Character's history

In this post I'm going to focus on the characters history, the everyday environment, the personality traits and why they act the way they act ...I had to stop the drawings the reason it's because I need to be more clear why i'm creating these characters.

in a conversation with Kelvin, after I showed him the initial characters sketches he ask me why does the characters look the way they look, I had a few answers but couldn't complete and give enough information about the characters so it was only right to analyse and identify the problem of character design not only visually but also what would make sense, the idea was there but the problem is, why the character look the way they looked, and why they acted the way they acted.

Evaluating Kelvin's feedback I went on to investigate, and one of the discoveries I made was fascinate, Kelvin ask me why the lion was scared of the cock, witch I couldn't answers because I didn't know, but with a bit of research I manage to get the answer. The situation was that I physically tried to portrayed the cock's body has a type of a muscular body , in my mind I was thinking , well If the lion is scare of the cock, it must be only one reason...the cock is strong like rambo or vin disel but I was totally wrong because in my research I found that it wasn't the physical attributes of the cock the made the lion scare, is not even his ability to fight like bruce lee, that scared the lion...the answer...well, the reason there are some kind of sound, which some persons cannot endure and yet can give you no reason for it but are constrained to fly to a specifical properties and antipathies, and such we may conceive to be between the cock's crowing and a lion's ear.

the king of beats having occasion to wonder, how out of so small a body should issue a voice strong, and which is heard so far off, whereas himself can make such great slaughters with so little noise. Which amazement of the lion is so much the greater , if the cock be white, because this colour helps yet more to dissipate his spirits, which were already scattered by the first motion of his apprehension.

Building the character biography

Revelations of my thinking process...the beginning

Stage 1 how the characters are gonna look.

in this stage I will be making sketches of the characters in various poses has facial expressions with various emotions ...the objective is to show my capability in bringing human feeling in these characters.

next step will be making a model for each character, because they are animals and because of their shape it will be easier for me to complete a final model sheet using the model has a reference.

I was trying to get the cartoon feeling in my characters because I didn't want to have realistic characters so I could keep the essence and nature of animation witch is exaggeration and caricature look since the origanal characters are too realistic.

I was thinking how would I began my characters with a simple process that would be easily understandable so I started with a logical form.

In pushing the limits of character design I will trying to fit the characters in the same world.

what can be great about the characters is the tone of the cartoon, so the script will have a major play in creating these characters and their design style,

1 Functional

Form

Simplicity

Can Be Moved Easily

2 Aesthetic

Pleasing Balance Of Shapes

3 Distinct From Other Characters - Recognizable

4 Personality

5 Originality

Visual Reference material...

Before I started to draw the characters,inspired in the fables I took time to brainstorm and combining words to form new ideas to work with.

here I have got research for reference material to acquire has much information that I could get. Visual information was important too, so I could work with more confidence, using them has my backbone.

the objective is not to achieve a realistic animal, but a warner bros.character with a pitch of reality also inspired by kung fu panda.

Here I have the cockerel, donkey and a lion...the characters from the fable I mighty storyboard the original story and another one that will have my personal touch in terms of recreating the story, characters are gonna be the same but the story structure will have changes, its almost complete by the way.

The original story & the original characters...

My aim is to reinvent the characters of this fable into modern day characters, not trying to be cliche I will personified these characters with a more imaginary edge.

I will be designing 3 different characters with different personalities and different shapes but immediately recognisable but also taking into consideration that they need to be part of the same world and surroundings, inspired by the classics like warner bros. looney tunes, dream work kung fu panda and many more .

But the vital difference will be notice in the strong sense of color, my vision and my style of drawing but keeping everything simply.

One last note because of the chosen story I'm limited in terms of what the characters should be, the story is already structure with these characters so I won't be making any changes in relation to the characters or adding anymore characters.

Here is the original story from the fable book, initial my plan was to turn it into an animation but the main focus are the characters, sticking to the original story I will bring the characters to life.

There was a lion who feared nothing except the crowing of cocks. A chill would go down his spine whenever he heard a cock crowing.

One day he confessed his fear to the elephant, who was greatly amused.

