WEEK 3
Designing The Characters
We had to establish what each character was like first then play off that so a few of us got together and did a brainstorm, picking out keywords to describe each planet. Then Matt went off and di this detailed character profile of each planet:
Sarah Delgado's Pluto: Character Profile
The Sun: The Sun is the old father figure of the solar system and the planets are like his children, he cares for them all but he has very little time to meddle in their affairs as he is busy being The Sun and keeping everyone alive.
Mercury: Mercury is the only planet that talks to the sun, and he acts as both interpreter and secretary to the Sun. He is small and timid, being constantly assailed by the Sun's intense heat means his job is unpleasant but very important.
Venus: Venus is sultry and beautiful, but also kind and generous. She is the embodiment of a generically perfect woman, similar to the God's she represents. She is very caring and does not like the way that Earth has treated Pluto.
Earth: Earth is the antagonist in the story, because he is selfish and cocksure. He thinks that he is the best, the most clever and the most advanced of the planets and so his word weighs heavier than the others. He has an enormous responsibility, given that he has advanced life to look after, but he is young and quite foolhardy, and he feels jaded that the other planets have such a seemingly easy life.
Moon: The moon is Earth's buddy, he looks up to Earth and feeds his ego with his admiration of him and his inhabitants. He plays the role of henchmen to the Earth, helping him to outcast Pluto.
Mars: Mars is older than the inner planets and he is very grouchy. He is irritated and has a short temper, and does not appreciate being probed by the Earth's humans. Phobos and Diemos are his fists, because it's funny.
Asteroid Belt: The Asteroid Belt is just a mass of living rocks, all of whom have eyes but just kind of float around in space watching the planets and bumping into each other. They aren't very bright.
Jupiter: Jupiter is the benevolent giant of the system, and he feels for Pluto on his quest. He is not too bright but has a big heart, and he is very strong.
Saturn: Saturn is old and wise, and spends his days reciting philosophical prose to the moons that gather around to listen to his wise anecdotes. He revels in the glory of being the wise one.
Uranus: Husband of Neptune. He's just a silly old beggar.
Neptune: Wife of Uranus. She is the stable one, and loves Uranus despite his wacky ways. She has to put up with a lot though, and is a stoic old mare.
Pluto: The hero of the story. Pluto is young, naïve and easily pushed around because he is so small. Throughout the journey he learns to stand up for himself and stop being such a push-over.
Sarah Delgado's Pluto: Character Profile
The Sun: The Sun is the old father figure of the solar system and the planets are like his children, he cares for them all but he has very little time to meddle in their affairs as he is busy being The Sun and keeping everyone alive.
Mercury: Mercury is the only planet that talks to the sun, and he acts as both interpreter and secretary to the Sun. He is small and timid, being constantly assailed by the Sun's intense heat means his job is unpleasant but very important.
Venus: Venus is sultry and beautiful, but also kind and generous. She is the embodiment of a generically perfect woman, similar to the God's she represents. She is very caring and does not like the way that Earth has treated Pluto.
Earth: Earth is the antagonist in the story, because he is selfish and cocksure. He thinks that he is the best, the most clever and the most advanced of the planets and so his word weighs heavier than the others. He has an enormous responsibility, given that he has advanced life to look after, but he is young and quite foolhardy, and he feels jaded that the other planets have such a seemingly easy life.
Moon: The moon is Earth's buddy, he looks up to Earth and feeds his ego with his admiration of him and his inhabitants. He plays the role of henchmen to the Earth, helping him to outcast Pluto.
Mars: Mars is older than the inner planets and he is very grouchy. He is irritated and has a short temper, and does not appreciate being probed by the Earth's humans. Phobos and Diemos are his fists, because it's funny.
Asteroid Belt: The Asteroid Belt is just a mass of living rocks, all of whom have eyes but just kind of float around in space watching the planets and bumping into each other. They aren't very bright.
Jupiter: Jupiter is the benevolent giant of the system, and he feels for Pluto on his quest. He is not too bright but has a big heart, and he is very strong.
Saturn: Saturn is old and wise, and spends his days reciting philosophical prose to the moons that gather around to listen to his wise anecdotes. He revels in the glory of being the wise one.
Uranus: Husband of Neptune. He's just a silly old beggar.
Neptune: Wife of Uranus. She is the stable one, and loves Uranus despite his wacky ways. She has to put up with a lot though, and is a stoic old mare.
Pluto: The hero of the story. Pluto is young, naïve and easily pushed around because he is so small. Throughout the journey he learns to stand up for himself and stop being such a push-over.
Based on these, we went off to do some character designs. Below are some of the tests I did, including different types of eye expressions since that is the only way our characters will be able to communicate. We decided on this early on because we didn't want to make the planets look creepy so we didn't give them mouths.
Here are some colours we tried out based on the image above. This colour sheet was made by Jenny so we could see if these colours looked right. We liked the colours, but they were probably a bit too pastel for our liking.
Above are two images that were inspirational when dealing with our planets and their's eyes. Wall-E is so expressive despite not having any facial features other than eyes. The subtle movements give him that characterisation and depth that I love.
Above are test texture I did for Pluto and Mercury. I find them a little dreary actually, so may not use them in the end.
Below is the textured Sun I made. I used various brushes on different opacities, layering and layering enough to make it look big and glow. I lie this design better than the Mercury and Pluto I made.
Below is the textured Sun I made. I used various brushes on different opacities, layering and layering enough to make it look big and glow. I lie this design better than the Mercury and Pluto I made.
Some more finalised concepts art
Below are some of my more finalised art. I used textured brushes to create really cool and painty planet textures. I wanted to show moments between the planets, so Pluto meeting Saturn or Mercury and Pluto meeting. These were actually really fun to paint and put together in Photoshop. Concept art is definitely something I am interested in.
Scale of Planets
One thing I know we have to consider is scale. Some planets are huge whilst some are really small, so to find the balance we have to manipulate the actual sizes for more effective visuals. (below are the actual scales in relation to each other... not to real life).