Getting Animated

It is the end of a whirlwind week that was jam-packed with pirate robots, superheros, villains, cats posing as cowboys, murderous fat dental nurses and much much more.....of course, they all formed part of the character design for animation summer school course I was completing at Central Saint Martins.

Character designer and animation extraordinaire, Vincent Woodcock shared a small part of his vast knowledge to shed some light on creating characters that make the most of the potential that the animation medium has to offer. Constant drawing and experimentation with shape, line, squash, stretch and movement saw us explore and develop original characters, and realise the possibilities for future characters.

One thing that has stuck in my mind was Vincent quoting something a former teacher told him, which was: 'go as far as you can in a pose, and then go further'. Meaning, make your characters as crazy as you like, the more dramatic the better! I began to understand that being able to draw the characters was only half of the mix, knowing how to make your characters 'act' is what eventually brings them to life.

I've included a few rough drawings of a couple of characters I created over the week, as well as a maquette of the cowboy cat character. I'll be aiming to develop some of the characters I created a bit further, and of course be bringing new ones to life.