DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Wonky College
HTML https://adventuregames.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Art Theory
*****************************************************
#Post#: 27--------------------------------------------------
Character Design in Silhouette
DIR By: Pam
Date: May 21, 2021, 7:02 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Character design – especially in low resolutions – is something
that really interests me, particularly because I'm not very good
at it. Before joining Wadjet Eye Games, most of my character
design relied on highly stylized anatomy, bright colours,
comical outfits and interesting postures. When I suddenly found
myself faced with the prospect of trying to draw people that
looked a bit more human, for more serious, believable settings,
everything I'd come to rely on was suddenly of very little use.
In order to examine the art of character design a little more
deeply, I want to strip away the colours, the details, the
expressions, and focus on the raw silhouettes, or outlines, that
make up characters. That way we can analyze one very specific
aspect of the art form, without other elements distracting us
too much.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=1.png
My first work with Wadjet Eye was on the Blackwell series,
starting as character artist and animator, and it was a task I
was poorly equipped to handle. The very first character I had to
draw, Rosa Blackwell, took me many, many attempts and edits.
When it came to drawing her spectral sidekick, Joey, things went
much smoother, and I managed to get a workable design very
quickly.
The reason behind this is mainly the iconic style of Joey,
compared to Rosa's much more everyday appearance. Getting Rosa
to look correct in the eyes of her writer, Dave Gilbert,
involved countless tiny edits, with him trying to explain why it
wasn't quite right. Knowing what made Rosa feel like Rosa was a
very subtle thing, in other words. Joey, on the other hand, was
much easier to distil. A certain kind of hat, the hands tucked
in the pockets, and the series trademark floaty area in place of
ghostly legs meant that I could easily tell what made him work.
These differences are visible even from the silhouettes – simply
put, Rosa didn't give me much to work with. Even seen here in
pure silhouette, Joey is at least recognizable as a vaguely
lumpy version of himself, while Rosa looks like a Coke bottle
that's had an unfortunate accident. Other characters – a
cigarette smoking, trenchcoat wearing detective, or an ancient
spirit dressed in an antique gown – gave me similarly
distinctive features to work from, and small elements of these
features are still visible in this most basic form.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=2.png
Technobabylon was, if anything, perhaps slightly more difficult.
Working on main character sprites that were even smaller left me
with little room to experiment, and the result is a very stiff
set of silhouettes that don't look very anatomically
representative of a human, nor do they look all that special.
James Dearden's detailed outlines of the characters' biographies
provided plenty of insight into what made them work, but in
terms of visuals, there were few props, few accessories to work
with that allowed me to give them interesting shapes – except
for some of the many, very colourful and intriguing NPCs. The
fourth character here represents an attempt at something more
relaxed and normal, but is hindered by both my poor anatomy
skills and the small size.
This game actually has a range of very compelling minor
characters who were quite dynamic to draw, and it definitely
went more easily with them. It's these main characters, however,
that we're looking at for most of the game, and in terms of
interesting designs, my work on them can largely be considered
disappointing.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=3.png
When it came to my next project, Shardlight, things changed
quite a bit. Designer Francisco Gonzalez and I agreed between us
that we wanted slightly bigger character sprites, giving me more
pixels to play with. Francisco's ideas for the characters
involved fairly elaborate costumes and attitudes, which allowed
for quite a lot of exaggeration, making for some much more
iconic silhouettes. Certain elements I toned down – the third
character here originally had a much larger hat in his design –
whereas other elements were exaggerated. The last character
involved me taking one of Francisco’s sketches and really
running with it, resulting in a silhouette that really stands
out. The second character represented above is basically
unchanged from his sketch – I merely took his outline and gave
it appropriate colouring and shading, then animated it, such was
the clarity of his vision for this particular character's outfit
and posture.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=4.png
My current project, working again with Dave Gilbert, sees us
using a slightly higher resolution yet again, and here I finally
feel like I have enough pixels to start approaching some
semblance of realism, while still trying to keep interesting
silhouettes as a goal. Here you can see slight differences in
stance, props, outfits and body shape, the benefits of having
more pixels to play with. I'm working with less exaggerated,
theatrical character types than those in Shardlight for these
main characters, although once again, the game certainly has its
share of more iconic shapes in the lesser characters.
