End of Unit 2 - The Making of Renatus

Unit 2 Character Design project has come to a close. I can present to you the character design bible for Renatus.

Renatus Character Design Bible

Its been a fun project in developing a range of character archetypes, yet it has also been an enlightening one with much constructive criticism and feedback to take on board. It seems my arrow strayed from its mark, as my hero and villain appeared somewhat lacking, where my sidekick character was well received.

In hindsight, perhaps this is due to the fact that I may have stayed within the confines of the theme soldier/cyborgs too much, which in itself is a very generic topic. With the hero, I focused on the details of his technology while giving him a straightforward silhouette as a soldier for the audience to be able to relate to his humanity. Consequently, this may have led to his somewhat lacking overall design. Where, with the villain, I moved away from the typical villain that overwhelms himself with power and technology, to a sly, cunning manipulative villain as a female to contrast the male dominated genre of soldiers. Admittedly, I may not have captured this quite so well in my final design, where the action poses begin to capture a glimpse of this. My sidekick became successful as it strayed from the generic forms that I conceived in my hero and villain, as a small quirky robot.

Additionally, I focused on using paper rather than digital mediums as not only was this stated at the beginning of the project, but I also wanted to focus on the basics of character design.

Essentially, I guess I made some poor design choices along the way that have had a significant impact on the outcome of my designs. Its something I will definitely take on board which will serve to refine my creative designs. In the mean time, its onwards and upwards for the Retro-Fest project that is still hot in production.