Tuesday 7 February 2012

Early Design Concepts for 'Frankie'

The general idea behind Frankie's appearance is he is a child in adult clothing, being unlikely that a child his age would be able to get hold of a suitably sized lab coat. 

A rough example of the length of the lab coat on Frankie (although this sketch is not 'child-like' enough. He is sized more like a teenager and less of a child). 

This is a side profile of how the lab coat will appear when he is walking along. Everything trails along behind him, much like the way 'Maggie Simpson' moves around.  

In scenes where Frankie is operating something with his hands (which is the vast majority of the story), he will be seen with his sleeves rolled up, both because it gets the sleeves out of the way and generally makes him look like less of a 'ghost'. The cuteness/humour factor that comes from him dragging the coat along is a good thing, but it will outstay its welcome if this is overused.  

Just a simple example of Frankie's facial appearance with his goggles worn on his head and being used. At the moment, he is looking very 'Calvin and Hobbes', but this appears to help emphasise the fact that he is a child, and it can also contribute to somewhat of a pun in which his goggles significantly magnify his eyes, giving him a more humorous appearance. 

This is a comparison of height between Frankie and a typical adult, just to provide an idea of how small a child Frankie is. The 'Tom and Jerry' approach of adults being visible from the waist down alone is an idea which I may carry on into the final story, as it places the real focus on Frankie and the Creature. 

2 comments:

  1. This is soo cute and funny at the same time! With regards to your thinking Frankie here doesn't look childlike enough yet it might be good to look at the Art of Up book especially as there are some great progression drawings of Russel so that might help get your character looking more childlike. There are probably a lot more art of books with child characters that would help too, maybe the How to Train Your Dragon one, that actually reminds me of your Frankie drawings. Check out the library we had a rummage the other day and found some great stuff to help us! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Steven! I really like these!! Another thing that might help you out for the childlike-ness you could look at Boo from Monsters Inc as the way she wears her clothes seems a bit big on her. I found this image as well that might help! http://www.darkfireaviary.net/luna/gallery/lunadressup.jpg

    Going awesome Steve!! :D

    ReplyDelete