Updated Character Designs

I showed these at my presentation, but I hadn't gotten around to posting them. I updated Joseph's design, as well as Helen's. I also created a turnaround for the monster.

someone assumed that she had two-colored hair, but its actually a hood. I'll probably put it down in the actual film since that was the case....

Ray Character Model Sheet and Height Comparison

Probably too detailed, but I'm just putting it all there for now.

Character Descriptions

Joseph

Joseph is a 21-year-old college student majoring in English. He is very introverted and shy, and doesn’t have many friends, aside from a few close, long-term friends. Although he is a nice guy on the inside, his shyness makes him have an aloof presence that many people sense as unfriendliness and cockiness. He can talk about work, but is horrible at making small talk. He is not the type to blab his mouth off. He has a weird habit of standing with one shoulder higher than the other, which is the only indication of his social anxiety upon his calm and aloof exterior. He tends to daydream a lot, causing people to think he is ignoring him. He also doesn’t have a girlfriend and has an easier time talking to boys than girls. He is very bored with life, aside from the occasional visit to the comic book store. He has a crush on Helen, but has never spoken to her in his life. His favorite things to do are reading both books and comics, and writing.


Ray, aka "Ray-Ray"

Ray-Ray is a 22-year-old wannabe rock star, though he does play a little guitar. He is very forward and outgoing, and not afraid to do anything, even if its stupid. He is a huge flirt and has many female friends he likes to call just to “hang out.” At the same time, he has a childish side to him: he is obsessed with cute animals, especially cats. He is really into manga and likes to base his style off of Japanese pop culture and fashion. He is a nonstop talker and has a tendency to think that everything is funny. It is very difficult to make him him angry, sad, or even scared. In fact, when he was younger, his parents would yell at him and he would just laugh. He doesn’t care what other people think of him, and lives life to the fullest without even trying.


Kevin

Kevin is the 31 year old comic book store owner. He is obsessed with all types of comics, from mainstream Superman comics, to Japanese manga, to independent comics. He is extremely knowledgeable—a real fanboy. He seems to always be very relaxed, calm, and friendly, which causes him to make a lot of friends with his customers. He is a little on the heavy side because he usually spends his time reading and watching cartoons at the shop, rather than caring about his weight. Although he is nice, his hygiene could use some working on. Customers sometimes spot him picking lint out of his bellybutton.


Helen

Helen is a 22-year-old architecture student. She is Kevin’s niece, which is why she got the job at the comic book store. She is very practical, straightforward and blunt. When she talks to people, she makes very solid eye contact, which some people find uncomfortable. She is relatively fashionable and keeps up with the trends, but likes to keep things as simple and practical as possible. She is a bit of a workaholic and hates just sitting around doing nothing—she always needs to be doing something, anything. She has a thing for quirky, indie things, independent bands, and B-rated horror movies.


Ralph

Ralph is a 34-year old Software Engineer at JPL. He is extremely smart, yet very, very quiet. He always seems oblivious to the world around him because he is so tall and has a tendency to tilt his head slightly upward, as if he were ignoring everything. Actually, Ralph is extremely attentive and never truly oblivious to anything. Since he was a kid, Jeff enjoyed reading action hero comics, such as Superman and Dragonball Z. He’s currently unmarried, so he spends most of his free time on weekends to visit the comic book store near his house

JOSEPH model sheets (formerly Tim)

first draft

second draft

third draft

I started working on this character labeled as the “normal, boring guy” that the audience could easily relate to. I wanted someone that did not look dorky, but had a dorky and shy side too him. The first draft was just that: the normal, boring guy who looked a little dorky. That was all. But it didn’t feel right. He was supposed to be the normal guy, but it seemed like he had no character at all. There was absolutely nothing interesting about him.

I started working on the second draft, trying to make him more distinguished by giving him stronger cheekbones and a huge hunch back. While this wasn’t bad, I didn’t like how he looked blatantly awkward, and almost slightly creepy.

I studied some faces of actual people, and then started to do the third draft. My studies didn’t come out as much as I’d hoped (his face shape is still very similar, but I think I wanted it like that so it wouldn’t be too difficult to animate), but I played with the eyes, making him look very bored with life. By accident, I made one shoulder higher than the other so he looked awkwardly unbalanced. At the same time, his standing pose had a sort of “cool” air to it, as if it was intentional. I liked that asymmetry because it created layers within his personality. This is what I have so far.

Therefore, through drawing, I sort of felt out my character’s personality of what exactly I was going for.