Colour Characters

Today was a day of change and so I selected a new topic to research around, this time I selected character.

COLOUR CHARACTERS

I started off my research into characters by finding imagery of some.

I was trying to find designs that used colour to create emotions, or simply characters that explored colour in innovative ways.

Below are a selection of the images I found

Thoughts

Looking over the designs there were a range of ways the colour was incoporated into the character designs.

6fde19735135b811cc8a2ecde1f1e623

  • Using colour and dynamic brush marks to express a person’s emotions – Use of short sharp read lines to enhance the feeling of anger within the piece.

 

 

c74b2b642f9375c68c382158587c511a

  • Muted blues and the soft blend between that that the light blue tones creates a very peaceful yet sad mood.
  • The design also has subtle shading to just indicate form though it is used sparingly to keep the focus on the colours and the mood.

 

 

714bfbbd66a54d9642a6bcc060a9946a

  • All facial, muscular and structural aspects characters is lost creating a more flat character.
  • Also this lack of detail allows for the silhouette and the colour of the character to be highlighted, creating a mysterious coloured figure.

 

 

 KIM ROSELIER

I was most inspired by Kim Roselier’s work, shown below, due to her use of colour gradients covering the whole form of the characters, removing all structural detail, and therefore I think this is excellent at making the beautiful blends in colour the main focal point of the designs.

Having already expressed my fondness for colour gradients previously, due to the calming mood they create by the seamless blend in colour giving the impression that the colours are bonding in a harmonious way. Roselier also uses gradients and though they aren’t quite as seamless, due to her more rough painter style, I still believe a sense of calm is formed due to the blend. Helped by the removal of facial expressions and loud body language, giving a more neutral or quiet feel to the pieces, showing that a connection between colour and emotions within a character can be formed.

I was also drawn to Roselier’s work again because of the strong use of colour, as I could imagine these characters being within a lot of the colourful locations I have previously been searching into. As both the characters and the locations are defined by colours and I believe the designs would work well together.

 

What to take forward

  • Colour gradient – covers the whole silhouttee
  • Removal of facial expressions and structural detail
  • Ensure the colour and the shapes of the character are the main aspects

Plan

  • Create a set of responses to Kim Roselier’s work, experimenting with her style, to identify the limitations of it, as well as better understand what colours and poses work best. Also I will try to add more of an emotional element to the designs, experimenting more with trying to capture a range of emotions. As currently I feel she has only produced a more neutral/ calm mood but what if I could create angry or elation, how would this look and would it work?

 

Tagged