at how these designers have used visual hints to create a personality just by the look of the character I plan to use the same techniques of colour and shape to influence my own character design. I also used these tutorials to influence how I use colour and shape as well as visual clues to show where a character is from.
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