Adaptation: Revised Marionette Turnaround

Revised Marionette Turnaround

This is the revised design for the Marionette character. I think it turned out a bit better this time around than it did before. I refrained from applying the same paper-y textures as I did for the Housewife, and it gave it this more falsified, glossy appearance.

Adaptation: Revised Housewife Turnaround

Revised Housewife Turnaround

This is the Housewife turnaround revised in response to Alan's feedback in my tutorial. She is (hopefully) more proportionally accurate and marginally taller than the original turnaround. I feel like she has this odd Grange Hill comic strip vibe about her design, but to be honest, I've been staring at this so long, she could look like anything by this point.

Adaptation: Housewife Marionette Concept

Housewife Marionette Concept

To create this concept for the Marionette Housewife, I simply modified the existing turnaround. I wanted to retain the appearance of the Housewife character, whilst making the transformation quite drastic. I looked at the delightfully creepy giant puppets of the Royal De Luxe for my main influence, as seen below.

I've also designed the Marionette to be economical in terms of production, with changes subtle enough that I can simply modify the model of the Housewife character when created. When it comes to rigging, I will probably split the limbs up into separate components, as they would be in reality, and skin them individually to each joint. I should be able to get away with skinning the character fairly quickly, as there isn't any skin deformations to take into account, the character's limbs will move as solidly as they would in reality. As for the dress, I wondered whether I should treat it as wood also, designing it to move much like that of an action figure or artist's mannequin, although after looking at various marionettes and puppets, traditionally they use clothing to cover up the mechanics and imperfections of the puppet beneath, so I imagine I shall retain this tradition and focus on changing the limbs alone.

This is unlikely to be the final design, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Adaptation: Housewife Turnaround Progress 26/2/13 Part Two

Housewife Turnaround Progress 26/2/13 Part Two

The turnaround for the Housewife character is practically finished now, other than the top view for modelling the arms. 

I've attempted to retain the Paper Doll aesthetic in the designs by using a dark brown key line for the flesh, shoes and hair areas, as well as using an alternative key line for the outfit.

Below are some colour variants on the default design. When I created the Grey variant, I had the idea to use that instead of the 'Puppet' metaphor that is in the original script. Instead of the colour and branding seeping into the Housewife, the colour would drain out of each of them, removing the colour that made them unique, resulting in them appearing identical. This method would be considerably more economical in regards to workload, as I wouldn't have to design and model a marionette character, nor would I have to work out a method of transforming one into the other, as I could simply animate the textures. Although, this would be a little anticlimactic and I'd feel as though I would be cheating a little if this decision wasn't completely justified.

Anyway, as always, feedback is greatly appreciated.

Green Variant

Grey Variant

Red Variant

Adaptation: Housewife Turnaround Progress 26/2/13

Housewife Turnaround Progress 26/2/13

Further progress on the turnaround, with a refined waistband, facial features on the side view, revised shoes in both views and the basic texture reapplied.

Adaptation: Housewife Turnaround Progress 25/2/13

Housewife Turnaround Progress 25/2/13

Adding and refining some of the minor details, including hands, feet and facial features on the front view, as well as raising the waistband a little higher.

Adaptation: Housewife Turnaround Progress 24/2/13

Housewife Turnaround Progress 24/2/13

Just a quick update, showing my progress into developing the side view. The proportions appear to be about right at this point, so now its just a case of putting in the finer details (so basically, everything that you can't see in the image above).

Adaptation: Housewife Turnaround Progress 23/2/13 Part Two

Housewife Turnaround Progress 23/2/13 Part Two

Just a minor update in response to Tom's feedback on the last progress update. I've attempted to reduce her muscularity somewhat, mainly in the arms. I've also added a little bit of texture and colour, just as a little test to keep things a bit more interesting for me, really.

Adaptation: Housewife Turnaround Progress 23/2/13

Housewife Turnaround Progress 23/2/13

I've began to develop the turnarounds for my Housewife characters. When working on the Character Design project, I found it easier to design the character whilst developing the turnarounds, so I've decided to go that way when developing my characters here also. Its quite weirdly proportioned in places, but that should all be sorted as I develop the turnaround further.