Character Design
Mira
Brief
The project required the visualisation, design and illustration of a well-crafted and captivating character whilst providing a glimpse into the world they live in through a vertical narrative. The final vertical narrative needed to be presented as an unfolding of the character and their world, emerging the viewer into the imagery as they scroll from top to bottom.
Deliverables
01 Process Work
02 A vertical narrative including:
• A Landing page
• Unfolding narrative and environment incorporated with a short written narrative
• Final character render
• Five poses and five expressions
• Five poses and five expressions
Design Strategy
The character I created for this project is a guardian light fairy called Mira, who takes care of the fireflies in the hidden part of the Black Oaks forest. She takes her job very seriously, providing the energy the fireflies need to light up the forest at night for other guardians and animals. She is a curious creature that likes to explore and have fun. Unfortunately, because of her curiosity, she is a terrible timekeeper, which gets her into trouble with the fireflies as they can not do their job without light.
The design strategy for the vertical narrative was to immerse the viewer into her world by giving a glimpse of her daily life as the viewer scrolls from top to bottom. Throughout the vertical narrative, various sides of the character are shown through her expression and pose, which gives the viewer a good sense of who she is.
Character Inspiration
Rich forest colours and textures of the magical and mysterious Black Oaks forest inspired the mood board for Mira.
Typography
The final typeface selections was chosen because the character was adapted to fit her timid and fun personality perfectly.
The Character Development Process
During the initial character development, the blob method was used to create interesting and distinct character faces that could have potentially developed into the final character. The first full-body character sketches were very generic, so a change was made to move away from a human character to a more mythical and fictional character.
Initial character development.
Character Refinements and Colour Exploration
Once the Mira was developed enough, a lot of exploration went into the final look and feel for the character, paying attention to the shape of her face, features, clothing and hairstyle, and different colour applications.
The yellow areas below indicate features that were combined to create the final character.
The above is an overview of the character development phase. The complete process work file can be viewed here.
Character Expression, Poses and World
After the final character development, numerous expressions and poses were developed for Mira. In addition, her world and its effects were also designed to fit her perfectly.
After the final character development, numerous expressions and poses were developed for Mira. In addition, her world and its effects were also designed to fit her perfectly.
The Final Vertical Narrative
