Real Worlds: Character Design Process and Turnarounds

CHARACTER DESIGN PROCESS
When creating the character designs for my game, I worked in a problem-solving methodology that allowed me to rapidly experiment and create designs based around continual iteration and development. This allowed me to create designs that explored multiple angles of a one concept and allowed me to create a design that consisted of successful elements from multiple different iterations. 

My design process for both the Forge Father and Veer-Myn were largely the same in this regard, beginning with a thumbnailing phase that allowed me to sketch out iterations of different elements of the design, then moving on to a final piece of art that illustrated these elements of the design placed together. I could then use this as a basis for my Turnaround and Key Art, which I would go on to edit after receiving client feedback.

FORGE FATHER THUMBNAILING:

My idea for the Forge Father character was already largely decided when I came in to the thumbnailing phase: I wished to create a female Forge Father character with a regal, stern look who retained elements of design that made the pre-existing Forge Father characters strong. I wanted there to be strong shape language in both the body and the armour and proportioning that illustrated their dwarf-like nature. Ultimately, this proportioning would be an element of the design that I would struggle with and would continue to tweak throughout the design process.

When creating the design for the Forge Father, I worked in a modular format: creating designs for the torso, pauldrons, gauntlets, face and boots in an isolated manner and bringing them together to create a design that fit into the theme I had decided upon. This allowed me to focus on individual details in the forms of the design components, and ensured that I was not rushing in making a selection. I also frequently referred back to the pre-existing Forge Father characters to ensure that armour plating and shape language remained largely consistent, and added comments and annotations around my designs when there was an element of the design I wished to remember at a later date.

When I had created thumbnails for different parts of the design, I made note of those which I believed were the strongest. From this, I went about creating a final design combining these components together. I also used this to test a variety of colour palette variations, as the Forge Fathers have a variety of different colour variants across their catalogue. I felt that the colour palette that complemented the design strongest was that of colour palette 3, as I felt that the colour difference between the red pauldrons and dress and the bronze armour complemented the idea of reglaity that I wished to convey in the design.

With a final design and colour palette decided, I went about creating the turnaround for the character. There were very few design changes in this process, as the majority of the design had already been decided. Ultimately, I did have to create some new armour plates for the stomach and thigh regions (which before were covered by the dress), and in doing so I followed the conventions seen elsewhere in the design, basing the thigh armour plates off those seen in the upper arm and continuing the pattern on the stomach from that which is seen on the chest. I created a full turnaround for the character and her weapon, and included varients for with and without the dress, showing the design in full.

With the first variant of the turnaround completed, I sought feedback on the design as a whole. Feedback indicated that my peers believed that the design was strong, though that some areas could be improved: to push the elements of nobility in her design, they suggested placing emblems on her dress, pauldrons and weapons. Additionally, it was noted that some fingers on the back view were displayed incorrectly, and that more of the little finger on said view should be shown.

Taking this feedback into consideration, I implemented them into a final design ready for client review. 

The symbol shown on the dress and pauldrons is that of a geometric star. I chose this because the Forge Fathers have a lot of geometry in their designs, and because their empire, which this character represents, is known as the "Star Realm".

VEER-MYN THUMBNAILING:

My idea for the Veer-Myn character was that they would oppose the Forge Father: they would be similar in a thematic sense, doing what they could to protect their people, but would otherwise be a complete opposite. In this, I wanted their shape language to directly contrast the Forge Father. As the Forge Father is largely comprised of square shapes, I wanted the Veer-Myn to be largely round with spiky detailing.

I began again with a thumbnailing process, and spent more time focusing on the anatomy of the Rat-like head that the Veer-Myn had. When going into the project, I identified that a weakness of mine is animal designs, and as such I felt that a more methodical approach to drawing the Veer-Myn's rat like components would be needed. As such, I began by examining the shapes found in rat faces and heads by using photo reference, slowly then adding elements of the Veer-Myn designs to this basis. When I felt more confident in drawing the shapes associated with a rat-like head, I went about creating the shape of the body and legs. 

When designing the body and legs, I wanted to focus on round and curving shapes with some angular components, largely made up of scrap pieces of metal and other mechanical junk, such as PVC pipes and hazard tape. I chose these as an area of design focus because of the associated colour palettes of yellow and black, which I believed would fit in with the Veer-Myn's established colour palette, with the hazard tape helping in adding a sense of semiotic danger to the character.

When I had chosen thumbnail designs that I believed were the strongest, I went about putting them together into a final design. As the Veer-Myn have one primary colour palette, I did not feel it was necessary to explore further palette options. In this, I followed the conventions of the Veer-Myn colour palette though added areas of bronze metal that had not been painted yellow, which would the same material that makes up similarly toned areas the Forge Father's armour. I then produced a turnaround showing this design in full.

Feedback indicated that elements of the design could be pushed to better illustrate the theming of the character. I wanted the Veer-Myn to be a scavenger, their armour to be made up from parts they had stolen and repurposed, and feedback showed that this idea was not necessarily being communicated well. A part of this was due to the symmetrical nature of the design: one piece of feedback indicated that it would be rare for a scavenger character to find two pieces of scrap that looked similar, and as such I went back to add and remove regions of armour to better show its scrappy nature, adding more areas of sharp juxtaposition and placing more eharsh edges across the form as a whole. This allowed me to also push the silhouette of the character further, adding more spikes and protruding edges that break from the form. 

Additionally, some elements of the anatomy needed to be fixed: I had forgotten to add a tail to the form of the design, which I went back and added, and also developed the legs to be more digitigrade, which is in line with the pre-existing Veer-Myn characters. With these improvements made, I edited the final turnaround to create a design ready for the client review.