The main thing, though, is that I'm trying to use these
silhouettes to not only suggest who these characters are, via
their outfits and props, but also to give a sense of mood –
relaxed, less stiff postures, that are quickly identifiable as
human. I still like to think there's enough diversity in their
designs that they feel unique, and even identifiable, despite a
more everyday approach to clothing and anatomy.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=5.png
When studying character design from the genre's history, there's
definitely a point where technology wasn't advanced enough to
allow for very complex designs. These characters from four
beloved classics are almost comical in how similar they are – a
result of the AGI engine's limitations. That being said, there's
one character whose design stands out, with a blocky little
feather in his cap that identifies him to us as Graham of
Daventry. The fact that we can recognize one of these figures
among such basic, blocky shapes speaks volumes about the power
of having an iconic silhouette. A strong, distinctive character
design should be readable from the outline alone, at least to
some extent. This is why it's useful to simplify these designs
into their basic silhouettes – it stops the colours and textures
from distracting us from the basic, fundamental design of a
character, and allows us to see what in that character's form
makes it stand out, if anything.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=6.png
If we skip forward in time to Sierra's SCI engine, we can see
that things have gotten much better in terms of detail. These
are at least representative of human figures, if quite low
resolution ones, and start to look a little more unique. Keeping
with realistic anatomy, similarity in body types, and a lack of
props, however, means it's quite difficult to determine who any
of these characters might be, without a fairly intimate
familiarity with the games. Knowledgeable Sierra fans will no
doubt pick up on the small details that give away certain clues,
and some will probably even be able to identify all four of the
characters, but those who have only patchy experience with the
company's games, such as me, will hardly be able to distinguish
these characters from their outlines alone.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=7.png
On the much, much more cartoony side of the spectrum,
LucasArts's adventures featured character designs whose
silhouettes are so uniquely stylized that I've no doubt that
even people who haven't played their respective games, but have
at least a passing familiarity with the genre's history, will
not only know where these characters come from, but probably be
able to name most of them, too. This is the strength of a
strong, unique silhouette – it creates characters that are both
memorable and easily identifiable. It's why it's so easy to
merchandise Mickey Mouse, Batman, and The Simpsons – one glance
at even the most stylized representation of these characters,
and we know exactly who they are.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=8.png
If we want to create bold, memorable silhouettes without going
so far into cartoony territory, there are a few things we can
try. Take, for example, Indiana Jones here – the trademark hat
and confident pose capture his character from the films well, in
just the smallest number of pixels. Robin Hood beside him
features enough props that even if we don't recognize who he is,
we can tell we're looking at a man of action, and read his
character type just from the silhouette. Bobbin Threadbare's
hooded robe and distaff are integral parts of his character,
too, helpful props that not only act as his sole identifying
features, both in silhouette and in full detail, but are also
fundamental parts of who he is and will become. Simon the
Sorcerer's robe and wizard hat turn him from a fairly ordinary
English schoolboy into someone who's at least reasonably
recognizable, despite his very small size.
HTML https://adventuregamers.com//?ACT=49&d=33008&fid=43&f=9.png
The ability to read a character's attitude, their lifestyle, or
even just identify who they are at a glance are excellent things
to aim for in a low resolution sprite, and looking at these old
characters, in all of their blocky glory, and trying to
understand what makes their silhouettes work is an interesting
goal. Sometimes it can be the smallest things – I'd recognize
the way that The Dig's characters’ puffy astronaut pants tuck
into their boots anywhere. In other cases it's the whole design
– Ben Throttle's massive frame, outfit and broad stance embody
his lifestyle and his character with every pixel. Perhaps it's
just the way a character stands, too – Kyrandia 2's Zanthia goes
through an incredible 13 outfits over the course of a single
game, yet her posture – and therefore her outline - remains
recognizably her in every iteration of her design.
It's silhouettes like these that I aspire to recreate in my own
work. Usually I simply try to keep outlines in mind while
drawing a character, one of the various ‘guides’ that I will
check a piece of art against to see if works well, a measure of
its success or failure. However, in a situation where I have to
design a character of a very specific, exaggerated type – say,
for instance, a hulking, violent monster – I will often start
from a pure, blank silhouette similar to the ones you see in the
example images here, and in that way hopefully imbue the design
with this sort of idea from the very foundational stages, before
I start thinking about colours and details. So my preferred
practice changes depending on the specific circumstance, but
either way, it’s always an important element to consider so that
my characters, too, can be instantly recognizable and readable
from the most rudimentary of visual detail.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1