Character Design/Rigging

[lwaxana]

Hi all! I'm working on fine tuning some character designs for production and getting them rigged. For the main characters, I'm planning to use a lot of switch layers in the rigging and to build up a big library of poses that I can copy and and make variations, which I will then add back to the library. Kind of a low tech approach, but I think it will be easier to work with and give me more control over the poses than if I use interpolation.

So far I have focused mostly on getting line weights and a cleaner more simplified look. The larger design here is the AS version and the smaller one is the concept art.

[jahnocli]

I've always liked your stuff, but I have to say I prefer the concept art here. The sharper junctions of elbow and neck, the way the concept art figure is leaning forwards slightly more urgently, I think are better. Only caveat is the jumper, which needs to be different from the figure's skin tone ( and maybe give some indication of where the sleeves end? ).

Minor points though. I love that simple style.

[synthsin75]

Only caveat is the jumper, which needs to be different from the figure's skin tone ( and maybe give some indication of where the sleeves end? ).

I read that as a necklace rather than the collar of a sleeved top, although I can see it both ways now.

[lwaxana]

Thanks for the feedback, Jahnocli! Yes, Synthsin is right, that gold piece was intended to be a necklace, but I'm seeing it as a collar too, now that you mention it! haha The vector art isn't posed yet. I just created it upright so I could make the various views consistent before I add bones. I agree that the concept art pose leaning forward works better. And I will definitely think about the pointier features. I'm going to have to get all the main characters most of the way done and make sure they all look okay with one consistent style.

---
Here is a test of new mouth shapes and eye styles. I'm having a hard time settling on the eye style, because I want them to be expressive and help differentiate individual characters, but many of the more detailed eye styles completely change the look of the whole character. Sorry, I had to remove the audio, which makes it weird to watch:


[Edit: Video removed]

[ShadowCory]

I love it! Very nice design and render. This is wholly a style choice, but I like to see a little variation on the line work. Accentuate curves a bit, giving a little weight to the lines. This example is a little over the top, but you can definitely see the variation.
I wouldn't recommend going that far with the line weights in your design, and like I said, yours looks really good now, and weighted lines is just an option you may want to consider.
I look forward to seeing more.

[lwaxana]

More WIP character designs:

[lwaxana]

ShadowCory--Thanks! Yes, I totally agree with your suggestion to vary the line width. I'm using a little bit of variation now, but I'd like to pushed it further.

[funksmaname]

Really lovely individual style going on here, going really well!
I would like to have slightly thicker lines on the silhoettes, might make the characters stand out a bit bolder? but totally up to you - you know what you're doing!
Keep up the good work, watching with anticipation.

[TheMinahBird]

Your characters look so cute! c: I love their designs.

[lwaxana]

Thanks, Minahbird and Funksmaname! Yes, the line weights are the main thing I am still trying to sort out for most of the characters. Also want to do a lot of redesign on the male character.

Started animating one of the characters. I think the lines are too thick in this closeup. Also, trying out a new technique for rough animation for frame by frame. This time I created basic shapes in Anime Studio and did rough point animation until I got the anticipation and slight whip effect I wanted for the hood and hair. Then I brought the PNGs into ToonBoom to add the details of the hood quilting. Then I imported those images to AS, traced them to create vector layers and put those into a switch layer of different hood poses. It sounds like a lot of steps, but breaking it into simple steps was easier for me than trying to do it all in one pass.

[lwaxana]

Male character redesign:

[lwaxana]

Trying to keep my momentum going on this project. Here's a background I'm working on. I pulled in the characters from a different scene for now. When I actually block them in, I'll add shadows from the bonfire light. I'd love to hear suggestions/feedback if you have any!

[synthsin75]

I like it, except what I assume is a ship statue/monument is distracting because it doesn't instantly read for what it is.

[lwaxana]

Thanks for the feedback, Synthsin! Yes, it's supposed to be a ship statue. I'll work on getting it to read better. I might also change the location because I think the composition will be weird when the characters are blocked in.

[lwaxana]

I couldn't draw a convincing ship statue so I tried an anchor instead. And I Included a character lighting experiment.