When I first started school and needed to do the traditional man lifting heavy object and the jump animation I came up with a simple character called Neckman. I decided to revist him and am using him for one of my required shorts this semester.
Here is a concept for the Lilyputians. I want them to be deceptively cute and small native characters who are really bloodthirsty little buggers.
Here is a concept drawing for neckman. Andres Alvarez of Animation Design Center took my rather stiff initial ideas and in about 30 seconds breathed more character into him - he's another talented former Disney artist. I admire his character design skills and feel fortunate to be doing an internship with his company.
I welcome feedback. I have very little time to do all the work I have this semester - I'm working on a second group short for a production class and have to also incorporate my 3D special effects class in there some how so I'm thinking of adding the required 3D bits by cartoon rendering some fire and smoke effects and bringing them into my 2D project - kill two birds with one stone.
Kinda confused here -- in the second drawing, is "neckman" the big guy or the little guy between his feet? The sketch looks like a cross between the"Iron Giant" and Buzz Lightyear...
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
It looks like Neckman is the big guy with the neck for a head (geddit?). The first picture is of the Lilyputian (as labelled). I would guess that the little guy in the second picture is a Lilyputian too.
@The400th Yes, big headless guy - Neckman. Little guy, Lilyputian.
@jahnocli - Wish I had your skills, your characters always look so smooth. Still trying to get better at drawing directly with the Wacom. Unfortunately I can't get the pressure sensitivity to work on my PC so I basically get one size fits all stroke in Flash and then smooth it.
Bupaje - don't want to promise something I can't deliver, but if you need some help with the character development, I could help out...Just won't have time to do a whole load of work!! If you get stuck, let me know.
J
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
@jahnocli - thanks for the generous offer. I am working in Flash but if you ever feel the urge to sketch any concepts I'm always happy to look at them. A few things I need to work out are the shoulder areas - I don't want to draw myself into a corner so it is hard to animate. I like the 'deltoid shields' and was thinking when he walks I would show outside/inside of sheild in 3/4 as his arm swings but am afraid it might be a nightmare later - have very little time. I also am trying to decide how the 'neck guards' (plates above the collar bone) look. I've gone from zero, to round, pointy .... I know it is important in design to give the character a good silohuette ....
I also could use variation concepts on the natives, backgrounds, his ship (will only be visible in shadow as he approaches the planet from space). So if you find yourself jotting down an idea on a napkin and don't mind scanning it in I'd appreciate it.
