Dodger the Kitten
CHARACTER DESIGN FOR ANIMATION
Dodger the Kitten came about from an animation brief aimed at designing one character that would be able to promote an obesity awareness campaign to
young children. It’s no surprise to anyone who looks at the vast number of children’s television programmes that the majority feature anthropomorphic animal forms. Research suggests that children find these kinds of characters charming and have a natural empathy towards them, which makes it perfect for discussing serious topics in a non-threatening manner.
young children. It’s no surprise to anyone who looks at the vast number of children’s television programmes that the majority feature anthropomorphic animal forms. Research suggests that children find these kinds of characters charming and have a natural empathy towards them, which makes it perfect for discussing serious topics in a non-threatening manner.
Dodger’s story speaks to kids and parents alike – a kitten who enjoys good food, good naps, and good television (when the humans leave it on, of course). But these tendencies result in a limited activity level, so the mama and papa cats make an effort to teach Dodger about the different ways to have just as much fun whilst being more playful. Things like chasing your tail, balancing along low fences, bug-catching, climbing the big cat tower that some people have but no cat seems to use eagerly.
Dodger’s design reflects the liquid-esque nature of cats, and results in some interesting animation trials. In order to keep the animation budget quite low, I opted for narration over lip-syncing and managed to keep the cutesy art style as simple as possible.
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Thanks for looking.
