Character Research

Character Research & Audience

With the song choices I've made to date I know I want each of the tracks to feel a little vulnerable and fragile; it's important that this is reflected in the characters as they will be the primary communicators of atmosphere in each piece.

In order to get an idea of what visual language I wanted to express these characters in I looked at some pre-existing characters that I felt had aspects that I wanted my own work to embody. I want each of my characters to feel cute but sad, a lot of the characters I looked at gave me a sense of nostalgia and though they were brightly coloured and big eyed, they were capable of expressing a certain degree of sadness and real human insecurity. I think part of what makes these characters seem so sad IS their cute quality. Something that is already small and harmless seems even sadder when expressing negative emotions. For my pieces I think using animals as characters would give me that level of 'cuteness' but with more anthropomorphic characteristics. Expressions and body language will be key in the communication of emotion through my characters.

Characters Explored 

INUINU - Clothing Brand
Animal Crossing - Nintendo Game
Harvest Moon; A wonderful Life - PlayStation 2 Game