CGTalk - Character Design

AliS

08-29-2006, 11:51 AM

I'll soon be meeting a 2d artist to help me with the creation of some concept art for a CG short. What I'm primarily interested in are some detailed drawings to help in the creation of my main characters. I got the story laid down (well the main plot, anyway) so I know what type of mood my characters will be in.

What I don't know: what is the normal workflow for this kind of work? And what type of questions is this guy gonna ask me? Do I have to prepare something? Basically I think that explaining the main plot and what I want the chars to look like should be enough... Or does this guy need something else, more down-to-earth, to begin working with?

Later on I intend to model the chars in a 3d package. Should I be concerned with facial expressions right from the start (ie. now) or worry about this later in the project?

Is there anyone here who could give some input?

Ali

mackdadd

08-29-2006, 09:18 PM

yeah, you should definitely be concerned with facial stuff in regards to later modelling.

i would imagine the artist will ask as many questions about the characters as he needs to form a visual image of the characters. In my experience, it's mainly a back-and-forth process, until you're both happy with the work. ideally, he should be able to come up with many different options for you to decide which direction you want to go in. Also, he/she should be willing to change things - there's alot of artists who get angry when you ask for changes or tell them its not what you imagined. they should be open to that criticism - after all, they're drawing YOUR characters, not theirs.
anything you prepare to help give the artist an idea of what you're after would be beneficial, from a written synopsis of the characters to your own thumbnail sketches.

don't let the idea of modelling the character influence the design too much - after all, almost anything can be done in 3d! but just be aware of it, and keep it in mind as your character gets more complex.

hope any of this helps....

red3dcom

09-01-2006, 02:54 AM

I'm currently going through this process now with an artist. A really good book to check out is "Creating Characters With Personality" http://tinyurl.com/e59kr

It has helped our collaboration a lot. You can read the entire book in about 1.5 hours, but it's filled with a lot of useful information.

Good luck.

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