BREAKING CHARACTER
Breaking Character was about exploring how to show emotion and personality through movement instead of dialogue or detailed facial features.
ORIGINAL IDEA
My original idea was to create a bird character using collage materials, but it became too complicated to animate because of the number of moving parts.
Concept 1:
Concept 2:
I wanted to use these two triptych concepts but realised they were going to be difficult to animate and too time consuming. I scrapped the first, but kept the second concept on animating a bird instead, as they were easier and more fun to experiment with, sketch and animate.
BIRD: Character Creation, Expressions & Turnaround experimentation
I focused on studying bird behaviour, especially pigeons, and how they express emotions through head and eye movement. I also explored the tilting of a head and expressive emotion through facial expressions and body language to show what my character is expressing instead of using plain expressions.
For example, a head tilted downward can show sadness or depression, while tilting the head backwards can suggest boredom or sleepiness. Shaking the head can feel nervous or scared, and stretching the head forward can show surprise or shock. I used these movements to experiment with expression before designing my final character.
ROOK: Character Creation, Expressions & Turnaround experimentation
- Initial idea for Rook: My initial idea started with birds, especially pigeons, because they are easier to use to show emotion through movement. The pigeons were mainly used as experiments to study head tilts, eye direction, and body language. From this, I wanted to create a more serious and stronger character, which later became Rook.
- Design process for Rook: Rook’s design developed slowly through sketches and experiments. He changed from an early idea into a more snake-like, sharp-looking bird. I focused on shape language, making him sharp and pointed to contrast with the pigeon’s softer and rounder design. His character traits were stern, cunning, and guarded, which influenced how he looked and behaved. The name “Rook” came from chess pieces, as it was the first name that came to mind and felt strong and fitting for his personality.
- Background story:
Character Development: Stern, Cunning, Guarded
The character is a stern creature that prefers to be left alone. He is unlike any of his kin, as he likes to sleep and hunt alone. Because he’s protective for his own survival than any of his kin, and he dislikes any humans that disturbs him (for example documentary or human technology). He likes to be curled up into a ball when sleeping, if he’s on the ground he would slither up on trees and jump off to help him get enough height to let him fly. His wings are made of a tough scales that can protect him from other predators and he can use his wings to dig through tough rock or dirt. He is quite intelligent, as he can find materials in many locations and use them to make tools, traps and equipment to help him survive alone.
Feedback from peers and teachers:
The feedback I received was mostly positive and focused on character exploration. Jess said she really liked the personalities of both the pigeon and Rook, and that the differences between them were very clear. She felt they came across as separate characters with different emotions and ways of being, which is what the project was looking for.
The feedback also mentioned that the design choices worked well, especially the contrast in shape language. The pigeon had a softer, rounder, and more fluent appearance, while Rook looked sharper, more aggressive, and more guarded. This contrast helped communicate their personalities clearly.
Overall, the feedback confirmed that the emotions and personalities were readable through body language, movement, and expression, rather than just the drawings, which showed that the concept was successful.
ROOK: Motion Plan
My general idea for the motion plan is for Rook to start curled up and guarded, appearing vulnerable. As he wakes up, his expression is stern before becoming alert and slightly surprised. His cunning is shown through how he quickly reads the situation and realises the danger is too big for him to handle, choosing to fly away instead of reacting aggressively.
I plan to use Squash and Stretch only on the eye to show disbelief and surprise. Anticipation will be shown through the eye movement, where he will open his eyes, look in one direction, close them, then open them again before reacting. I will also use Anticipation by slightly jerking his head before unfolding and flying off. I will use Staging simply by placing Rook in the centre of the screen on a tree. I plan to use Arcs mainly for the wings, with Rook flying out of the screen and moving in curved, natural motions rather than straight lines. For Timing, my plan is for each body part to move at a different pace, with slower unfolding and more majestic wing movement.
