From Script to Screen: Character Design Workshop - Lesson 1

Today was our first Character design session, and for preparation for the session we were asked to bring in a picture, or have a picture ready, of our favourite character. I chose the Joker. I have always been a fan of the Batman comics and the Batman films, especially the 1989 "Batman", where the Joker was played by Jack Nicholson and "The Dark Knight", where Heath Ledger played the Joker . The picture I chose was of Heath Ledger's Joker in "The Dark Knight". I wasn't necessarily aiming to get a picture of his Joker when I was looking for one, I just picked the first Joker picture I saw. Our first task was to take our character and draw it in a different style. I based the drawing on the traditional, trademark look of the Joker with his long face, beaming eyes and large smile. I then added all the features that Heath Ledger's Joker has: The scars on his cheeks, the black around his eyes and his long messy hair. I drew it, however, in my own pen style as that is, as I have said before, something I feel comfortable with. I wanted to emphasise the black around the eyes to really make them stand out and I think they have turned out quite well. Overall, I am very happy with this as it is quite dark, like Heath Ledger's Joker, but has the fun appearance that the Joker always has.

Our second task was to draw a cartoon character, that we got at random, and to redraw it using different shapes. In the session, we learned about how shapes are used in characters. Circles represent safe and gentle things. Squares show stability and strength. And Triangles are usually associated with villains, primarily, due to their sharp edges that have an element of danger. The character I got was Scooby-Doo. Scooby-Doo is a friendly dog, but as he is a great dane he needs to have a strong appearance, so, due to them two traits, circles and squares are the shapes that are used in his design. I decided to replace the friendly manner of the circles with the sharp danger of the triangles. This substitution has made Scooby look evil and not like the friendly dog we all know. I added claws, also, to add more danger to the design. I am very happy with this, although, I think maybe the neck is a bit too long.