While furthering the planning through shape and symbology I used this website as a reference:

Character Design and Symbolism – An In-Depth Guide

My research on character design lead me to the conclusion that I needed more background information about my character, and more shape symbology planning before I commit to design.

Thinking about movement and references

Further style and movement reference: Arcane (2021) – animated series.

Character Design Plans:

Decide on the character’s appearance based on his background, history, context and personality.

Colour scheme: Yellow, Red, Dark Brown, Dark blue 

Clothes 

• Turtle neck with long neck. Stripped red and yellow
• Rolled up sleeves. 
• Work shirt 
• Farmers shirt and vest
• General appearance: people need to feel sorry for him. Skin and bones: jagged except the belly? (So that he looks weak but still has a big belly due to his wife’s cooking).

Narrative: 

The character’s goal in the narrative is to collect all of the flowers, put them into the memorial area. 

Main message: he is trying to move on, act like he used to do when she was still around, and seem happy. It is after the mourning period, but he is alone and sad. Missing her and going through his memories of their time together. 

Grace is gone. Grace and Graham never got to grow old together, he misses her terribly but tries to act like his happy old self for her sake and so that he can find a way to move on. 

Character Background Personality 

General: 

• Mischievous.
• Easy-going/carefree.
• Passionate about interests (hobbies or people) but uninterested in other things.
• Dopey.
• A fool for his wife?
• Quirky.

In film:

• Sad under the veil 
• Trying to be happy/ joyful, his old self.
• Waving hands – subtext=he is actually saying that it is important, even though his voice is saying ‘whatever’. He quickly looks at vase and through room. Eagerly. 
• His end walk is actually sad- slow and hunched even though he says the last line happily. 
• He walks over the corridor contents, carefully even though they seem broken. 
• His dance look like it is being silly but then he gets serious- ballroom dancing with a partner and getting entranced into it. 
• “Wish grow old”- need to seem sad and missing.

Narration on the surface = he is happy, acting like his quirky self, as he used to be. (This is shown through dialogue. Actions also show this at the start but change soon enough).

Subtext (the message underneath) = He is pretending to be okay. He is still mourning/ missing his wife, but trying to stay positive, nonetheless. (This is shown through actions and music).

Here is a reference for an old man’s animated walk cycle. It will allow me to understand his movements better. To picture my character as I create him.

Personality Projection onto a Character

Existing characters in media can form a basis for analysis in understanding character design. I have analysed some manga, anime or characters from animations in hope of understanding more about them. It can be construed that a character’s appearance, especially their neutral facial features or their facial expressions can be used to convey information about personality. That is a simple step in staging of a story. See my analysis below:

Mood boards

Initial Character Sketchbook Designs

Digital Character Design

Body Base

Character Design Feedback

• Nose is too wide.
• Arms too long.
• Make the suspenders straight (image below).
• Make the neck thinner.
• Raise the trouser height.

Personal/ Mental note:

Full metal Alchemist: brotherhood S1 Ep12 (T20:53). He talks to his teacher about how they both went through the same thing. Then, the protagonist pretends to be okay – Extreme close up on his mouth while he is talking. This camera change makes to seem like he is lying, draws attention to it. This could be a technique to use when my character says that he has gotten scruffy- one on this lips talking and one on his eyes/eyebrows.