Week 8: Character Dichotomy

Batten down the hatches, we've got a character project.
What doesn't feel like a particularly easy project either. Three weeks to design a dichotomous pair of characters and model one (or both) of them. My last work with characters was a slightly boxy gladiator so this feels like very deep water but I guessed if I flail around enough it could pass for swimming. 
   

Dichotomy: A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

So characters who are opposite or different but still fit together and clearly share a world and we also have completely free rein on subject, style and tri budget. It was at this point my frantic flailing starting turning into drowning. As if predicting this would happen our first class was on idea generation and how shapes can be used to depict traits about characters as commonly seen in Disney and Pixar movies. 

Behold! The Villain Chin!

Starting with basic shapes and their stereotypes for idea generation, circles for friendly, lovable characters, square for big and strong, triangles for clever, agile characters etc etc. 

  Warping and combining the shapes in different ways to get various new shapes and silhouettes which had potential to become characters. We'd used this method of brainstorming before but it was for vehicles, which it seemed to lend itself to a lot better or maybe it was just me but after a while working like this, I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere.
After giving more hours to simple shapes than no sane or productive person should, I came to the conclusion I wasn't getting useful results and backed off from the shapes to return to work with the mood boards. I decided that this project was just going to sit stagnant unless I developed some kind of idea to give me more direction. That by itself was easy said then done without tumbling straight back into the sci-fi and fantasy comfort zone.
With my work flow and time management swiftly spiralling out of control I got to the point where I was willing to settle for an idea, any idea. I begrudgingly went with the idea to use an established dichotomy of cat and dog and was hoping to create a successful anthropomorphism from the two, planning for a male and female that would have characteristics of their assigned animal. Trying to return to the lecture on shapes I'd planned idea such as triangles on the female cat character to give the impression of being sleek and agile.
I did some quick colour work just to begin exploring that so I'd have a bit more to talk about for the presentation but the silhouettes were still not correct and don't say what I need them too. You could probably pick out characteristics if I told you want they were supposed to be but other than that they're just reading as generic people. The feedback from the presentation was pretty much similar to this and I was advised to either return to my initial shape work to try to Photoshop various parts of cats and dogs together as a new base for silhouettes to try and get more of their shapes in there.

I'll most likely be returning to the shape work, I hated this concept and need very little convincing to scrap it. This project has gotten to a particularly slow, painful and directionless start  so I'm hoping the tides might turn next week.