Character Contest Submission: Notes on the Design Process

For awhile now I've silently been following Make LLC, an animation and advertising studio. Considering their a studio within commuting distance I'd regard them high on my list for a dream job. Recently, the studio launched Sunny Side Down, a sci-fi dark comedy about a waitress trapped in her dead end job as their diner slowly plummets into the abyss of a black hole where any attempts to escape are swept up by the event horizon.

To promote the new series, Make opened a character design contest for fans to submit a background character, and so I jumped at the opportunity to develop a new portfolio piece and hopefully get on the studio's radar.

The Very First Pass

So let's get one thing straight. This character isn't new, I originally created him around 2-3 years ago as a crude, grody jerk meant to lean into the lovable-rascal archetype. His main gag was wearing a censor bar as an accessory, not to hide anything, but as a visual joke to show he has nothing to hide. Though this concept illustration doesn't quite do those concepts justice.

Another feature I wanted was a facial appendage that read as both an eyebrow and an antenna. I got partway there, but I struggled when it came to pushing other expressions while keeping it readable. Issues regarding proportions, complicated masses, and consistent replication caused me to shelf his design early as I never had a real story to put him into, instead he was only conceived to fulfill that visual gag.

Revisions in Retrospect

After witnessing the first episode of Sunny Side Down and seeing the character contest promoted on LinkedIn I felt this character might be a good fit if revised the design; so I hit the breaks on my current personal projects and committed a few days to dusting this character off and giving it some new polish.

With a new toolkit of animated character design principals in mind I focused on simplifying shapes and creating a strong recognizable silhouette, and fleshing out the eyebrow/antenna concept as top priority. I created a few full body drawings to highlight his personality and running gag, along with a few illustrations of his visage to showcase a wide range of expression.

Despite a few minor inconsistencies, I feel these updated antennae dont compromises the overall design as the first pass has. Once I was satisfied with the new concepts and expressions, I moved on to refining proportions, defining the primitive shapes used in the character's construction, and creating a consistent 90° turn around with front, 3/4th, and profile views.