Character concept developments
Grasshopper My thoughts for the grasshopper character was a strong and abled old character I always had in mind of a sir Ian McKellen kind of chap. his expression should be educated and with a slight biter look to him‌almost as he looks his nose down at the person he speaks to. I know he doesn't have that characteristics in the novel but for first impressions, this is how I feel his character would come across
I took the idea that was used in the film for the grasshopper, he has an eye piece, Even though i didn't want to be influenced from either nor the book illustrations I felt that maybe mine too should wear spectacles but after trying this I felt it steered away from my initial idea, It started to look too human and too old, it started to take form of a rickety old man and thats not how the old grasshopper is in the novel.
The old grasshopper outfit was to look like an old evening suit, I wanted the suit to loo like the suit was apart of him, after testing the head with glasses and realised it looked too human so making the outfit look apart of him was the best way to go. having four arms always me to capture to expressions at ones, I made two arms held behind his back that keeps the highclass/gentlemen like posture through out, and the other two arms can be over gestural as he speaks (poetic gestures)
Lady bird I wanted to create the Lady bird like a sweet old lady, the kind that keeps candy in her pockets. it wasn't making a lady bird look like an sweet old lady but the task was to make an old lady look like a lady bird to keep that friendly expression. The hardest part at this stage was keeping an removing elements of the old lady and the lady bird. I studied the head of the lady bird and tried to keep it with in my concept by making the shape of the lady bird shape translate with the shape of a lady hair Also I'm attempting to make the patterns of the lady bird into a necklace.
At this stage, I wasn't happy with the concept, I wasn't finding the character that i had in mind, I experimented with slight colour alterations to try and find away to capture what I was looking for. At the moment the lady bird is looking too plain and not enough bug like. even though i said that i wanted to work from a lady into a lady bird I still need some bug features.
A desperate attempt here. Again I experimented with glasses not to see if it would look good (because knew it wouldn't due to the results of the experiment with the grasshopper) but to try and see if adding extras will lead me to ideas to capture my idea for the character. really struggling on this one.
In the end I came away from the lady bird and moved to the next character allowing me to take a break from the lady bird and revisit it with fresh eyes and an a wake mind. When I came back to it I broke the laws and jumped the concept process and went to the final idea. This is more like the idea i had in mind, still bug like but still represents a kind old lady (kind of) The wings represent a cardigan thrown over the shoulders to translating as the wings. The face is flat and wide just like the shape of the head of a lady bug from a below reference of a lady bird. On the final render, the cardigan and head of the character will have a gloss shine to it and beneath it it will have the texture and pattern of the lady bird.
James
The idea for James was to represent the character from the novel as near as possible. I wanted him to have soft and little expression on his face to capture that quite essence of the character and to show none confident character due to his poor upbringing of from his evil auntie’s.
Its necessary that my character has a a neglected look to him because thats the child’s background story in the book. I tried to do this by tearing the cloths and making patches on the clothing. i added dirt and stains on the clothing but not on the skin, My James would still clean him self and do the best to be presentable. The first concept looks as if he's in school uniform and and had been fighting. the second concept looks more neglected. i wanted the socks to be odd by size to help that poor upbringing as described in the novel. The third, James is covered in peach as a concept idea for the final render.
This James is with out neglected detail to better see the characters for and for me to see this character in my mind easier in different locations and scenarios. Here I gave James a slightly baggy sweater vest as if had been anded down to given to him. A short opened smile to represent the shyness and a lack of confidence. in the final render the all characters and scene will have a grew tone to it all, Inspired by Tim Burton and directions in film.