Animal Character Design - Anthropomorphism

Anthropomrphic Character Design in animation and Sequential Art:
The Symbolic use of the animal to portray personality
by
Tim Jardim

Anthropomorphism - The attribution of human form or other human characteristics to any nonhuman object."

1) Emotional Appeal
2) Realm of Fantasy
3) Proximity to Human
4) History
5) Symbolism
6) Gender

"What purpose does the animal play in telling stories? Why do viewers appear to form a connection with animal characters that can be as Strong or stronger than the bond with a human cast? what can the choice of animal in a story tell you about that character.?"

2)Realm of Fantasy

anthropomorphic characters place narrative into the realm of fantasy (pg 6)

Burke - "When political, religious, social, or personal risks are high, when we are standing close to the metaphoric fire, the use of animals has long provided intellectual and psychological distance and allowed us to critically explore that which we would not be comfortable exploring directly.

3)Human?

two categories of bipedal, clothes wearing, tool wielding animals.
1) animals existing in a human world - alongside humans who see animals this way as a normal occurrence - Beatrix Potter
2) Human are non-existent and have been replaced with animals.  Animals are still mostly animal. Most physical features remain unchanged except for adaptions to use human implements such as opposable thumbs and dexterous hands. - robin hood , kung-fu panda
3) Animals are more Human than animal.  Bodies identical to our own with animal features tacked on. Basically just an animal head on a humans shoulders w/ a few other props such as tails or wings.
4) Humans, but with animal traits mixed in either in appearance or in behavior. (pg 4)

Watership Down
Beatrix Potter
Aesop's Fables

When is a Cartoon Character Naked?

"When is a cartoon character naked? It may be argued that all cartoon creatures are naked if they have no costume, but this Is clearly undermined by the example .. in which bodily fur is treated as an outer garment... (pg33)

3)Gender


P. Wells (understanding animation) quotes Delguadio:  "Anthropomorphic characters are a step removed from human characters and require a certain degree of imitation or impersonation of human traits in order to succeed.  ... The major difference in [Gender] is seen in the degree and type of abstraction: whereas the male characters are abstracted to actions and 'masculine' traits (for example, cunning, aggressiveness), the female characters are abstracted and reduced to physiological characteristics and 'recognisable' feminine traits (for example, shrewishness, passivity) (pg 11)

Male - defined by behavior
Female - defined by appearance and vocabulary

Male - "Generic". Gender neutral or androgynous animal characters are usually assumed to be male
Female - must be viewed as "special" - out of the ordinary. Distinctly feminine.

Discuss Minnie and Mickey mouse, Robin Hood and Maid Marian

4)History

Spiritual protectors
Egyptian Gods
Virtues - Aesops fables
guardian spirits - totems
animal symbols
Sacred animals

5) Symbolism
Robin hood - non human silhouettes.  Most animals seem to exist as one of their kind, unless a family or couple is depicted - It is easy for a viewer to determine that these two characters "belong" together since they are of the same species.  Maid Marian - made more feminine through the use of mannerisms, features and props.
Fox - cunning and sly
Bear - " a creature of contrasts" - enormous strength, but thrives on fruit and honey. - gentle giant, compassionate, friendly
Prince John - Lion, king of the jungle.  no full mane = inability to be a fit ruler
King Richard - true king
Sheriff of Nottingham - wolf - minion, enemy, menacing animal.
Peasantry - badgers, mice, farmyard country animals
Soldiers - foreign or predators to village animals (pg 28)

Animal Character Design

"Drawing is more thinking than actual Drawing"

When it comes to designing an animal character, consider the following:

1) Research
2) Shape Exploration and EXPLOITATION
3) Function
4) Story
5) Identifying and using necessary landmarks


RESEARCH

Researching and understanding the animal that you are designing is essential in creating a believable and relatable character which will elicit an emotional appeal from your audience.

Understand how this animal moves, its mannerisms and overall characteristics (Ex: a fox is sly, a rabbit is timid, a bear is hungry and lazy).  Understand it's skeletal structure (just as you do for a human) and also elements such as how it's fur grows, wing and feather patterns, which way it's joints bend.  Know it's habitat and how it fits in, also how it adapts (ex: does it change color, loose it's horns etc.)

While internet research and image searches are usefull way's to collect reference, there is no substitute for watching how an animal moves in real life.  Sketchbook visits to zoos and even drawing from video's are the #1 way to study an animal in preparation for a character design.

