Contextual studies in character design!

Hello, after a short break for halloween I have returned to continue showcasing the progress of my development :) Currently at newcastle college we have began a unit called contextual studies. This unit seeks to involve my class in an investigation into the style of character designed in the 1920s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and present day.

As an aspiring animator and illustrator I am excited to develop character designs following these parameters. In the animation industry it is important to constantly develop character designs keeping in mind style, form, audience and influence. In order to demonstrate I understand these styles I am required to showcase a character design in each of the era styles mentioned. 

Over my short break for halloween I spent a lot of time drawing out character designs and performing idea generation exercises in order to identify and conceptualise character designs for this unit. One such exercise was a shape breakdown experiment:

This exercise was designed to help me develop analytical skills in order to assist in the approach of character development. In the first part of my experiment I Identified key shapes that made up the 'formula' of a character design, this process helped me breakdown the characters in order to better understand a complicated image is in its basic form. Reversing this process I created poses using reference in various forms in order to serve as a starting point for different character experiments.

Using the body forms as a starting point I created a series of idea sketches with a mood board for reference in order generate potential character concepts that i can further with development.

The next stage in my process is taking 1 or two of these characters further in development, I will keep you posted in the mean time! Any pointers for my design process ? Interested in having a chat? Email me at Sickjujuu@gmail.com

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to Sick Juju !

My name is Jacob Kennedy, I am a full time student in my second year of level 3 animation, games and VFX at Newcastle college. Sick Juju is the pseudonym I have created to represent the productions which shall be displayed throughout my blog. But first in order to help you understand my work, I would like you to take the time to hear more about myself.

When creating my pseudonym, I wanted to assume an identity that was personal to myself and represented my desires and interests. The inspiration for the name came from my interest in tribal culture. 'Juju' in African culture is their way of representing the karmic system found in modern Buddhism. If you do good things, you receive good Juju and so forth. The word 'Sick' was derived from modern slang meaning good or cool, creating the rough translation of my blog to mean 'Good karma' or as i prefer to view it as 'Fun times'.

When creating artwork my biggest influences are from artists such as: Bros-mind, ZeroFriends, Tony Riff, Zinkase & Mcbess. I favour the styles of these artists because I value their use of bold and bright block colours coupled with their unique art style to create interesting prints with personality. When creating artwork I am always sure to seek influence from at least one of these artists to help experiment and develop my own style.

One of the things I most enjoy when creating artwork is the opportunity to add life and personality through animation. Big influences and motivators to my animation comes from artists such as: Jerry Liu Studios, Pictoplasma & Henrique barone. Each artist inspires me with their own individual merit, Jerrys liu's use of secondary motion create characters with a more personal feeling. Pictoplasma pushes the boundaries of their style through exaggerating features to create interesting motion. And Henrique barone's process of animation allows for a fluid motion that is visually appealing.

In my next year of animation at Newcastle college I shall be given the opportunity to utilize the software 'Cinema 4D' to develop and experiment in 3D. I am keen to experiment with cinema 4D due to inspiration from the 3D modelers: Rik Oostenbroek, Justin Maller & Beeple (Crap). These artists demonstrate how the software can be manipulated to create unique abstract artwork that transcend visions that 2D artwork can portray.

Over the course of the year I seek to fill this blog with my journey as a designer, with every journey it is important to understand what I am aiming for. When starting Newcastle college 2 years ago I was interested in improving my illustrations and joining the games design community in the work-space. As I have developed as a person and animator, my ideas, visions and directions have changed. I am currently interested in improving my skills as an animator and illustrator, I am keen to experiment with games design, but I mainly want to focus on animation skills and preparing myself for the workplace. 

Thank you for taking the time to get to know myself and this blog better, I hope you will stick around to investigate my journey in the future.