Marcus Kafarkus - Thesis Concept Character

[jcollins]

Hey guys, this is just a sketch I made today of the character in my senior thesis animation, tentatively called Chrysalis.

http://www.rsad.edu/~jcollins/marcus_bw.jpg
This is the original sketch.

http://www.rsad.edu/~jcollins/marcus_color.jpg
Just under an hour of Photoshop coloring.

The animation is about a young boy who watches in amazement as a butterfly emerges from its cocoon and so he builds a cocoon of his own from drapery amd sleeps in it while dangling from a tree in his backyard. That night he dreams that he's become a butterfly himself.

I kind of pictured him as Pigpen from the Charlie Brown series but with a personality.

I looked at a bunch of internet reference of kids, but i'm kind of unsatifsfied with the whole tshirt and shorts ensemble. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could spice him up a little bit.

Oh, his hair is supposed to look like that. I'm working on a cross-hatching shader to get the same effect as the drawing.

Tell me what you think.

Jeremy

[tyboogie]

hey jeremy

i like the concept for the thesis...its cute. are you doing this in 3-d or traditional aniamtion?i'm assuming 3-d since you mentioned the shader. even if your doing 3-d i would STRONGLY suggest doing a crap load of drawings for your character, facial expressions, gesture poses, etc. to really nail down who this little boy is...

little billy is ready for a bath

[jcollins]

Thanks Tyboogie. I'm working on scanning in some of the other stuff that I've done for Marcus. I've got a whole binder full of process. I mainly wanted to open the thread so that I'd have a place to put my more recent revisions to his design.

And yes, he's going to be 3D. In Maya to be exact.

[Coiela]

Just a few ideas.

He kind of looks like a hillbilly kid (which is a good thing, so please don't be offended), maybe if you put him in overalls without a shirt he'd have a little more character in his clothing. I know that's kind of a cliché, but if done right in 3D, denim overalls with lot's of pockets can look pretty cool.

Maybe a backpack, again with lots of pockets and crap hanging off of it. (although you'd have to deal with taking it off when he goes into the cocoon.)

One thing that’s kind of cool about little kids is that they tend to collect allot of stuff as they go through day, and most of it ends up as clothing:)
Putting random stuff on your character might really help him to FEEL like a kid, and not a kid designed by an adult (again no offense, it's just that I haven't seen any adults running around with over-sized high heels, and "boot" hats lately. . . actually come to think of it, I have but he was also standing on the street yelling profanities at onlookers.)

Anyhow, point being that when you design stuff like this, try to really think about what makes that kid an individual. If he's real in your head, he'll look real on paper.


Also, watch that Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy. The kid in that movie has some damn good ideas about 6 year old fashion.

[jcollins]

Thanks Coiela. Those are some great ideas. I'm going to start in on some sketches with a couple extra "add-ons" to them. I am trying to avoid the hillbilly look though as it doesn't really support my story. Marcus lives in a house and not a trailer or a barn. I think people got that idea because of all the stains I put on his clothes and the fact that he only has one tooth.

Cute is definately the direction I want to take him in, but I'm trying to design him around the fact that I want people to look at him as out of the ordinary (i.e. not your typical suburbanite kid). I thought about things like a helmet made from a pasta strainer but in the end it all kind of seemed too cliche.

A few faculty members suggested giving him glasses which might support the fact that he's inquisitive and likes learning about new things. So I might still try that out. And I will definately take another look at Big Daddy. I hear the kid from Jerry Maguire is kind of quirky and cute at the same time, so I might rent that too.

Thanks for your insight. Anyone else have any ideas?

jeremy

[jarvis2824]

Hey Jer, it's me Jabas. Glad to hear you passed. Anywho, here's a thought: since the kid is so interested in bugs and you're going to have him dream becoming a butterfly, what if you incorporated some bug textures or patterns into the clothing? An example would be a t-shirt that had catepillar stripes.

Just a starting point.

Sincerely,
Chris

[jarvis2824]

P.S. By the way, the kid's design is looking good.

[jcollins]

Hey Chris. Thanks for the feedback. I'll try that out. Stripes sound like a good idea. I'm thinking possibly Black and green, or maybe a darker green and a more olive green like his shirt. I'll have to look at some more caterpillar reference.

Here's some older sketches I have of Marcus. Changes to come soon.

http://www.rsad.edu/~jcollins/marcus_sketch2.jpg

http://www.rsad.edu/~jcollins/marcus_sketch3.jpg


jeremy