SHAPE EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION

“don't just draw the shapes that are already there, but use them and exploit them to create an appealing design...its a way of exaggerating and emphasizing the existing shapes without losing the integrity of the animal.”

David Coleman

Silhouettes can be a great way to break down an animal's complex shape to get to the essence of it's Design.  Also Simplifying it into its basic Large, Medium and Small shapes.  Figure out what makes this animal what it is, and not a different animal - Ex. what makes a Deer a Deer, and not a horse?  How can I exaggerate these shapes so that even in silhouette, my deer can't be mistaken for a horse?

Remember Hierarchy  Everything that is essential for the Viewer to understand this character needs to come 1st from its shape.  Everything after that (fur, clothing, detail, color) are secondary. "Detail needs to radiate from the core theme"

"Through your own studies from life you'll learn exactly what to streamline, what extraneous details you can lose and what necessary elements you need. Ask yourself what must be present to make the animal character work...?"

3) FUNCTION & STORY

In this step, some Q's you should ask yourself is: what role does this character play? what are it's attributes?  What will it do in the story?  How will it act?  How much does it act like and animal and how much does it act like a human?  Does it wear clothes?  walk on it's hind legs? Talk?

These Q's are essential in deciding how stylized your animal character needs to be.

Animal Characters are Anthropomorphized to some degree- meaning they take on human characteristics (or characteristics that we can recognize or relate to) that aren't usually there  (If they aren't anthropomorphized to some degree, then it is not a character design but a drawing of an animal.)

  ANTHROPOMORPHISM

Remember the key to anthropomorphism is REALITY VS. BELIEVABILITY - you've got to sell your version of the world to the audience.

4) IDENTIFYING NECESSARY LANDMARKS

 "Necessary Landmarks are not arbitrarily drawn in but are carefully designed"

David Coleman

At this point you are ready to start Designing your Character. You should have a good understanding of this animal and a rough Idea of how stylized this character needs to be.  

Every animal has at least a few or Many features or "landmarks" that individualize them as an animal.  For example, what shapes make a hamster recognizable as a hamster and not a mouse?rat?rabbit?bear?cat?

or a deer different than a horse?goat?gazelle?wildebeest?

David Coleman:  "If the proper shapes have been exploited to maintain the visual association of [an animal], then the designer has done a good job.  [If designing a Raccoon ... The artist can't just apply stripes on a simple shape for the tai, add four limbs to a furry mass, color it accordingly, and want people to believe it is a raccoon if in fact it may not even look like a raccoon besides the color. The color, in essence, is secondary to form and if the shapes have been properly exploited then the artist can take liberties and be more expressive with color. it's the shape exploitation that makes it successful and still communicates to the viewer that it is a raccoon."

The art of Animal Character Design pg 61

Once these landmarks are identified, its up to the designer to exaggerate and stylize one or many of these landmarks.

Elephants for example:

watch for the various landmarks - also see how many variations and how stylized a design can go while still remaining easily recognizable as an elephant

Animal Character Design - Meg Park

Meg Park - http://megpark.blogspot.com/

MEG PARK INTERVIEW

Whether designing the character for animation or not, I always find it useful to think like an animator. Get 'inside' the character and understand who they are, how they carry themselves, what their attitude is like. Know their back-story, or come up with something short and simple if you're designing from scratch. Give them little quirks that make them stand out, characters should be memorable as well as appealing.

I try to explore as many ideas as I can, study a lot of references, exaggerate shapes and keep drawing until the balance is right and everything works. I always strive to communicate as much personality and expression as possible in each drawing, too.

Good design is difficult, but I think that difficulty and problem-solving is the fun part (if it wasn't, I'd be in the wrong career!). Especially nowadays when original ideas seem hard to come by, and everything has been done before. I think to overcome that, you just need to try as many different approaches as possible, don't be afraid of making mistakes and don't take it too seriously. Taking a step back and designing the silhouette first sometimes helps if you're stuck. Designing should always be fun and I think confidence is the key to a good drawing.

- Be able to detach yourself from your work. Don't be precious with it, be able to look at it objectively and see the flaws, and never be afraid or dismissive of constructive criticism from others.

- Know your subject inside and out. If you don't fully understand the skeleton or the muscle structure of the creature you're trying to draw, your drawings are going to look bad. Go back and study it from life, videos or books (preferably life!).

- Have a killer taste in whatever field you want to pursue. Know what's good, understand why it's good, keep yourself immersed in it and you'll keep growing and learning.