CHARACTER DESIGN
Tyler & Darcie O'Shea
The characters are based on my real life brother and sister 'Tyler' and 'Darcie' who I also give huge thanks to for lending their voices to my animatic. Tyler and Darcie were ages seven and four years old when I first pitched the project to my peers at Arts University Bournemouth during my second year of study. Today, they are eleven and eight. Their relationship depicts that of most siblings at a young age.
Tyler, being the oldest, quite often finds his little sister to be annoying which leads him to wishing for her disappearance. Darcie, however, just wants to be included in his games to feel less left out and lonely. To make their feud more apparent, I wanted them to appear as opposite as I could whilst making it abundantly clear they are young siblings. The colouring of their eyes and hair is a likeness of the real Tyler and Darcie. Tyler having red hair and blue eyes and Darcie having dark hair and brown eyes were already imbedded in my mental depiction of their cartoon selves before designing. This assisted in the 'polar opposite' idea. I needed to add to that in other aspects such as colour and costume. You'll see that Tyler associates with green and blue colours which is usually thought to be more appreciated by young boys, and Darcie associates with pinks and purples. Typical 'girlie' colours.
Below, you'll see my artwork progressing from the early stages of character exploration.
PROP DESIGN
Wizardosaurus & Unicorn
The 'Wizardosaurus' is a toy that depicts an Apatosaurus dressed as a wizard by the eldest child, 'Tyler'. This toy is unique because it is believed by Tyler to have the special ability of granting wishes and controlling the weather. However, the toy itself may be using these abilities to teach the active boy a valuable lesson. My goal was to make the dino look as silly as possible to impact the unsuspecting agenda of its wizardry.
'The Magical Unicorn' is Darcie's favourite toy in the story. Unlike Tyler's favourite toy, The Unicorn has no special powers or hidden agendas. It is simply a stuffed mythical creature. I found it to be more challenging to find the right look for, since I wanted waned it to look like a regular intimate object you would expect an imaginative little girl to love, rather than questioning its appearance, which is exactly the case for the Wizardosaurus. This is the reason of me exploring more forms and colours for the Unicron than the Dinosaur.
ENVIRONMENT DESIGN
The Playhouse
If you're a parent or have been around children at all, you'll know that kids will draw all over absolutely EVRYTHING. My little bother and sister have always been very eager to draw just like myself. With their permission, I collected hundreds of their creations to use as décor of the playhouse. To create the authentic feel of a children's environment, I imported their artwork into the interior of the Playhouse that I had already created by exploring real once. Tyler and Darcie are very excited to see that their creations inspired my dreams.