Character Bible research

 Character Bible research and analysis

Because I have a little experience with creating Character bibles in both first and second year I feel pretty confident in what needs to go into them. I do want to be a bit more extensive in terms of notes as other people will be having to use the bible to reference and draw from, so I want to make sure the notes are really thorough and all of the drawings are clear and communicate my ideas well.

Looking at the reference sheets from Disney has been pretty helpful due to how extensive their notes are. Originally I had overlooked putting in how many heads tall betty is, which I went back and added into her notes page. I think its important to make sure all of the rules I have created for myself while designing the character get communicated through the bible, so seeing other examples of notes and what Disney artists think of is quite useful.

Studio Bones is one of my favourite animation studios, so it was cool to see a character model sheet from one of their shows: Mob Psycho 100. I like the facts they show aspects like the details of the bottom of mobs shoes that wouldnt normally be seen from a standard turnaround pose/angle. I also like how he has realistic proportions with a simplistic design. The animation in Mob Psycho is really dynamic and fluid so its cool to see the choices Bones made in designing his character model to help fit within the artstyle and animation style of the show. I also really like how expressive mob's face can be despite the simplicity and basic shape composition of his model. I think its the perfect level of compromise between it being simple enough to draw over and over again quickly while still looking stylistically appealing. 

For Hiro's emotion model sheet I like the fact that Disney has made use of multiple angles as well as different emotions. for my emotion chart I decided to just do front on poses of Betty as I feel that most shots will show betty from a front on view considering the main setting of the both table, and how she will be sitting directly across from Pavo. From the different angles and expressions you can tell that theres a really solid understanding of the characters features, compositions and rules needed when drawing him. I want to develop Betty to a similar point where her look is very iconic and recognisable, as well as being uniform and drawn similarly even by different artists. 

Bojack Horseman. 
I like the formatting of having all of the character sheets referencing Bojacks height. I also like how it gives a specific height too having the turnaround sheet against a height chart. While I dont think I will use this idea in Bettys turnaround I do want to create a height chart with all of the characters so people can draw them accurately across all the shots. We have an official height for Betty () and Pavo () to work with. I think the waiter should be taller than Pavo to give him a sense of intimidation and power off Pavo. The background characters I am goin to eyeball off of there designs Melissa had done previously, just in the new, updated art style to better match Betty, Pavo and the Waiter. 

Again I also really like the detailed breakdown of different aspects of the character and explaining how they will work in motion rather than stand alone drawings. I want to explain the rules I created for Betty for myself when drawing her to others to help them better understand her design and how to draw her quickly and accurately. 

I like the simplicity of SIAMES's character sheet for their music video 'THE WOLF'. I think the poses they have chosen for the character of the man and the wolf help to show their personality as well as what they will look like in both static and moving poses. I think even without words parts of the character is communicated clearly, especially with the breakdown of the wolf character, his different forms, and the energy and movement he has. 

One thing that hasn't really been touched on in the template is the cover page for the character Bible. looking into it I managed to find a really basic but effective concept by Catalina Dos Santos Borges on Artstation. I liked the action pose that showed a lot of movement and character, while still being clear and showing most of her outfit. I also liked the small details hinting at her characters personality and backstory, with things like the sun motif, mountains, animal mask and katana. I thought this could be a design I adapt to fit with Bettys character Bio.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xJAKoY

The first idea I had was to incorperate her taxidermist job into the border decoration with a stuffed fox, needle and thread. I couldnt think of any obvious Motif so I opted to have a nice big company logo on the front so it's a bit more front and centre compared to the small version in the margins of the inner pages.