Production Dairies #5 07/05/18 - 09/05/18

Over the past few days I have done some work on the warrior, coming up with ideas for her face, outfit and weapon.

I first started with designing her face and hair, using the warrior character I created in the RPG character creator online (which I talked about in a previous blog post: https://mingamesblog.wixsite.com/mingames/blog/rpg-heroine-creator-experiment-02-05-18 )

I drew similar hair to the RPG character I created; short, flicky and spiky. I took into account my study of semiotics for this, as incorporating spikes/triangles in my character will give her an edge, give the impression of danger and that she is not to be messed with. This links in with her personality, which I want to visually communicate so that she can be seen as a unique character that is easy to tell apart from the others. I didn't want her to look evil, which is what the use of triangles and sharp shapes are meant for, So I also included some round, soft shapes into the hair too. I also made her face a nice balance of sharp and round, making sure it wasn't too pointy as like I said, I don't want her to look like a villain I just want her to look tough.

I wanted the eyes to be sharper than the mage's eyes which are quite rounded, but still with the heart light reflection on. (I want all the characters to have this as it will symbolise magical girls. People will be able to distinguish who is a magical girl by the hearts in their eyes. My study into Semiotics inspired me with this idea as people will notice that only magical girls have the hearts therefore will be able to work out that they are magical girls through visual communication.)

To make this character look tough and fierce, I placed the eyebrow front close to the eye, and the end further away from the eye. This gives a slight frown, which is what I tend to see a lot of 'tough' looking characters have. It gives almost a "don't mess with me" look. The eyebrows are also slightly bushy as this character isn't fussed on how she looks, and also gives a more tough look.

I next started designing some armour, which I admit, I struggled with a bit. I felt like I couldn't get anything to look right.

I first gathered inspiration from pinterest, pinning everything from other people's warrior OC's, real life armour, concepts and high fashion pieces. I also used the character I created from the RPG character design task I did.

I wanted this character to have heavy armour and look protected. But how do I do this whilst still making the character look cool?

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I dislike the first outfit I created. It doesn't look like heavy armour it looks more like light armour. The swirling detailing I thought looked cool though.

The second outfit I do like, she has big paulrons and enough protection so that she looks like she is protected and wearing heavy armour. I want to redraw this one as it is one of my favourite concept wise.

The third outfit on this page I took inspiration from the RPG Character Creation I did. I think this looks more like medium armour, though i could change that by colouring it in with a shiny, metal texture. I might redraw this one too.

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The first outfit on this page I didn't complete as I has no idea what I was doing and didn't have a clear idea in my head. The breastplate with the heart detailing could be cool though.

The second outfit on this page I think would be suited more towards the rogue. I say this because of the straps, though the giant metal greaves would be suited towards more of a warrior.

The second outfit looks too delicate for the warrior which is why I didn't finish it, I also feel like it doesn't flow and that nothing really matches.

The final outfit is my favourite on this page. I see it and think of warrior instantly. There could be more protection though.

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The first outfit on this page features bolts, which indicates that this armour is metal and heavy. The pauldrons are huge and would offer much protection. The waist protection could be better. I tried to draw chain mail greaves which didn;t work out so well but that is what it's suppost to be. Overall I think this outfit is good but needs some work. I feel like it looks a bit too boring.

I added a breastplate design on the second outfit to make it less plain, and I also changed the style of the pauldrons which I ended up disliking as I felt they looked too flat. I added a scale mail waist/leg protection thing? I;m not entirely sure what to call it, but I think it adds texture to the outfit which could spice up the previous outfit.

I didn't finish thee third outfit as It is way too delicate for this character, but it could be an idea for my sorceress. It looks like angel wings which could relate to my sorceress character as she wields the power of light.

The last outfit is my attempt at incorporating and merging the previous outfits together to create something better. I like the spiky pauldrons as it would match with my characters spiky hair. I still think the breastplate looks a bit too delicate even though I added bolts to give it a heavy look. I could try out some different breastplate designs. Going with the spiky theme, I also added spiky flicks to the boots.

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The first outfit is yet another attempt at incorporating and merging other outfits together. I like this outfit but I feel like it doesn;t offer enough protection.

I next moved on to designing weapons. I had previously decided I wanted this character to have some sort of sword, so I again went to pinterest and pinned a wide range of swords, from real life swords to people's concepts.

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Here were my initial ideas which I adjusted and developed with each design. I wanted the weapon to look unique, spiky and like it could damage you real bad. I liked the idea of adding what almost looks like bat wings to the handle of the sword, I think it adds a spooky, tough touch.

The first design on the left has a transparent red middle pannel made out of shiny red glass-like material. I thought of a concept for the weapon. The middle pannel is clear but as you kill enemies, it fills up with their blood. Once the weapon "charges" up with enough of enemies blood, the red stone in the middle glows super bright and the sword unleashes a special blood attack that shoots mini blood swords in a circle around the player which deals AoE instant damage with bleeding effect,which also heals you. I thought this could be one of the characters ultimate abilities. This also got me thinking that I should think about what abilities each character is going to have as it's something I've forgotten about completely.

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These are the final ideas for weapon, I need to work on proportions a bit more but I will ask people what one they like the most and go with the most liked weapon.

Conclusion

I am currently behind schedule. It has taken me a lot longer than expected to come up with ideas for each character, and therefore I am still in pre production when I should be in the production process. I am worried that I wont get everything done on time. I feel like I've been productive over the last few days though with making the warrior.

Next steps:

Refine Warriors outfit and Sword.

Ideas for Rogue.

Come up with 2 special abilities for each character.

Come up with layout plan for the character profile in flash.

All of this needs to be done by Sunday, so that I can come into college Monday and start with production. I will have 2 weeks production time.