The Art of Character Design
I won't pretend to be an expert in character design, but I do think about things.
Each of the characters in "Dreamland" need to have a distinct look. To that end, I'm designing each of them from a different culture, if I can. There are five characters: a princess, a sorceress-like lady, a nerd (female, because female nerds are cuter), a knight, and a pauper. To make matters more complex, each character needs to be suitable to be a hero, a villain ("obstacle" might be a better word), and a victim. Obviously, their victimhoods are different. The knight is unlikely to be kidnapped, but he is likely to be sweet-talked, confused, or poisoned.
Therefore, the character designs have to be "power neutral": anyone looking at them has to consider them neither particularly weak nor particularly strong along the particular axis of "plot arc" the character is likely to be in. Sure, they can be strong or weak in other axes. The geek looks physically weak. Shock.
The knight is turning out to be a pain in the ass, but I've got solid sketches of most of the others. Here is the current version of the princess:
Can you see her as a lovestruck romantic? A snotty brat? A scheming bitch? A victim of kidnapping?
Obviously, her culture is a mish-mash of Asian cultures, most heavily Chinese.
Comments?
Each of the characters in "Dreamland" need to have a distinct look. To that end, I'm designing each of them from a different culture, if I can. There are five characters: a princess, a sorceress-like lady, a nerd (female, because female nerds are cuter), a knight, and a pauper. To make matters more complex, each character needs to be suitable to be a hero, a villain ("obstacle" might be a better word), and a victim. Obviously, their victimhoods are different. The knight is unlikely to be kidnapped, but he is likely to be sweet-talked, confused, or poisoned.
Therefore, the character designs have to be "power neutral": anyone looking at them has to consider them neither particularly weak nor particularly strong along the particular axis of "plot arc" the character is likely to be in. Sure, they can be strong or weak in other axes. The geek looks physically weak. Shock.
The knight is turning out to be a pain in the ass, but I've got solid sketches of most of the others. Here is the current version of the princess:
Can you see her as a lovestruck romantic? A snotty brat? A scheming bitch? A victim of kidnapping?
Obviously, her culture is a mish-mash of Asian cultures, most heavily Chinese.
Comments?
posted by Craig Perko at 9:03 AM
5 Comments:
I like the look.
From you're earlier post, I'm a bit dissapointed you're only implementing one verb, but then again, thats a great way to test PAC in a social dynamic construct.
I think you must have misunderstood. One verb? I don't understand how you could think that.
Oh yeah, now that I think about it, you've got at least two per context.
Knights, as in 'Knight of the round table' type fellows, have a VERY STRONG RPG history as main characters or at least having very strong plot interactions. That's probably why you're having problems drawing a knight who could be the good guy, the villian, or the victim all at the same time.
There is, fortunately, an exception to this rule. The old knight, who's well past his prime and coming to an end to his career. He can perform the role of protagonist (think Don Quijote), antagonist (beaurocratic/overly hidebound/honorbound ass), or victim (tragic figure who's past has caught up with them). Even in old age, Knights can be romantic figures (Baron Munchausen, Cyrano de Bergerac (granted, they weren't really knights, but they fit the archetype)). Go for advanced age, overly pretty clothes, and slim/agile blades. It should make for an excellent divergence from the standard archetypal fare.
Hmmm... that could be pretty close to what I need. Maybe something more like Inego than Lancelot...
Thanks!
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