A New Character is Born

jeffroig
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A New Character is Born

Post by jeffroig »

While I continue to work on the animation for the film festival, I was asked by my local TV station (WCWG) part of the CW network to create a new character.
Their plans are to use this character to try and brand the local channel, if you remember the CW network was associated with Michigan J. Frog but due to legal issues they can no longer use him.
The idea I was presented with was a badger, they plan to use him as a sarcastic character that badgers everyone about what they are watching.
After several drawing and looking and way too many pictures of badgers I designed the badger character.
The creative dept at WCWG viewed the images and said they loved him but wanted to add a shirt and necklace with bling.
So I created a shirt for him with their logo on it and a gold necklace with a large bling pendant.
Attachments
Badger.jpg
CW-Badger2.jpg
CW-Badger1.jpg
Last edited by jeffroig on 22 Oct 2011, 17:04, edited 1 time in total.
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lysvallee
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by lysvallee »

He's got teeth as well now :)
He's looking good, though I'm far from being an expert. They're certainly going to ask you to make their logo more visible: not hidden behind his necklace, but maybe slightly lower on his shirt. Or maybe you need to experiment with the size of the necklace.
Another option: simply removing the logo since it's redundant with the CW bling.
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Steinie
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by Steinie »

Looks pretty good Jeff.
My suggestion would be to remove the logo on the t-shirt and make the bling MUCH bigger.
froo
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by froo »

Yeah! Bling ROCKS!
I'm gonna go get me a new GRILL now! :lol:

Lookin good Jeff
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Finis
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by Finis »

Would making test renders at TV resolution be a good idea? Sure a lot of TV's are digital high def but you could see how the character looks on old fashioned low def TV. The shirt lettering and bling might need to have exaggerated size to work in low def.

His eyes need something. He looks hypnotized or drugged. Although your characters are great I think the hypnotized eyes are a recurring issue. Your characters would go from great to awesome with more life in their eyes.

I don't know about real badger's markings but the character's head fur is very different from his body fur. I think a style like his head all over would look better. However, with stripes all over some viewers would think he is a skunk.
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Breech Block
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by Breech Block »

Hey, that's pretty cool. If it is going to be used as an ident though, I'd really try and push the characters design a lot more in order to help him become more recognizable to his potential audience. As a guide, they say that you can instantly tell the truly great characters just by seeing their silhouette. Pushing the ears out a bit more and adding whiskers might help you out there. And perhaps work on the tail a bit more to make it a bit more distinctive/characteristic. For me personally, I think with the clothes you should either go the whole way and add trousers/shoes or leave the t-shirt off. Also, I don't know if your sizing of the characters hands/feet were deliberate, but one of the animals distinctive features is that its front legs/paws are bigger than its hind legs. Anyhow's, hope this helps and keep up the good work.
DarkScythe
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by DarkScythe »

the black on the eye is too wide...

but overall it is nice :worship:
jeffroig
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by jeffroig »

Thank you all for the comments and you will notice that with the new images in this post some of the items have been covered.
The shirt logo is much bigger and easier to read. I asked them about putting pants on him and they said no they just want the shirt so although I agree with this and would even put shorts on him they said no.
I am redesigning the eyes in a way I have only seen done a few times. Each eye will actually be two separate parts.
The ball and the pupil, by doing this I will be able to adjust the pupil size to match the emotion or event taking place.
I still have some fine adjusting to do on the bones and I have a crap load of morphs to create to adjust every expression.
Once I have the eyes fixed I will post some new images and possibly a animation.
Attachments
Badger Point.jpg
Badger Point to.jpg
Badger Idle.jpg
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Breech Block
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by Breech Block »

jeffroig wrote:I asked them about putting pants on him and they said no they just want the shirt so although I agree with this and would even put shorts on him they said no.
Well the client's wishes always come first in these matters. But in my experience, any public posters featuring this character the way he is currently featured are gonna suddenly find themselves the victim of some mischievous little “artist” as he displays his deft prowess at drawing-on various sized genitalia. :lol:

That aside, he's looking pretty darned good. :bananacool2:
jeffroig
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Re: A New Character is Born

Post by jeffroig »

Breech Block I agree 100% with you but like you said the customers wishes come first so let them discover what we already know.
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