When it came to painting this I took a completely different approach to what I'm used to doing which was surprisingly a bit of a challenge to adapt to, I usually like to paint quite a lot of shadows and highlight in in an attempt to make it look more 3D and a bit semi-realistic. I started out drawing the outline in illustrator and for these character designs I tried to stick to my influence and create something that has less typical tonal work in there and harsh black shadows like pop art.
I gave my amoeba character wellies as this is the traditional footwear that people may associate festivals to, along with the flowers on the head. Not entirely sure whether to keep the center of the body yellow or blue along with the rest of the body because at the moment I feel as if it looks like the outline of a face, which it isnt supposed to.
Love it! :D Also I agree that the yellow makes the first version's nucleus look more like the amoeba's face, however this isn't necessarily a bad thing! I prefer the first one as the yellow face-like nucleus makes the character more relatable while looking natural rather than forced :)
ReplyDeleteHey Rhianna,
ReplyDeleteI'm going to suggest you simplify still further; really like the move away from the painterly towards something more 'cel-shaded' - but I'm going to suggest you look at the genre of 'vinyl toys' and Moshi Monsters as a means of further shaping your character and making him/her a little more integrated, so, for your inspiration:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5jcfsod7t1qbg80vo1_1280.jpg
http://c3d-vinylartistslist.s3.amazonaws.com/c3d_vinyl_artists_pete_fowler.jpg
http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Old-School-BMX-vinyl-toys-526435_450_450.jpg
http://artistsinspireartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/13.jpeg
The trick here is to think of your character as more of an 'object' - simple basic shapes combining, with the detail and character coming from designing onto its surface. I think you could use Illustrator effectively for this and just rationalise this design still further to great effect :)