Character Analysis Series: Conclusion/Reflection 12/04/2018

My character Analysis series has helped me greatly in a various number of ways;

First of all, I learnt that not all characters follow the stereotype for each class, and that some characters can have elements of each class and that's okay. For exmaple with Erza Scarlet fitting in both the mage and fighter class.

I learnt that semiotics is very important in character design. If I want to get across who my character is visually, I'm going to need to do some research into semiotics and character design. Also things like colour theory. You can tell who these characters are, or at least gives a sign whether they are good or evil by the way they look. Someones, characters aren't what they seem. They could be small and look weak when in reality are actually powerful. All of this relates to semiotics and design in general.

There were many cool magic/skills concepts I came across which I will use as inspiration when creating mine, in fact, everything from clothes design to personalities I am going to use as inspirtation.

Every character has a reason as to why they're doing what they're doing. Their backstories are flawless and I need to make sure mine will be the same. My characters will be making a pact with a god, which offers them the thing they most desire in exchange for saving the world. I need to plan their entire backstories and come up with the thing they most desire. I also want this to relate to the magical girls they become and the class they become. I want their skills and magic to relate to who they are as a person. I want their occupation to reflect this too.

I think the thing I learnt most from all the research I've done so far is that there's a lot more to designing characters than just drawing. They need to have detailed backstories, they need to reflect who they are and a lot of time and effort goes in to making characters. Everything is chosen for a reason, nothing is random. I have considered that things will take time which is why I have chosen to JUST do magical girls, and I am not being too strict on myself on how many I choose to do. I need to be realistic, and realistically I don't think I'm going to be able to make three characters. I will try my best and continue to plan my time out strictly.

Next steps:

• Semiotics blog post. Use book, web pages, videos, ect.

• Begin designing characters. I think it will be best if i plan out their entire story first. So I am going to start with mind maps for ideas and then refine it down so I can fill in Character Templates from Flint Dille & John Zuur Platten - The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design