ROOK: colour palette
For my colour palette, I used various colours, but most of them are used through shading. Rook’s head is a dark grey, while the main body and wings are brown. The underbelly uses a lighter skin-tone colour, with bright yellow lines inspired by a snake’s underbelly to make it textured. I am happy with the colour choices for the whole body, as they help Rook feel like a mix between a bird and a snake, even though I could have pushed the design further.
For the eye, I focused on making it stand out. I used a black pupil, red rings, a yellow iris, and small purple lines for detail. I enjoy designing eyes, and I wanted Rook’s eyes to feel unique and expressive, as the eyes helps define the character’s personality.
Personal Reflection:
Overall, my experience with Breaking Character felt fun and enjoyable. I liked that I could use any material to create a character, like junk, mixed media, or collage, instead of only drawing. When we were given the materials, I felt confident because I had made characters from recycled materials before. It felt easier and more fun to start by making something physically, then later turn that into a 2D character.
I enjoyed the process of creating something without fully knowing what it would become, then letting that inspire the drawing. This process helped my creative thinking feel more controlled and helped me visualise characters before putting them on paper. Learning about birds, especially pigeons, really helped. Studying their head tilts, bobbing movement, and expressions made things click for me and pushed me towards creating Rook.
Rook’s design changed many times because I kept thinking about how it would work in animation. I kept redesigning his head until it felt clear and readable from different angles. I am happy with my final drawing, especially the eye design, as it gives him more personality. I also chose stronger, colder colours because I did not want him to stand out too much or look overly colourful.
Through this project, I learned that you do not need to use all 12 principles of animation, only the ones that fit the character and motion plan. This is something I would use again in future projects.
MAKING CHARACTER
The aim of the rotation was to bring our characters to life. Following the motion plan and the 12 principles developed from Breaking Characters, and create an 5-8 second animation, using Photoshop.
What I did:
I planned for Rook to start asleep, curled up and guarded, then slowly wake up and fly away using different animation principles. My plan wast to use Squash and Stretch only on the eye, Anticipation through eye movement and a head jerk, Arcs for the wings, and Timing where each body part moved at a different pace.
In the final animation, I only managed to use squash and stretch on the eye and some anticipation when Rook opened his eyes and reacted. The staging stayed simple with Rook centred in the frame. However, I struggled with timing and my animation was too quick, especially when Rook unfold himself before flying off. I could not fully use arcs or timing as planned because all the body parts were in one frame and I did not have enough time to separate them.
Final Video & screenshots:
Feedback from peers:
- Rook is rounded and curved and then unfolds and unwraps and the shapes are convex and the contrast is good and makes him look more dynamic.
- We like to expressions and anticipation of it getting up to fly.
- Very expressive well animated eyes.
- The design, the sharpness of the head feels stern. The characteristics come through really well
- The beginning furled up pose feels very guarded and the eyes feel cunning
- Rook starts off vulnerable whilst asleep, but then you see the sharper shapes and, guarded, cunning character come through.
- You chose a hard perspective to do the flying pose from, but the way that the character comes out of the screen is really well done and you can see you put a lot of thought and work into making it smooth.
- You responded to feedback well and made the head move well and added more emotion and detail to the eyes, squeezing. Eye movements are good.
- The downward curve of his mouth makes him look stern and serious, but perhaps you could make the neck/mouth shape easier to understand anatomy wise.
Personal Reflection:
Overall, I am happy with the final outcome of my Making Character animation. I wish I had more time to fully finish it, especially adding colour and sound, but for the limited time, it works well on its own. I really like how the animation feels, particularly the wings. They are slow but smooth, which makes it feel almost like slow motion.
The process was mostly okay at the start, especially animating the body and head. The most difficult part was animating the wings, as they looked unnatural at first. With help and feedback from a peer, I learned how to use curved, rippling movements, which improved the animation a lot. This showed me that collaboration can be really helpful.
My concept changed during the process, and I did not fully follow my original motion plan, but the final idea still works. I used some of the 12 principles of animation, such as squash and stretch, anticipation, arcs, and timing, mainly in the eye, head, and wings. From this experience, I learned the importance of feedback, time management, and choosing animation principles that fit the character. I will use this process again in future projects to make my animations more expressive.