character development

traditional 2D animators learn pretty early on that simpler design means less clean-up, fewer remorseful thoughts and more sleep. so i came up with a fairly simple design of ganesha, kind of using a combination of the familiar disney formula with my own haphazard-painterly flair. you can tell from the following studies that the belt didn't make the cut and his color scheme changed a bit, but this was the basic design (more sketches coming soon). instead of making a full turnaround, i drew up a quick silhouetted animation test in flash to see how his basic form would work. this gave me more clues to how ganesha would act/react. i imagined him as this big portly guy who defied gravity with his divine powers. he seems like a good-natured fella, maybe a bit too concerned/borderline obsessed with the wellfare of others...



my next task was to design the poor saps that ganesha would be rushing in to assist. i wanted a good age and color range of characters. the first character he encounters is who i call "lonely boy" (creative huh?) the second character "crisis man" (like mid-life crisis, you get it) these two are both fairly monochromatic, pretty down and out, but their emotions change dramatically within seconds. the boy's long hair which was once covering his face in sorrow is suddenly emphasizing his joy. i drew crisis man in silhouette to accentuate his beer-gutted slovenliness (sorry, theres no better way to describe it) when reversing this curve in his spine, he suddenly has an air of success. i suppose the suit and briefcase helps too...



ganesha's close encounter of the third kind (ha ha... not so funny) "elderly monk," brings about the moral of the story. the monk is perfectly content with his current state and needs nothing that ganesha can provide. i decided to make his robes a bright friendly yellow. he doesn't move much, he actually never leaves this meditative position so his design was pretty simple.