Week 9 - Reflective Journal

This week marked the beginning of the next module on concepts and contexts. We had a couple of lectures and workshops, going over what work we need to produce, and how to utilise references and mood boards. For this module, we need to create two finalised design sheets in either 2D or 3D, as well as four development sheets, all presented professionally. We were told to look at FZD School of Design for good examples of design sheets and how to lay them out, as well as the school's youtube channel on advice on gathering references for our work.

I decided I wanted to work on a 2D character design, and began generating ideas using a method I learned on my undergraduate course. I made three lists, one of characters, one of objects, and one of places. I then wrote them out on colour coded paper, and picked each one at random. Character gives me a rough base of what to design, the object tells me a tool they use, and the place tells me where they're from. Each of these things influences the character's design.

Colour coded paper for character, object, and place

I kept picking papers at random, and noting down the results and any initial ideas I had. I also doubled up some of the papers, which had some interesting results. I eventually narrowed thirty-three ideas down to twelve, and then twelve down to three, at which point I began gathering references, to get inspiration for each idea before deciding on one.

Idea generation on post-it notes

The three I began working with were:

• Monarch + Hook + Theatre

• Sailor/Witch + Hook/Dagger + Underwater/Graveyard

• Witch + Guitar + Desert

Monarch + Hook + Theatre - References

Initial ideas: 

• Disgruntled theatre worker/old actor
• Obsessed with queen character from a play
• Dresses up in costumes, cobbled together from different plays and backstage equipment
• Uses Vaudeville hook as a weapon
• "Haunts" abandoned theatre

Sailor/Witch + Hook/Dagger + Underwater/Graveyard - References

Initial ideas: 

• Ex sailor/fishermen
• Tends to underwater graveyard of those lost at sea
• Uses magic to help them breathe underwater
• Communicates with spirits
• Wears sea glass, shells, and bones

Witch + Guitar + Desert - References

Initial ideas:

• Lone wild west witch
• Plays magical guitar/banjo
• Rides American bison 
• Dark clothing, wide brimmed hat, poncho with cape-like qualities.

My next step is to start rough silhouettes and sketches, to see which character feels the most comfortable to work with on this module. I'll also continue gathering more references in order to eventually put together a mood board of the character I choose.