Character designs

I wanted the main character to appear physically strong, however I wanted his facial expressions to emulate a certain despondency and reluctance for the job in hand. I knew that the tutors wouldn't go for a realistic character, so I stylized him somewhat for their benefit. I also took into consideration the time he would take to model and render. I suppose I was going for character not too dissimilar to Mr incredible. He had the responsibility of a father but a physical appearance that was somewhat overbearing. I also looked at an animation short called rock fish where the character had a certain amount of character appeal as well as the general from Monsters vs Aliens.

Here are the initial silhouettes and final concepts.

I was very happy with the overall outcome of the main character. Initially I was looking for a more realistic soldier. But I went for a more stylized version where certain features like his legs and upper body were exaggerated. This would make the modeling process slightly easier.

When coloring the character in photoshop I started with a dull grey tone to get a rough silhouette. I then added a lighter grey to create the camouflage patterns as well as the bullet proof vest. I wasn't very happy with the color initially as it looked too bland and two dimensional. I then set about changing the brightness and contrast as well as the color balance of the piece that instantly created a cell shaded look that I was trying to recreate which offered more character appeal. It is quite fascinating to see how color can completely change the tone of a concept. The drawing itself reminded me of characters from the Manga Film Akira.

I was overjoyed with the outcome of the soldier, now I needed to create a mood board for project as well as some small vehicle silhouettes for the helicopters.