“How can the crowing of a cock hurt you?” he asked the lion. “Think about it!”

Just then a mosquito began circling the elephant’s head, frightening him out of his wits.

“If it gets into my ear I’m doomed!” he shrieked, flailing at the insect with his trunk.

Now it was the lion’s turn to feel amused.

Moral: If we could see our fears as others see them we would realise that most of our fears make no sense!

The Donkey, the Cock, and the Lion

The Cock is a proud bird. He likes to strut about and show off for the other animals. One day he was sitting on the branch of a tree looking at the world around him. He puffed out his chest and adjusted his comb. He was pleased with his glowing feathers and colorful plumage.

Just as he was thinking that he certainly must be the envy of the animals, he observed a donkey trudging down the path. “Friend, Donkey,” crowed the Cock, “you look so tired. Have you been walking for a long time?”

“Oh, hello, Cock,” replied Donkey. “No, I have only been walking for a few minutes. I am weary. My legs and back are tired from plowing the fields. Each morning, people come to me and strap their harnesses around my body. I toil in the hot sun all day. Plow, plow, plow, that is all I do. I am tired of this work.” Poor Donkey shook his head and started to slowly walk away.

Cock, never missing an opportunity to brag about himself, said, “Oh, poor Donkey. My fine feathers and colorful plumage mean that I have a much better life than you. In fact, my only job is to awaken everyone each morning. The people would not even get up unless I crowed the time to them!”

As Donkey was listening to Cock go on and on about his fine appearance and important job, a hungry lion spotted the Donkey. The Lion imagined a donkey dinner and fixed his eyes upon his meal. He was so intent on creeping toward the Donkey that he did not see the Cock on the tree branch. The Cock, however, noticed the Lion

slinking toward the Donkey. He began flapping his wings and crowing loudly.

This commotion shocked the Lion who had not seen the bird. Not knowing who was making this noise, the Lion turned and ran.

The Donkey who had been listening to the Cock crow about how fine he was, saw this as a chance to prove his own worth. He said, “Look at the Lion! He is a coward who fears a bird in a tree! I will chase him!” The Donkey, feeling proud, began to chase the mighty Lion.

The Donkey’s hooves sounded like a mob of people running. This scared the Lion, so he raced faster and faster! Soon the Lion thought, “I am beginning to tire. Rather than running at this pace any longer, I shall turn and fight.”

The Lion turned his head, ready for a ferocious fight, but saw it was only a Donkey who had been chasing him. Lion jumped at the poor Donkey and killed him. As he began to eat, he paused and sighed slowly, “Today I have been fooled. My own prey chased me!”

Aesop's Fables [6th century BCE] ( Temple 210): The lion was complaining to Prometheus that while the god had made him big and strong, he was still afraid of the cock. The lion felt foolish because of this lack of courage. He went to talk to the elephant and found him being tormented by a gnat. When the lion asked him about his trouble, the elephant said that he was afraid of the gnat, because if it got into his ear he would surely die. The lion, hearing that, felt much better about his own courage, since a cock is much more frightening than a gnat. (Temple 269): An ass and a cock were together one day, when a lion attacked the ass. The cock began to crow, and the lion ran away, since lions are afraid of the crowing of the cock. The ass, believing the lion was fleeing through fear of him, gave chase, but as soon as the lion was far enough from the cock so that its crowing could not be heard, he stopped running and killed the ass.

The Ass, the Cock, and the Lion

AN ASS and a Cock were in a straw-yard together when a Lion,

desperate from hunger, approached the spot. He was about to

spring upon the Ass, when the Cock (to the sound of whose voice

the Lion, it is said, has a singular aversion) crowed loudly, and

the Lion fled away as fast as he could. The Ass, observing his

trepidation at the mere crowing of a Cock summoned courage to

attack him, and galloped after him for that purpose. He had run

no long distance, when the Lion, turning about, seized him and

tore him to pieces.

False confidence often leads into danger.

Cereal Mascots

Cereal Mascots really depedends on a good character creation too, for advertising purposes what this characters do have that they gonna make kids go and buy them I tnink just the imagination of eating cereals that a mascot is having it makes wanna be like a kid again.