Friday 19 April 2013

Character Updates...

Okay so here's how Flossy currently looks:

She's wooly but in a much softer way now. There's been a lot of too-ing and fro-ing with Flossy, one of the simplest characters and yet she's been the most difficult to portray!

One suggestion Alan gave me is that she could be a bouncy head with ears, which is really cute, but I don't think it's quite Flossy as she's a meeker character that bounces about when no ones looking. However, I would like to use this idea and after thinking about still using my iced gem character it would seem they're a great match.  Below is a very rough mock up of how they could look:


I'd want these to be creatures that are found everywhere but are particularly drawn to well lit areas, and are especially drawn to Flossy when she lights up, and sometimes just in general. They're not quite pests but they aren't really pets either, they're just a cute and sometimes awkward creature in the Land of Nod. I think I'd get rid of the face space altogether and have maybe just eyes peeking out for these creatures, I'll get a few rough sketches together and see what comes out though.

To give myself a break from the Flossy conundrum I decided to go back to the previous characters and give them their new props and tweaks.  I've given Natty her magical (but mostly practical) sponge wand:
Sponge with holes.
Sponge without holes.
Which do you prefer? Sponge with holes looks more like natural sponge, but also like cheese, and sponge without holes looks nicer but does it say sponge?

I've also made a satchel for Walter:

His bag of endless possibilities is where he keeps all his gadgets. He has something for every situation in there!

And Clarissa is looking much livelier in her new pose:
I'll tilt her head a little more towards the viewer next.
It's still coming along nicely it's just getting down to crunch time and the nerves are bubbling away. Hopefully after this weekend I'll at least have Flossy finished! :P




3 comments:

  1. sponge without holes - but maybe cut from stuff like this?

    http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/877648/8557796/0/1238846149/Facial_Sponge_Cellulose_Sponge_Scourer.jpg

    I'm loving the fact that you're returning to Flossy - because clearly you have such a clear idea about her character (if not quite her appearance right away). My advice is to park the 'iced gem' idea because I think the iced gem character should probably exist in its own right at a later date, and not chucked in at this late stage; if Flossy is who you want, bring all your energies to bear on this design until YOU'RE certain of her - oh, and about those nerves? Kick 'em to the curb. You're doing great stuff, Molly - just power through to the final stage.

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    1. Thanks Phil! I had a bit of a struggle for the last few days and went completely blank with Flossy but I'll keep at it and hopefully it'll all work out okay :)

      I'll have a play with the texturing and make her wand a little more sponge-like and keep on keeping on, trying to keep these nerves in check as best I can :D

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  2. Hey Molly,

    If - and it's only an if - you can't resolve Flossy to your liking by the time of the crit, I think you should consider the option of shelving her as part of your final submission line-up - i.e. that you go forward with the characters with which you're happy as a resolved set, but include Flossy in your Art Of etc. as conceptual development. For me, this is a much more proactive attitude to an issue, not of ambition or skill, but rather of time. Accentuate the positive and all that. This is not an instruction or an indication that I don't think you will resolve Flossy - rather it's me asking you to think about curating the strongest possible submission; what I don't want to see is feedback gathering around one character - especially when it's feedback of which you'll already be aware! It's not uncommon in final cuts of books and films for supporting characters to find themselves on the cutting room floor - it's not an admission of defeat, but rather an acknowledgement of what an audience needs above and beyond the creative impulse of the maker. Something for you to think about.

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