character development (final outcome and evaluation)

This post shows the final outcome to presenting my character Margaret on screen with information on sound reference links and one of the filming footages I've used for the rotoscoping methods before filling in the right character shapes and features in the outcome. 

footage, clips and soundtrack referencing

These two vids are filmed references I used for the rotoscoping stage of quickly sketching the movements on tv paint.

These links below show the audio I used for the lip sync and theme song for the animation  

 Theme song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaxTRX9oAV4

voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjRXIVSv5JQ

 Margaret (final outcome)

 This vid shows my final outcome to presenting my character on screen

Character development module evaluation and reflection.

In the character development module, our goal was to develop and produce our own unique character. The first process was to produce two character ideas inspired by research that could help with the unique scenario of each one in terms of emotions, characteristics, backstory and personality. This was through grabbing personality traits and characteristics from people through the form of quick sketching from primary research. I also explored different internet sites to look for articles that could fill the back bone of what can make my characters different and be able to develop further.

The two characters I produced included Carson, a veteran solider and Lady Margaret, a self-centred, vicious young woman who thinks she is beauty. After viewing both characters to an audience, they chose the best one that was more believable which Lady Margaret was.

Once chosen our next approach was to develop the character further through the forms of sketching a lot of drawings to develop the perfect shape and features through all body parts, suitable for her personality and for the production stage; producing initial concept arts that reflects the character in different stylized ways; creating a Marquette to see her from a 3D perspective; and a line test to show how she reflects her smug attitude through her walk cycle.

The production process was to animate the character to see what she would look like on screen. The stages included line tests of how she would move from gestures, common traits and walk cycles; lip sync to display how she would talk in situations with her movements to show more of her personality and a ten second cut with colour to show what she would look like in the final stages of production. This main stage was done through the software of TV paint. This was helped with my own filmed footage of movements and adding a theme and voice soundtrack taken from YouTube to create an atmosphere and vibe with her personality.

The best part of this animation module is learning that there are many ways to create the perfect character for on screen. It also gave me freedom to explore how to make my character better with help from feedback. I also enjoyed creating different approaches to character development including 2d and 3d perspectives.

What I like to improve is too keep on exploring ways of developing my characters further, mainly through drawings to give them that edge to succeed if published on screen. Another would be to improve animating skills when crafting more solid drawings within every frame to look less loose and more understandable to get the full picture and start drawing free hand without rotoscoping but still using the footage I use as only reference. This would also help with the lip syncing methods aswell. The last thing I would like to improve is more planning to be more grounded in exploring the right options to develop my character. This would show how her presentation can be unique and different from planning ways of animation styles and producing the right design workflow on facial and body shapes. And this would help show what can be further improved in changing the plan or adding another drawing method into the mix if the character isn’t appealing enough.